With cold temperatures slowing down sap runs, local maple producers are taking stock of their syrup reserves in anticipation of Maine Maple Sunday, which will take place on March 23.

Last year, maple producers were well prepared for the huge crowds that flocked to the annual event, said Lyle Merrifield, the president of the Maine Maple Producers Association. But according to Merrifield, the owner of Merrifield Farm in Gorham, this year will be a challenge.

“Last year was a banner year,” Merrifield said. “Once you come off a year like that, you hate to have a year like this.”

Good sap runs require nighttime temperatures in the mid-20s, and daytime temperatures in the low-to-mid 40s. As the frozen maple trees thaw in the daytime, their expansion pushes the sap out of the tap holes. This season, conditions have not cooperated with the maple producers.

“We need cold nights and warm days, and all we have is cold and cold,” said Bill Symonds, who owns the Sweet Williams Maple Sugar House in Casco.

For Symonds, a commercial maple syrup producer since 1997, this has been the worst series of early sap runs he has ever seen. In a typical year, Symonds will produce 300 gallons of syrup. So far, he’s produced 10 gallons. At this point in a typical season, Symonds said, he would have produced between 100 and 200 gallons.

Symonds plans to sell his 50 gallons of maple syrup reserves this weekend. Including the reserves, Symonds predicts he could sell, at most, 75 gallons of syrup on Maine Maple Sunday. Typically, Symonds said, he sells 120 to 150 gallons of fresh syrup on Maple Sunday.

“Come early if you want some syrup,” he said.

Mark Cooper, co-owner of Coopers Royal Heritage Farm on Chute Road in Windham, said that this season has been “close to one of the worst starts” in his career. In a typical season, Cooper would have produced 150 gallons of syrup by now. But Cooper said he’s produced a quarter of that amount.

“The season is going extremely slow right now,” Cooper said. “It’s quite disappointing.”

Cooper said he plans to tap his reserves this weekend. Cooper had hundreds of visitors last Maine Maple Sunday.

“Without those reserves and if it doesn’t run anymore we would be in trouble, but I think we’re going to get by for Maple Sunday,” Cooper said on March 14. “It will be close, but I think it will be alright. And if we have a couple decent days coming up it will certainly help.”

According to Merrifield, frequent wind gusts have slowed down the sap runs, as well. Wind cools the branch tips, which slows down the pressurized gas movement in the tree that pushes the sap through the tap holes.

Merrifield, who has been in touch with maple producers across the state, said that many producers will be selling their reserves on Maine Maple Sunday.

“A lot of producers will be packing syrup that they have been holding onto,” he said.

But the anguish over the slow sap runs may abate in the coming weeks, Merrifield said.

“People are disappointed at the amount of syrup produced so far, only because the quantities they would like to have for Maple Sunday,” he said. “Beyond that, people are optimistic. We’ll probably have a fairly decent season once the weather breaks.”

Gaylene Cooper, co-owner of Cooper’s Royal Heritage Farm in Windham, examines the frozen sap accumulating from a maple tree. Due to slow sap runs, maple producers across the state plan to sell their syrup reserves on Maine Maple Sunday, which will take place March 23.  Lyle Merrifield of Merrifield Farm in Gorham is the president of the Maine Maple Producers Association. In this 2012 file photo, he was well stocked for Maine Maple Sunday, even though warm weather slowed sap production. This year, the opposite is true – cold temperatures are slowing down sap runs. A collecting bucket filled with a solid block of frozen sap confronts sugar house owner Mark Cooper as he prepares for Maine Maple Sunday this weekend at Cooper’s Royal Heritage Farm on Chute Road in Windham. The recent cold spell has hampered the maple sap collecting effort at Cooper’s Royal Heritage Farm on Chute Road in Windham. Despite the freeze, Mark Cooper expects to have his evaporator running soon, and yes, they’ll have syrup available this weekend on Maine Maple Sunday.Sanford Regional Technical Center students take a snowshoe trek to check out sap lines at Thurston and Peters Sugarhouse in West Newfield.