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Ontario · maple season dates

When to tap maple trees in Ontario

Maple season in Ontario usually opens February (southwest) to March (north) and winds down early April. Here's the long-run pattern, the year-by-year record, and what the forecast says right now.
Watch the forecastThe season usually opens February (southwest) to March (north).
Opens
Mar 12
weather estimate
Closes
Apr 12
weather estimate

Division by division

When the sap runs across Ontario

Typical season dates for 43 Ontario census divisions: weather estimates from 35 seasons of daily temperatures at each division's reference town (no official season record for this province). Hover or tap a division for its season; sort the table by any column.
Ontario maple atlas →

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Typical opening date of the sap season, week by week across this province’s range

  • Feb 22–Mar 1
  • Mar 2–8
  • Mar 9–15
  • Mar 16–22
  • Mar 23–30
  • fewer than 5 maple farms

43 places with an atlas page. Typical season opening, earliest: Essex, ON, Feb 22; Niagara, ON, Feb 27; Halton, ON, Feb 28; latest: Timiskaming, ON, Mar 30; Algoma, ON, Mar 27; Sudbury, ON, Mar 26. Most sap days a season: Haliburton, ON, 40; Muskoka, ON, 37; Renfrew, ON, 35. Maple taps in the 2021 Census of Agriculture, on a five-step scale fitted to Ontario: under 15,000, 15,000–35,000, 35,000–48,000, 48,000–120,000, 120,000+; the most: Waterloo, ON (269,246), Grey, ON (210,348), Lanark, ON (208,832), Wellington, ON (167,714), Algoma, ON (133,083). Maple farms in the same census, in five steps: under 18, 18–37, 37–55, 55–81, 81+; the most: Waterloo, ON (242), Grey, ON (198), Wellington, ON (184). Canadian divisions have no official count. 14 places show an earlier census figure (dotted) because the latest was withheld; those figures don’t set the bins. Each shaded place links to its page; every state and province page lists its places in a table.

Typical maple season, sap days a season and taps for 43 Ontario census divisions
EssexFeb 22 – Mar 2431555 (2016)
NiagaraFeb 27 – Mar 29265,714 (2016)
HaltonFeb 28 – Mar 28266,496
LambtonFeb 28 – Mar 313213,199
HamiltonMar 1 – Mar 30267,141 (2016)
Haldimand-NorfolkMar 1 – Apr 33017,582
ElginMar 1 – Apr 23016,486
Chatham-KentMar 2 – Mar 272613,477
PeelMar 4 – Apr 4281,045 (2016)
BrantMar 4 – Apr 4312,373 (2016)
MiddlesexMar 5 – Apr 43039,170
DurhamMar 6 – Apr 62960,236
YorkMar 6 – Apr 6286,247
HuronMar 7 – Apr 428121,397
NorthumberlandMar 9 – Apr 53215,054 (2016)
OxfordMar 9 – Apr 93141,505
FrontenacMar 10 – Apr 113322,101
Lennox and AddingtonMar 10 – Apr 123214,862 (2016)
HastingsMar 10 – Apr 113348,321
Prince EdwardMar 10 – Apr 93015,334 (2016)
Leeds and GrenvilleMar 11 – Apr 113338,179
PerthMar 11 – Apr 122938,554
Stormont, Dundas and GlengarryMar 12 – Apr 123057,897
WaterlooMar 12 – Apr 1231269,246
PeterboroughMar 13 – Apr 143427,968
WellingtonMar 13 – Apr 1231167,714
Kawartha LakesMar 14 – Apr 163335,042
GreyMar 14 – Apr 1527210,348
OttawaMar 15 – Apr 162820,840 (2016)
LanarkMar 15 – Apr 1631208,832
SimcoeMar 15 – Apr 163157,191
DufferinMar 16 – Apr 17326,321 (2016)
BruceMar 16 – Apr 152773,331
Prescott and RussellMar 17 – Apr 162945,243
RenfrewMar 19 – Apr 203533,426
Parry SoundMar 20 – Apr 173170,022
MuskokaMar 21 – Apr 233732,980 (2016)
HaliburtonMar 21 – Apr 224014,967
NipissingMar 23 – Apr 243013,108
ManitoulinMar 24 – Apr 24258,871 (2016)
SudburyMar 26 – Apr 25272,176 (2016)
AlgomaMar 27 – Apr 2730133,083
TimiskamingMar 30 – May 1302,153 (2016)

Taps with a year in brackets are that earlier census’s count, shown where the latest was withheld; they sort after the published counts.

Sap-flow outlook right now

Full Ontario forecast →

Forecast for Lanark

Updated Nov 10, 5:00 AM EST

3 sap days in the next 6

freeze thaw 0 °C

  1. WedNov 11
    2° / 7°
    No refreeze forecast
  2. ThuNov 12
    0° / 6°
    No refreeze forecast
  3. FriNov 13
    -3° / 6°
    Classic sap day
  4. SatNov 14
    -2° / 6°
    Classic sap day
  5. SunNov 15
    -2° / 7°
    Classic sap day
  6. MonNov 16
    0° / 5°
    Run tapering

Data: Environment and Climate Change Canada. Verdicts use freeze-thaw thresholds from maple field research; your woods may run a little differently.

Weather estimate

Estimated from 35 seasons of weather

No official season record exists for Ontario. Our weather signal, weighted by farms across its 43 atlas divisions, puts the typical opening around Mar 12 and the closing around Apr 12. It's an estimate from daily temperatures (Daymet, 1991–2025), not a producer survey. Producers’ reports give it a rough check (below).

Opens
Mar 12
weather estimate
Closes
Apr 12
weather estimate
Earliest opening
Feb 16
2012
Latest opening
Mar 24
2018
Ontario maple atlas →
MarApr1991: Mar 5 – Apr 5, 32 sap days1992: Mar 20 – Apr 18, 28 sap days1993: Mar 18 – Apr 16, 23 sap days1994: Mar 19 – Apr 15, 29 sap days1995: Mar 9 – Apr 9, 36 sap days1996: Mar 21 – Apr 22, 31 sap days1997: Mar 18 – Apr 18, 28 sap days1998: Feb 27 – Mar 29, 27 sap days1999: Mar 6 – Apr 7, 39 sap days2000: Feb 22 – Mar 25, 30 sap days2001: Mar 16 – Apr 17, 26 sap days2002: Mar 8 – Apr 9, 36 sap days2003: Mar 22 – Apr 18, 23 sap days2004: Mar 12 – Apr 14, 28 sap days2005: Mar 13 – Apr 13, 30 sap days2006: Mar 10 – Apr 7, 28 sap days2007: Mar 13 – Apr 10, 23 sap days2008: Mar 20 – Apr 13, 23 sap days2009: Mar 12 – Apr 14, 35 sap days2010: Mar 2 – Mar 30, 25 sap days2011: Mar 16 – Apr 17, 23 sap days2012: Feb 16 – Mar 15, 39 sap days2013: Mar 15 – Apr 14, 30 sap days2014: Mar 22 – Apr 21, 22 sap days2015: Mar 18 – Apr 13, 24 sap days2016: Mar 5 – Apr 7, 37 sap days2017: Mar 1 – Mar 31, 27 sap days2018: Mar 24 – Apr 24, 35 sap days2019: Mar 17 – Apr 16, 32 sap days2020: Mar 6 – Apr 7, 46 sap days2021: Mar 2 – Apr 2, 30 sap days2022: Mar 11 – Apr 12, 36 sap days2023: Mar 8 – Apr 9, 38 sap days2024: Feb 20 – Mar 25, 32 sap days2025: Mar 12 – Apr 13, 29 sap days19911995200020052010201520202025
Each bar runs from the province's opening signal to its closing signal that season, averaged over its 43 atlas divisions and weighted by 2021 farms. Dashed lines: the typical estimate.

