Just figured instead of pictures, I would make a video talking about my wood for the winter. It's only 2 minutes long...
Yep, most of that was outside for 2 years or more. About 20% of what is there was left over from last year, we had a mild winter.
No, mostly spiders. Before I bring wood in, I always move it closer to the house. I move it to disturb the bugs living in the stacks. Then, I leave it for a day or two to let the bugs find a new home.. Then after I'm done bringing in everything, I bug bomb the basement pretty good. We don't really have termites here in South Dakota. Never any ants.....found 1 mouse nest about a month ago
Looking ready! Seems maybe your area is hardwood deficient like mine. Do you ever get any elm? No box elder around here that I know of. What is it like for btu?
We have hardwoods here. In fact, it's just the Softwood and Ashes that are hard to come by. Remember, here on the Dakota prairie, there's not supposed to be any trees. Most trees here were planted. As far as Box Elder goes, the BTU'S from it are on par with most elms and maples at 17.9 million BTU's per chord. Biggest problems with it is that it usually rotten in the middle chaulk full of bugs and it's such a gnarled tree, it's hard to find a straight piece to buck and split. The "Firewood BTU drying time" chart in the resources tab is a great place to look up how different woods compare to each other. In fact, I haven't done it yet, but im going to write on my basement wall next to my woodstove the BTU'S per chord of the most common species of woods in my area, then I can kinda gauge how the house feels to what the weather is doing outside, depending on what I'm actually burning. Kinda like a thermostat. I am an HVAC technician..... I think about weird stuff sometimes......
I bring in about two weeks worth of wood at a time but I always wait until after 2-3 good frosts and I don't have any problem with bugs except a few spiders. I'm not sure how come spiders can survive freezing temps but some do.
I forgot about your elm question.... Yes, we have American Elm, Red Elm and Siberia Elm here. The American Elm here is getting killed off by that Dutch Elm Disease. I don't know about the others.
