Anyone burn standing dead elm trees

[Cpjlube]

Got a question. Is red elm killed by dutch elm disease?

Yep. On the farm they seem to get about 6-10 inches and then die. Occasionally you do see them bigger.

 

[Ronaldo]

I also am in the elm lovers group! It burn s great, doesnt create a lot of ash and the smaller stuff is dry enough to burn right away. It is not a favorite species to split----can be a stringy mess.

Ron

 

[Whitespider]

Red Elm is, or was, one of the more resistant to DED, but not so much any more for a couple reasons...

1. As the American Elm died off the bug moved on to the Red Elm (and others) and the disease evolved as needed to survive.
2. The Siberian Elm was once considered to be near immune, but after the disease crossed the Mississippi it readily evolved to attack it... and the Siberian Elm also readily hybridizes with Red Elm in the wild, which has lowered the Red Elm's resistance in many areas.

In this area the first "wave" of DED took mostly American Elm, the second "wave" hit the Red Elm hard, and now the third "wave" is taking just about any sort of elm it can find. It's all sort'a scary when ya' think about it, first DED, now the Emerald Ash Borer is gaining momentum, Oak Blight and Sudden Oak Death Syndrome are taking the oaks... ain't gonna' be much left.

 

[Ronaldo]

Red Elm is, or was, one of the more resistant to DED, but not so much any more for a couple reasons...

1. As the American Elm died off the bug moved on to the Red Elm (and others) and the disease evolved as needed to survive.
2. The Siberian Elm was once considered to be near immune, but after the disease crossed the Mississippi it readily evolved to attack it... and the Siberian Elm also readily hybridizes with Red Elm in the wild, which has lowered the Red Elm's resistance in many areas.

In this area the first "wave" of DED took mostly American Elm, the second "wave" hit the Red Elm hard, and now the third "wave" is taking just about any sort of elm it can find. It's all sort'a scary when ya' think about it, first DED, now the Emerald Ash Borer is gaining momentum, Oak Blight and Sudden Oak Death Syndrome are taking the oaks... ain't gonna' be much left.

It does get a guy thinking and concerned about good trees being under siege. There is always Boxelder------that WEED tree will probably survive most anything.:msp_angry:

Ron

 

[brenndatomu]

I do like to get jiggy with it from time to time.
I tried making soup with them but it tasted like dog toenails.

I was just wondering if anyone else had seen that. Its not every tree, out of the four trees I have piled under the snow, only one trunk has these mushrooms. I had some elm a few years ago that had them too. Kinda strange.

Now there's a flavor I've never thought of...

 

[Steve NW WI]

It does get a guy thinking and concerned about good trees being under siege. There is always Boxelder------that WEED tree will probably survive most anything.:msp_angry:

Ron

If the world was fair, box elder bugs would wipe out the box elders. Alas, it's not to be.

 

[dbowling]

elm

Well it seems alot of people like Elm like myself..

 

[jonsereds 621]

Elm and pebbles

I cut a lot of dead elm 30 years ago in the Evesham area uk. Biggest problem i had was pebbles, some as much as six feet above ground, followed by barbed wire etc. Really good firewood, low ash. A hydraulic splitter would have seen me do a lot more. Some of these trees were five feet accross at hedgetop height. I still have a 'drinkers' seat i made from one of them, nobody ever fell out of that, or tipped it over. One piece, 230kg . Learn what a decent chain is and how to sharpen it fast on that stuff, it was like iron. I would like to see one of those fancy eight way splitters face a knotty branchy lump of that stuff. You could put the eighty amp mig welder away for starters. I was not aware you have dutch elm disease over your way....Latest here is 'ash dieback'. If so, it'l be a disaster except for my woodburner. Any one got a woman that will split logs ? They are a special type. Not to be argued with. Greetings to all. Jim.

 

[Steve NW WI]

I cut a lot of dead elm 30 years ago in the Evesham area uk. Biggest problem i had was pebbles, some as much as six feet above ground, followed by barbed wire etc. Really good firewood, low ash. A hydraulic splitter would have seen me do a lot more. Some of these trees were five feet accross at hedgetop height. I still have a 'drinkers' seat i made from one of them, nobody ever fell out of that, or tipped it over. One piece, 230kg . Learn what a decent chain is and how to sharpen it fast on that stuff, it was like iron. I would like to see one of those fancy eight way splitters face a knotty branchy lump of that stuff. You could put the eighty amp mig welder away for starters. I was not aware you have dutch elm disease over your way....Latest here is 'ash dieback'. If so, it'l be a disaster except for my woodburner. Any one got a woman that will split logs ? They are a special type. Not to be argued with. Greetings to all. Jim.

Welcome! We have a few other Brits on here, always nice to see the view from the other side of the pond.

Dutch Elm Disease pretty much ravaged the elm population back in the 70s, there are old photos showing the streets of St Paul and Minneapolis, Minnesota lined with rows of big old elms, they're pretty much all gone, sadly, many were replaced with Ash trees which are now suffering the same fate with the Emerald Ash Borer. Some trees, and some varieties survived the initial outbreak, and there's still plenty of elm to be found in woodlots, road ditches, and fence lines, but it seems every few years the DED makes another sweep through and kills a bunch of them. It keeps me in good firewood, so it's not all bad.

Dutch Elm Disease pretty much started the hydraulic splitter industry here. You're right that some good stringy elm is a test of one's fabrication skills.

On the pebbles in the wood, that's pretty common on roadside trees and trees at the edge of a field where small stones get embedded in the bark (especially of trees with thicker bark like elms) when thrown by machinery/cars nearby. Barbed wire has been the bane of firewood cutters the world over since a few years after the first barbed wire fence was put up.

I've seen a few women that can work a splitting maul, and while you wouldn't want to get on their bad side, it's a quality that will add a few points in my book! My last GF was a good splitter operator, looking for a replacement at this time.

 

[Kemper]

I burn mostly dead elm, it will make for a hot fire and as some have said not too many coals left but mix in some oak or hickory and then theres plenty of coals.

Elm does require a log splitter on the bigger pieces, it's really stringy and knarley.

 

[Hellbent]

Yep

Now the Siberian Elm is nothing but a nuisance tree found (in greater or lesser numbers) near everywhere between the Mississippi and the Rocky's... even considered an invasive species in some areas

I can certainly attest to that! I have about 10 acres that are infested with them so thick you can hardly walk through. They remind me of bamboo thickets. My problem is I'm trying to restore the land to pasture and they are all a bit too big to brush hog and a bit too small to chainsaw.

One time I went to see if the NRCS folks would chip in on tree killer since they put them in my area a while back ( 20's and 30's ) kinda as a joke (really seeing how they thought i should send them to tree heaven) and they told me "If our service paid to plant the trees we certainly wouldn't also pay to remove the trees" I should have just asked for an Obamaphone!:msp_razz: