Does wood on the ground rot less in the winter?

[Chris Cringle]

Most folks know not to let our wood sit on the ground too much lest it rot. But for most, I think, some time setting on the ground is unavoidable. I was wondering, is this less of an issue in the cold months? Do cold temps slow rot the way refrigeration slows spoilage of food?

 

[Jere39]

Certainly frozen ground will not accelerate rot like wet soil. It would always be better to get the wood off the ground winter or summer.

 

[Big_Al]

In Winter when the ground is froze you should be ok. I usually start stacking mine in the spring so I lay out some old boards to stack on to keep it off the ground.

 

[Marley5]

Well this year doesn't count cause of all the DAMN rain we've had in the east.....even my seasoned wood sizzles.

I have roughly 6 cords on the ground now but I pile everything which keeps more wood suspended.

If you have time to stack it, even better.

 

[Trapper_Pete]

Most folks know not to let our wood sit on the ground too much lest it rot. But for most, I think, some time setting on the ground is unavoidable. I was wondering, is this less of an issue in the cold months? Do cold temps slow rot the way refrigeration slows spoilage of food?

do you often get hard as concrete frozen ground in VA ?
if frozen solid ground and wood it should have little effect.
cool may slow things some , but freeze thaw means frost coming out of the ground I don't think it is much better than summer probably worse because the sun and heat has so little drying effect on the ground in constant freeze thaw or 32-50 degree weather.
the rain has also been ridiculous this year.

 

[Oldmaple]

Low temperatures will slow down the decay process (as will high temps). The organism responsible for decay have preferred temperatures and moisture conditions to grow and do their work. Hard to keep it dry setting on the ground but a winter there isn't going to bother it too much, even less the lower the temperatures are.

 

[panolo]

Doesn't effect me here in MN but the ground is concrete. I just did a few cords today and it will sit in a pile on the ground until spring.

 

[Jasonrkba]

Fewer bugs and dryer air.

 

[ChoppyChoppy]

We make log decks right on the ground. Usually they are fine a few years before the bottom starts getting a bit rotten. You could always put 2 or 3 runners down and stack the logs on top. Saw logs I've seen guys do that and "crib" them so like 10 logs (or however many) and then 10 logs on top but spun 90*

Doesn't effect me here in MN but the ground is concrete. I just did a few cords today and it will sit in a pile on the ground until spring.

Here too.

I've dug holes in July and still hit frost.

Dropped off wood a bit ago. It's been single digits and the wood is froze rock hard.

Normally it hangs out in the dump bed a bit. I've delivered a few thousand cords with this truck, pretty good at it by now. I had the thing about 1/2 way up and I thought a bit came out.
The customer hollers... "It's empty" as I'm still raising the bed and creeping forward.

I get out and their mini cooper that I was about 20ft away was just about buried in the wood. The whole cord rocketed out of the truck!

 

[Marley5]

At least it was just a mini cooper. Lol

 

[GVS]

At least it was just a mini cooper. Lol

JEEZE,that ain't that funny!

 

[user 122190]

My 16" rounds are stacked on the ground. Years ago I would lay parallel a couple of 1 or 2 inch round lodgepoles to elevate the rounds. It wasn't stable and now I just put it on the ground. I have noticed no difference.

 

[sb47]

My guess is once it freezes everything stops. I'm sure the lower the temp, the slower the decay. Dry air my not play as big a roll as one my think, because the wood is sucking the moisture from the ground, not the air. Some wood wicks water better then others. I watched a program about old wooden ship building and they used different wood for different places for that reason. Most wooden deck hulls were made of red oak because the cells of the wood were better at keeping water from wicking through.

 

[alderman]

In the Northwest we get almost constant rain during the Winter so wood on the ground stays wet and rots faster.


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