Well after the weather predictions, I ventured into the woods in the spirit of a Jack London novel, only to find the lower forty wasn't even covered. I wanted to take some photos and brought the saw along t cut up some tops near the log roads. Made shrt work of a sugar maple, and I think a red. Hit a white oak too. I left all the rounds where they were cut, and it got me to wondering how long laying on the ground it would be before the bark would fall off as it was being handled to split. I have had some that way in the past, but can't recall how long they rounds were there. I know the wood type has a factor, but lets use sugar maple as an example
Bark will stay on longer with winter felling. If you want the bark to fall off PDQ then wait for the sap to start flowing again.
I don't know about sugar maple, but if red maple rounds are left unsplit for a summer, the wood shrinks enough so the bark separates. With oak it's when the grubs get going under the bark over a summer, especially if the rounds get moisture. Just my experience.
Sugar maple may rot if left on the ground before bark falls off. It don’t last long on the ground. I’ve found it spalted and plunked with bark still attached. If I have a sugar maple go down it on the top of my priority list to get cut and split. It’s good stuff Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Good advice, but these are tree tops from logging. Is there still the possibility of sap flowing after being cut off the trunk? I know they don't season at all until they are split, so i am thinking it might be possible.
2 years guaranteed, but there are variables as others mentioned. That said, on the humid east coast I don't like to let logs sit without at least splitting them once in half. It seems the bark insulates the logs keeping moisture in which is why it never fully seasons, but I also find the wood will actually begin to spalt or rot within a year and it will lose btu's. It's just too wet here, but It may be different for you in Indiana.
Agree with the one post.....get it off if the ground. Maple seems to rot fast. I have small standindcdead sugar maples and some of the bark is still on them and they are rotten. I use my excavator and thumb to expedite the bark removal
No sugar maple here. Red maple will get punky and soft if left on the ground. Kinda depends on the type of ground too. Oak takes a long time to shed bark. I have some red oak that's been 4 years and some splits the bark is still tight. Eastern white pine is 6 to 9 months for bark to start falling off. I've peeled the bark off pine to keep the grubs out, but if it is for firewood best to just get it cut into rounds and split before the beetles get into it in warmer weather.
The sugar maple we are currently burning in the fireplace are mostly crown limbs from sugar maples we cut April 2017. Left them round, but they they were stacked and under a roof. The bark did not separate. They are as dry as dry can be. Some we split once we brought them in the house.
I agree that maple will tend to rot rather quick if left on the ground. Soft maple will go bad much quicker than hard maple.
IME, it still tries to move down the tree, sap here anyways goes down the tree when it gets cold at night to prevent it from freezing and splitting the tree. This is why sugaring is usually done in the spring with freezing nights in 40 degree days. If I have a sugar maple that I know I'm going to cut I tried a girdle it about this time of year. Meaning remove the Bark for 2 ft around the whole tree so this sap doesn't go up the tree in the spring. Really helps the drying process.
I girdled about 50 Popple (aspen), it takes more than one year to kill them. I've been told that Sugar Maples take several years before they die after girdling. I girdled one Sugar Maple that was growing up into the crown of a large White Oak. I value White Oaks much higher than Maples so it had to go. I never got a chance to see how long it took to kill it cause a storm came and took the large White Oak down. The Oak took the Maple, a Cherry and a Red Oak with it along with a bunch of smaller trees. If I want to kill trees now I do whats called drill and fill. Drill 3/8 holes around the trunk about 3 inches apart at a 45 degree angle down. Squirt the holes full of a 50/50 mix of Glyphosate (41%) and water. The tree will be dead in about 2-3 weeks. I did this to another big bunch of popples and they all died quickly.
Soggy Logs Welcome to the FHC! Only reason I know of that a Sugar maple wouldn't die faster is you missed some of the sap wood usually inch or 2 under the bark. I usually just knock it out with a axe. My goal in girdling the tree wasn't to kill it, cutting it off the stump usually took care of that. Before I joined FHC, learned about 3 year plan and dry wood. Preventing spring sap from going up tree really made the firewood drier and therefore burn better 8 months later. You would have thought these facts would have engaged brain BUT sadly no..
Evergreen trees will ooze out slowly but not much and not far. Deciduous trees lose the ability to move water. The cells that allow water movement die in the Fall when the leaves fall 0off and carbs are turned into sugars to act as antifreeze . That fermenting sugar has to stay in place in Winter or the tree will die. The tree has no capacity for moving water until Spring when those cells grow back to allow capillary action and water starts wicking back up the tree. You've probably seen the damage that can happen to a tree if it gets caught with much of its sugars purged and we gat a late freeze and under the bark explodes and splits.
