Waiting for maple sap to flow is like waiting for a baby to be delivered. You know it's going to happen sometime and you can predict with reasonable accuracy when, but in the last couple weeks you're bound to get antsy and wish it would just come already.

For New York state maple producers, their baby is going to be late this year. Not so late that we need to worry, but late enough to make more than a few producers wring their hands, waiting to tap.

Maple syrup production is a waiting game and completely dependent on temperature. Sap from sugar maples flows best when the daytime temperature is above freezing at about 40 to 42 degrees Fahrenheit, and the evening temperature is below freezing at about 28 degrees.

So far this winter, we haven't had enough of those days to really get the sap running. Harry Komrowski is a maple syrup producer in Memphis, Onondaga County, and vice president of the New York State Maple Producers Association. He says for the last four years, he's been making syrup by now. While he recognizes that this will be a late season, he's not too concerned.

"The latest I've tapped is March 15 and that was in 1975. We're getting close, but it's not that late," he said.

Komrowski is keeping his fingers crossed that the alternating temperature range necessary for the sap to flow will happen soon. Ideal days for tapping will be full of sunshine to heat the trees and "really make the sap gush," he said.

Steve Childs, the New York State Maple Extension specialist at Cornell, says it's too early to tell yet whether the weather will cooperate and the producers will be able to get a good yield.

"You won't see any sap in the long range forecast. Producers are just sitting tight, waiting for it to warm up," he said.

Tapping in the middle of March isn't too bad, Childs says, because often the best sap flows during that time. While he can't predict just how much syrup will be produced, he can say that the producers in the region will get at least one good run of sap.

The tapholes drilled into the body of the maple have a life expectancy of just four to five weeks. Once the tapholes are drilled, they will flow for that amount of time before the tree heals the wound. In early March, Komrowski hadn't yet begun to drill the 500 trees he'll tap in his sugarbush.

When he does drill the trees, he figures he'll put in about 600 to 700 rubber taps that will yield 230 to 270 gallons of syrup. Fellow Onondaga County syrup producer Karl Wiles of Cedarvale Maple Syrup Company in Syracuse has already drilled his tapholes and set out the taps. This way he figures he can maximize each tree's potential and get as much sap as possible.

"The tree won;t let the hole leak sap forever. Probably only about six to eight weeks. Hopefully we'll get four good weeks," Wiles said. "I just wanted to get it done and that was the best time for us to do it."

Last year was an average year for New York State maple syrup producers. Wiles produced between 300 and 400 gallons of syrup from his 60-acre sugarbush and Komrowski's 22-acre tract yielded about 250 gallons of syrup.

Overall, maple sugar producers made 210,000 gallons of maple syrup. The eight small producers in Cayuga County managed to produce 383 gallons of syrup, fairly low compared to other counties in the state. But while the eastern part of the state produced far more syrup, the Finger Lakes all have a hand in total production.

By volume, New York State is second or third leading producer of maple syrup in the country. Vermont tops all the states with Maine and New York swapping positions. Childs says New York is perfect for syrup production because of its geography.

"It's a big state and there are a lot of maple trees. Plus, people make syrup out of tradition. Many of these operations are family businesses," he said.

Komrowski has been in the maple syrup business since 1975 and he's always managed to make a decent product. It's just the waiting that gets to him because there's nothing you can do to speed up the process. Sap flows when it's good and ready to flow.

"You get antsy," he said. "Everyone's just itching to get started."