What to do?? Needing opinions on firewood storage.

[wise8706]

Im in a bind here guys, in Michigan we have been struck with the ash bore bad, I have boat loads of ash trees coming down or already on the ground. I cut for two OWB.

My plan is to just continue to drag logs out and stack them even though I have enough firewood stacked for next year already.

I guess my main question is, if stacked in 12ft log lengths, how long do you think this ash will last before becoming punky. I'm thinking leave it sit out in an area that has a lot of sun and can stay dry and keep it off the ground. Am I wasting my time by bringing out firewood that I won't be able to use until 5 yrs down the road?


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[svk]

A couple years at best. Now if you could get them bucked/off the ground and then cover the tops of the piles they would last indefinitely.

 

[turnkey4099]

In log length they will rot. Bucked, split and sstacked off the ground they will last many, many years.

Harry K

 

[muddstopper]

I dont see a lot of ash in my area so my experiences with log length wood might be different. I find any wood laying on the ground will rot. I will scarifice a couple of logs to make runners to stack the rest of the log on. I usually choose the biggest logs and space a couple of them out and then stack the rest of the logs on top of them. If I have more than one layer of logs, I like to alternate directions of the rows, stacking at right angles to the row beneath. the logs on the ground will sink into the ground and pretty much rot on the ground contact side, but the rest of the wood will age nicely. Its all about air flow. Lack of it and the wood will rot.

 

[wise8706]

Thanks for the replys guys. I'm just debating how I should go about all this wood that's coming down. Sad seeing it rot. I'll probably end up giving it my best effort and getting most of it pulled out and either split and stacked or left in log length covered


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[Shagbark]

Order a couple of carports and use them for wood sheds. About $800 for a 18'x 21' with boxed eves. 18'x 21' x 6' will hold 15 cord or so.

 

[svk]

The thing to remember is make hay while the sun shines. Once EAB rolls through you have a couple of years while it's killing the trees and a couple more of standing dead cutting. Then the ash trees are gone for a generation at minimum.

 

[square1]

Central lower peninsula here in my sixth season of taking 12~13 cord a year of dead ash. I figure I only have about 1 seasons worth of trees left. I really hate to see them go to waste too, but am finding whole 16" DBH trees punky when I get them on the ground. I left more in the woods to finish rotting than ever this year. Likely will just drop what's left to eliminate the hazard and let em rot the rest of the way where they land

 

[Oldman47]

I have some 4+ years old ash that was stored more or less off the ground in long rounds. I have some mold on the exposed ends of some but the wood itself has been solid as I cut it to length. My storage location gets only a little sun but does get some decent air flow.

 

[wise8706]

There were several larger ash trees this year that I have fell and they were punky 5 ft up, the rest of the tree was still great wood. I'm not super picky with these outdoor stoves but I'm not gonna burn wood that lights up faster than paper


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[Kevin in Ohio]

We are having the same thing. It depends a lot if it is your ground or if you will always be the one clearing it out. The way I have been working it is to get the most heat value of what I have, especially the close stuff. There will be 10's of thousands of cords that will rot away around here but I want to use what I have.

I work up everything that is on the ground first. I have an advantage as I do have a good bit of covered storage, around 150 cord under roof now. Leave the standing dead alone. It's free "air" storage and will last a good 5 years once dead in that situation. Like I said, work your close neighbors stuff up first and leave yours for a backup. when they're gone, they're gone so take as much of an advantage that you can from this sad situation. Stacking on concrete will at least slow the bugs down some if you have to store outside. Ash doesn't do real well on dirt.

From this.

to just standing dead

Same view with all the dead cut up.

 

[cantoo]

wise8706, I'm also trying to keep up with the borer. I also have tons of poplar that I'm trying to get some value out off. Decided the poplar is going to have to go for campfire wood thought, too much work for what I get out of it and the ash needs to be used. I stack my 12' logs on softwood logs, this year I'll use some big poplar logs instead. High enough to allow wind to get under the logs. I stack the logs reasonably tight but not concerned about some big holes here and there to let wind thru. I also watch the logs as I pile them, if one seems heavy (wet) or black inside it get put aside for processing sooner. I'm still kind of undecided on what size logs to leave to the end. Smaller logs should dry out quicker but bigger logs are easier to store and make big piles in a hurry. My long term pile is on top of a gravel ridge at the back of my place, gets full sun and lots of wind. In the winter it is pretty windswept and the snow usually melts first there. Pile is about 8' tall and 70' long, hopefully couple hundred feet by this fall. I also have log piles at the barn but it's for stuff I'm working on now. Gets wind there but also causes huge snow drifts where I don't want them. I sell a bit of wood just to make my wife happy about all the time I spend playing with wood. I just built a 36" splitter so it'll mean a lot less handling for me. I'm making crates to handle the longer stuff.

 

[cantoo]

Missed 2 pictures. In the aerial picture the bush is where I'm getting the wood. I only own 10 acres off the front. The grass spot at the back is a hill and that's where the logs are piled now. Wind goes right down that grass runway.

 

[wise8706]

Cantoo,

I'm in the same exact situation you are. We have a big thaw right now in Michigan and I can't go anywhere to pull anything out. I have 3 big piles of logs about the size of yours. They are about a half mile from my house and it's down an easy dirt road from the logs to my house. We own the property and I hate to see all this wood sit in the woods and rot. I guess I would feel better if I had it all stacked in log lengths and maybe get a couple more years out of it before it gets punky. Anyways I guess it's a never ending battle. All this is coming off of a 27 acre wood lot. My aunt owns the property just north of where I'm cutting and I have permission to cut there also. It's also loaded with dead ash. Seems there never enough hours in a day to get it all out and stacked up.


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[muddstopper]

Missed 2 pictures. In the aerial picture the bush is where I'm getting the wood. I only own 10 acres off the front. The grass spot at the back is a hill and that's where the logs are piled now. Wind goes right down that grass runway.
View attachment 487387 View attachment 487388

Dang it man, that is some flat land. I doubt I could even walk there.

 

[cantoo]

We're reasonably level here. Only goes up and down a couple hundred feet for a long ways. The grass part at the back of my property is about a 40' deep hollow and a ridge of gravel cuts across it. A municipal drain runs thru the middle and connects to the one that is the narrow grass running parallel to my property. The piles at the back you can see are left over from our motocross track. I also have a gravel pit there and a burn pile. The big grass area to the right of my place is all gone now. That used to be my family's gravel pit. There is 8 turkey barns there, they hauled out a section of hill that was 40' high and about 20 acres. Machinery was there for months. Now it's a big souphole and you can't even walk across it most of the year. Couple before and after shots.

 

[esshup]

Get it up off the ground, get it covered and try to take the bark off before stacking. Cut/split/stacked/covered up off the ground is even better. If it's not covered it won't last 5 years.

 

[wise8706]

At this point I just want to get it out of the woods! It's a muddy slop hole. Mildest winter I have witnessed. On the bright side we've had great weather for building my house that we started in December!


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[CaseyForrest]

Yep, very mild winter here.

If you're worried about too much wood and it rotting, I can alleviate you of some of that headache.

 

[Yooperforeman]

Same here,it's been warm.Hasn't froze yet,still wet in the woods.Trying to get it all out,it's been standing dead for 3 years now.I'm skidding it out in 8' lengths and piling it on skids.
Then splitting it,piling it and putting a tarp over it.In the spring I'm putting up a 24'x24' shed for the tractor and firewood storage.