Fungus. Ignore or a problem?I

[Mettlemickey]

Hi, I've been slowly building a little log pile over the last few months. Finally got round to cutting and splitting some of it today and found a lot of it is covered in a fungus of some kind. It seems to be spreading quickly too.

Is this a problem? I don't really like it, but don't want to fuss over something that might not be an issue. If I split this and load into my log store will it infect the rest of the currently unaffected wood? Will it die off as the wood dries in the log store? Is it ok to burn this wood once it dries? Will the fungus eat the BTUs out of it? Apologies for so many questions!

It's currently piled on some pallets in a corner, exposed to the weather but off the ground.

Any advice much appreciated.

Thanks

MM

 

[saskwoodburner]

I ended up with the few odd pieces of wood with this type of thing, from a pile of three year old logs the RM had pushed down to make a road. The wood is dry, but the cooties are still there. I'm not sure the correct answer, but I don't think it would affect dry wood. I also wouldn't and don't put it with my good dry wood (it's in the outdoor dry/tarped/burn first pile) just in case I'm wrong.

In fact, my better half is sensitive to dust and everything under the sun, so I just burn a few pieces here n there. I walk it from the wood pile straight to the stove and in she goes. The wood, not the missus.

Interested to see what the real answer is though.

 

[Knots]

If you can get that wood to dry up a little, the fungus will stop. If not, it will continue the process of turning your wood into dirt. It needs moisture.

I knock the big pieces off, but it burns fine once dry.

 

[johneh]

Fungus loves moisture and is part of the decomposition of woody material .
Get the wood off the ground and split if it needs to be . Once the log starts to dry
the fungus will stop growing and also dry out adding btu's to the wood

 

[jatoxico]

Split and top cover.

 

[DougA]

I used to get that but almost none now that I store everything dry. My biggest concern would be storing the wood with fungus inside the house. Even if you knock off the visible stuff and it's dry there are still spores than will escape. If you are bringing it into the house and burning right away, that will be OK. If you store a few days or week's worth inside, then I would not.
Whenever I have stuff that is questionable like that, I judge it be weight when dry. If it's super light, then it has very little BTU value and I toss it into the brush dump. It it is OK, then I store it outside and when it comes into the house, it goes directly into the fire.
Fungus spores and NOT good inside the house in the winter. Yes, they occur naturally anyway but I would do everything reasonable to discourage it.

 

[Mettlemickey]

Thanks everyone. Sounds like I need to get this stuff split ASAP. Think I'll keep it separate like saskwoodburner as well, try and avoid any cross contamination. Good advice from all. Will store separate and bring directly in to burn, without storing inside. Thanks again all.

 

[billb3]

I get that on uncovered piles. More so on unsplit wood.
Keeping the rain off helps but it can be pretty humid here and sometimes still get some.
Cold and dry of Winter usually wipes it out fairly well.

 

[BrotherBart]

Grows and then dries out on the ends of my oak splits all the time. Extra BTUs.

 

[Bad LP]

Eat it!!

 

[johneh]

It looks like it could be Chicken of the Woods
Can't really tell from picture if it is very good eating
Description here

http://www.mushroom-appreciation.com/chicken-of-the-woods.html#sthash.MN5l5Xj2.dpbs

 

[spirilis]

I recently became familiar with mushroom cultivation, one thing folks do is cut down a living tree, preferably in the spring, buck into 1m sections and inoculate with "mushroom plug spawn"... wet wood dowels cultivated with known edible mushroom spores. You buy these from a mushroom specialist, drill lots of holes through the bark and hammer in the dowels, covering them with melted wax to seal in moisture. It's a great example of where you want wood to be really wet inside. Those logs are placed in the shade and watered periodically (or sat in a shallow hole that collects water). Bark needs to be intact, and you get "flushes" of mushroom fruiting bodies like what you see on your splits right now as the wood slowly decomposes over many years.

It needs lots of moisture to survive. Dry it out and it goes dormant. While it does eat up the wood and exhale some of its carbon content as CO2, most of what it eats becomes the body of the fungus. So it's not "extra BTUs" but rather a reorganizing of the existing material (now part of the mushroom & mycelium rather than the wood's cellular structure).

 

[BrotherBart]

A guy here in our hood has been using his bucked Oak rounds for years to grow mushrooms. He doesn't even heat with wood. Just grows his mushrooms with it.

 

[PA. Woodsman]

If it bothers you do what I do, scrape it off with a putty knife. It scrapes off very easily when wet.

 

[Mettlemickey]

Thanks for the advice all.

I spent a few hours this morning cutting the affected logs into rounds and into my tarp covered back up log store, I.e. Away from everything else. Didn't have time to split it yet, will get round to that soon, but at least it's off the ground, covered and in the dry now. So fingers crossed the fungus drys up and the rot stops!

I resisted the urge to eat any, just in case it's deadly or something. You can't be too careful with mushrooms! Plus it looks revolting, even to an Englishman

Thanks again all.
MM

 

[BlueRidgeMark]

Grows and then dries out on the ends of my oak splits all the time. Extra BTUs.

the fungus will stop growing and also dry out adding btu's to the wood

It's NOT extra BTUs. It's not adding anything it didn't take out of the wood in the first place. It's taking good hard, long-burning wood and turning it into kindling, at best.

If you can get that wood to dry up a little, the fungus will stop. If not, it will continue the process of turning your wood into dirt.

Yep. It's slowly ruining your wood. Dry that wood or lose it.

 

[D8Chumley]

It looks like it could be Chicken of the Woods
Can't really tell from picture if it is very good eating
Description here

http://www.mushroom-appreciation.com/chicken-of-the-woods.html#sthash.MN5l5Xj2.dpbs

I was thinking the same thing, I've never seen it personally but I love mushrooms and if I came across some I'd try it out

 

[johneh]

It's NOT extra BTUs. It's not adding anything it didn't take out of the wood in the first place. It's taking good hard, long-burning wood and turning it into kindling, at best

And if you leave it long enough
it will make DIRT to

 

[Little Digger]

The fungi on your wood is known as Bracket Fungi. It is NOT "Chicken of the Woods!" Most of the Bracket Fungi varieties are in fact poisonous! So a little piece of advice, unless you can positively identify a mushroom or other fungi as being non poisonous, DON'T EAT THEM!

Once your log or split with them on dries, they will dry out as well. Just toss them in the stove with the rest. And there is no need to be concerned as far as physical contact goes. They are harmless that way. As it is, it's natures way of telling you that your wood needs to be off the ground and covered so it will dry out.

 

[Mettlemickey]

Bang goes the risotto then Little Digger!

Seriously though, good advice. No one should ever eat any kind of wild mushrooms or fungus without being totally sure what kind it is. It's very easy to get it wrong and end up very ill, or worse.

On the plus side the consensus seems to be that I can still burn this stuff once it's dried out.

MM

 

[Fred Wright]

Fungi on logs or rounds tells you they've been setting too long. Get it bucked, split, stacked and covered soon and it'll be fine. Leave it set and your wood will go punky.

We get these things growing on the ends of splits all the time, usually at or near the bottom of the stacks where rain can get to it. Scrape it off before bringing it inside.

 

[jeffesonm]

It's pretty damp in my woods and I get that on my stacks sometimes, even after it's split. As mentioned it typically dies off in the cool winter air.

 

[BlueRidgeMark]

I was thinking the same thing, I've never seen it personally but I love mushrooms and if I came across some I'd try it out

Well, just in case I miss the chance later. RIP.

 

[Jay106n]

Fungas means too much moisture. Get it split, stacked, and covered. It will dry out and the shrooms will die off. Scrape off anything currently growing. Failure to do so will result in your wood turning into dirt.

 

[Paulywalnut]

This one looks edible. Just kidding.