Basically my question is, does a dead standing tree (long dead) need to season at all or should it be ready once CSS?
It depends……. I would have a moisture meter ready. I would think limb wood would be drier than trunk wood. I have cut long dead oak that was at 35+% still in the trunk.
Every dead standing I’ve cut still has lots of moisture in the base. Some were dead for a good while too. IMO, won’t know till ya get in there.
Depends how long its been dead. Part of the tree closest to the ground will wick up moisture so may need to dry. A moisture meter will tell you. Problem is certain trees have a limited "shelf life" once dead. If the bark stays on after it dies it will hold moisture thus speeding up the rotting process. I felled some dead white oak (gypsy moth killed a few years ago) last Winter. Id say its been dead for five years at least. CSS it for selling this Winter. I didnt put a MM to it. Normally oak takes 2-3 years to dry.
Yup, it depends...some species dry more than others...often times if they have been dead standing for years the limb wood will be ready to roll, but the trunk is not, especially if its a larger tree...the lower you get in the trunk, the wetter it gets...but IME it still seems to dry out faster than a tree cut green.
Personally, I have dropped standing dead that was ready to burn....every inch of it. However, on the other end of the scale, I have also dropped standing dead that did need more drying time. The weight of the rounds is the biggest clue. But telling you a standing dead tree is ready to burn (or not ready to burn) would be way too assumptive.
What species of tree? Lodgepole can be so dry that nothing registers on a meter about 8 feet up, but DBH can be 38 percent real easy. Doug Fir can be pretty wet too. I typically just leave the first several rounds if I'm getting some wood in the winter and I need to burn it right then.
A clue that might indicate that something is on the drier side is the presence of a radial crack running lengthwise in the log/limb. Can’t guarantee that it will be dry enough but that kind of crack indicates the some shrinkage has occurred, which is a good sign.
Yeah, depends on how long dead standing and what kind of tree. I've had good luck with red oak, BUT the sapwood is sometimes soft and crumbly like packing foam and the base of the tree that is less exposed to the weather/elements can be rather wet, BUT, get it cut and split it often dries PDQ. As in sometimes just weeks. Eastern white pine usually rots. White oak too, just more slowly. I'll take more effort to keep white oak out of the rain as it can have higher BTU than red oak. I don't like to leave it dead standing either. For a species that was used to build ships at one time it sure doesn't like being wet on land. Red oak can be rotten inside also. Nothing is cast in stone.
Only dead I cut I knew was dry was lightning struck.. Ash all moisture in tree vaporized and blew bark over 60 feet. Saw it happen; moisture meter said 5-6%
Over the years I have cut a lot of dead standing elm. We normally wait until the bark has fallen off before cutting. Even then you can bet at least the bottom third of the tree is high moisture, but a year in the stack will take care of that.
All very good answers so far I cut a lot of standing dead barkless elm. Tops and limbs are usually good to go as soon as it hits the ground. With a larger tree ( around 20” dbh and up) the trunk is usually wetter than my moisture meter will read and often times water will squeeze out around the wedge when splitting. But it usually splits much easier and dries a lot faster than a tree that has been taken alive.
Make some chips of it and feel them with your hand. You'll be able to tell if it's dry. Most of the smaller standers (<12") where I am can go directly into the stove. The larger ones can be dry, but I treat them as 'semi' green usually. Lots of metrics involved as to whether or not they will be dry. This is why I suggest feeling the chips. A moisture meter can also tell you where the wood is at.
I harvest a lot of dead wood. Only 10% burns perfect, less than 20% moisture, white ash and/or white oak, never red oak. Another 20% will burn but not as hot as I like, mainly slippery elm (red elm) or white ash. Six months to one year brings everything to a good burn but dead red oak still takes two years even with no bark. South Dakota has less humidity than Eastern Iowa and so you should have drier dead wood.
Also be cautious when dropping standing dead trees . Vibrations up the trunk can cause branches to let loose . The amount of hinge wood that you leave will be different with a dead dry tree compared to a live green tree. I start with normal amount of hinge ( approximately 20% of diameter) Set wedges then tickle the hinge until she tips.