Producer check

What producers reported

Ontario publishes no year-by-year season dates. From 2006 to 2011, though, OMAFRA’s weekly Maple Production Agriphone, based in part on reports from producers across the province, gives our weather estimate a rough check.

Producer survey, 2007

119 producers with 21% of Ontario’s taps (Stats Canada 2006) answered the OMSPA survey.

Producers’ averages and our weather rule’s dates, Ontario, 2007
PointProducers (avg)Our rule
First boil / openingMar 15Mar 14
Last boil / closingApr 13Apr 10

First boils ran Feb 27 to Apr 5, last boils Mar 20 to Apr 27. Our rule: the average of Ontario’s 43 atlas divisions, weighted by farms reporting taps in the 2016 census.

Within 3 days of the producers’ averages. Encouraging, but it is one season: a check, not a calibration.

OMAFRA Maple Production Agriphone, July 12, 2007 (archived)

Where they differ

In the south they agree: the rule closes Essex (Windsor) on Mar 27, 2010, the week southern producers reported ending.

In the north the rule’s closings ran late in 2009 and 2011: it closes Algoma (Sault Ste. Marie) on Apr 29, 2009 and May 5, 2011, after the reports here say production had ended.

Ontario’s dates stay a weather estimate; read the northern closing dates as leaning late.

From the agriphone (archived)

  1. 2009

    “Sap collection and maple syrup production ended over the April 10 to 12 weekend in most northern and eastern late-season areas of Ontario.”
    OMAFRA Maple Production Agriphone, April 15, 2009 (archived)

  2. 2010

    “… a small sap flow did occur last weekend February 20 and 21 in early southwestern regions of the province …”
    OMAFRA Maple Production Agriphone, March 1, 2010 (archived)

  3. 2010

    “Many maple syrup producers in southern areas of the province ended sap collection for 2010 by the end of the week, March 27.”
    OMAFRA Maple Production Agriphone, March 29, 2010 (archived)

  4. 2011

    “Sap collection ended in Ontario by the Easter weekend to bring the 2011 maple syrup processing season to a close.”
    OMAFRA Maple Production Agriphone, April 26, 2011 (archived)

Timing your taps

How to know it's time in Ontario

Sap runs on a temperature swing, not a date. A night below freezing loads the tree; a day above freezing pushes sap out of the taphole. Field research treats a low under about 30°F followed by a high over about 37°F as a real freeze-thaw day, and big runs almost always come on days like that.

So watch the 10-day forecast. When you see a string of nights in the 20s and afternoons in the 40s, get your taps in a day or two ahead. South-facing slopes warm first and usually run earlier.

No multi-year published dates were found. OMAFRA: good sap flow can occur any time after early February in southwestern Ontario, and the earliest areas tap 2–3 weeks ahead of northern and northeastern Ontario. The Ontario Maple Syrup Producers' Association describes a typical season stretching from late March to early April (CBC, 2025).

Seasons are shifting. In Québec, the sap season is projected to start and end 9–13 days earlier by 2046–2065 and 15–19 days earlier by 2081–2100 than in 1971–2000; season onset advances about four days for each degree Celsius of warming (Houle et al., PLoS ONE, 2015).

Where Ontario's sugaring happens

  • LanarkLanark County, southwest of Ottawa, is billed as 'Ontario's Maple Syrup Capital' (Destination Ontario).
  • ElmiraSouthwestern Ontario reference point (Waterloo Region), the part of the province OMAFRA says taps earliest.
  • St. Joseph IslandNorthern Ontario sugarbush area named by Destination Ontario; OMAFRA says northern regions tap 2–3 weeks after the southwest.

FAQ

Ontario tapping questions

When is maple syrup season in Ontario?
Usually from February (southwest) to March (north) to early April. The exact start moves by weeks from year to year with the weather.
When should I tap my trees in Ontario?
Tap just before the first good run: when the forecast shows nights below freezing and days climbing to around 40°F. Tapholes dry up within 6 to 10 weeks, so tapping far too early can cost you the late runs.

Ontario

More for Ontario sugarmakers

Nearby

When to tap in other provinces

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