Girdling spruce for lumber

[MontanaSam]

I have a number of very large (30" DBH) open-grown spruce on my land, and rather than cutting them down for firewood this year I am considering girdling them or limbing and topping them while they stand (this spring), in the hope that they dry standing, and a year or two from now I can fell them and saw them into beams for a barn.

Can anyone speak to the practicality / effectiveness of this?

 

[Dantheman300z]

I have not but would be very interested in the process. Sounds like a cool project.

 

[Montanalocal]

Here is a video on girdling.

 

[DougA]

I have smaller spruce than you and I would check them regularly. Spruce will start rotting very quickly once dead. The bugs get in, then the woodpeckers make holes getting the bugs, then it rots, top down.

 

[CentralVAWoodHeat]

Don't girdle trees. If you are going to make lumber, I would fell the tree, process the boards, and let them dry, under cover for at least a full year, probably two. Girdling trees creates not only a standing dead hazard, but still leaves the tree exposed to the elements and insects. You will have a standing rotted tree that could fall at any second and it will not season well, especially for lumber. There is no reason to create more hazards in the woods than there already are naturally.

 

[MontanaSam]

I understand about the hazard factor. My main reason is the drying. I don't really have the weight or manpower to stack and sticker with pile weights a dozen 16' long green spruce beams (or whatever they come out to be). I'm thinking that if a guy was to limb and top a tree (no girdling) and perhaps remove as much bark as he could, then the tree would dry fairly well in a year or two. Then you fall the tree, and process your lumber which should already be fairly dry.

It seems that girdling is done mostly for wildlife trees and wood left in the woods, from what I'm learned so far.

 

[CentralVAWoodHeat]

DougA is correct. That tree will rot on the stump. Bugs and birds will get to it and you will be left with unusable wood. The only reason most lumber doesn't rot and become infested is that it is pressure treated to withstand those conditions. If you leave dead wood outside in the elements, standing dead or not, it will begin to rot, warp, and become unusable for anything but firewood.

If you don't have the means to do the project correctly, save the tree's life and don't do it at all, unless you are ready to use it for firewood when the aforementioned inevitably happens.

 

[Bad LP]

We girdle trees (forest management program) for wild life that love bugs and for the trees with zero market value. Currently have a bunch of large white pines needing it done.

I think there is a good reason lumber companies cut saw and dry their lumber.

 

[MontanaSam]

Perhaps the dry conditions out west enable wood to season longer without bug/bird damage...a mill owner recommended this procedure to me the other day, which is why I'm asking the same question here.

When we're logging out here, and I don't remember seeing this back east, there are standing dead trees which have been dead for years that are free of rot or decay, good standing dead larch, fir, white pine, spruce, etc. Some get attacked by birds and beetles, but most seem to die, shed their bark, and then slowly dry over the years. These logs are prized at the sawmills for choice-dry beam and dimensional lumber..minimal checking, no pitch or heart checks, nice and stable wood. Sometimes the sapwood will be soft and rotten, but the debarkers seem to take care of that more often than not.

So I'm thinking there might be a way to simulate those natural conditions. Appreciate the opinions thus far.

 

[Applesister]

Ive read about girdling used to "force" fruit trees to mature fruit faster. In these instances, I imagine you must be very precise with your scalpel. Its used to dry wood on the stump, is more practiced in Europe than here. Or more accepted.
And Ive overheard old farmers say girdling trees like Aspen will kill the root system and all and prevent root suckering from live roots.
Have no idea if any of it works. I imagine its an old wives tale.