Beech on the ground

Any of you have experience with beech? The lot next to mine was logged last year and the logger left several massive beech trees on the landing, in payment for being able to travel through my property for the work. The trees all had some degree of disease or were dying, so no value in lumber, and the firewood buyer inexplicably did not want it either. I know beech is a great firewood, but I am concerned that by the time I can get to C/S/S, it will be early spring and the stuff might be rotten by then. How long do I have before I write it off? It's all still in full tree lengths and the largest trunks are close to 40" diameter at the butt. There's probably 10-15 cords of wood sitting there. Some of it was already showing signs of rot.

I'm worried it'll be like white birch or poplar, where if you leave it on the ground for more than 15 minutes or so, it turns into compost.

 

I've been burning a lot of diseased beech. Obviously the sooner you get it split stacked, the better, but even with a little punkiness on the outside, you'll get a lot of btu's out of it. I'll add more to this thread later.

 

It's not like birch, in that it won't rot as soon as it hits the dirt.

 

If last year was the one that ended 2 days ago you should have no problems. Being diseased it probably had some rot in it to begin with. It does not rot as fast as birch.

 

Yeah. It was cut early in 2016. I burn a lot of different species but not a lot of experience with beech. It's usually in the stacks before it has a chance to rot but I couldn't get to this pile in time before bad weather set in.


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I collected some blow down beech last year that had been on the ground 2 years it was starting to show a little rot where it touched the ground. I cut and split it and am burning it this season.

 

I have burnt a lot of beech over the years, good stuff. The big stuff should be fine but any branch wood laying on the ground will be starting to go but still should be fine if you get it in the spring.

 

I tend to find that beech rots faster than other woods. Fungus seems to attack it. I would get it off the ground quickly if you can.

 

Around here, some of the Beech's have "Beech bark disease" and it will degrade while standing. I've had to pitch a few logs into the woods once I got them down (near the power lines). You'll know within the first few inches of bucking them how solid they are. Good solid beech is fine on the ground (for a bit) and not like birch.