How neccessary is sun to dry firewood?

[NDtreehugger]

I have noticed the wood I have in the shade is growing mold and the wood in the sun has no mold, for that reason alone parking wood in the sun is a good idea

 

[Saddle Mander]

I really don't have a choice. We have a great backyard (great = almost 100% natural shade), but not enough sun to even grow tomatoes in some buckets.

I have all my wood up on 6-inch racks in single rows against a mesh fence. It gets good air circulation year round, but only sees the sun during late fall to early spring.

I know it's not ideal, but it's all I got, so I just have to make the best of it.

 

[svk]

Here's my observation:

I split a bunch of wood 6 weeks ago.

Part of it was left in partial sun, uncovered.
Part in partial sun covered with tarpaper.
We are on the east side of a small lake so we have almost constant west wind coming through the stacks (which are stacked facing west-east)

It's been pretty rainy up here but the top rows of the uncovered pile are still green but significantly more dry than the covered. The pieces that I put on top of the tarpaper to hold it down are already almost completely dry from the sun baking the tarpaper.

Side note: I cover all of my stacks with tin or tar paper as up here the top rows of wood will rot long before they season/dry. I also will sometimes put up several years worth in one sitting and then just keep the pile up with what I cut each year so the back side of the pile may sit for years before being burned.