How long will cherry last

[KYrob]

I cut up and hauled a big cherry tree home this past weekend. I plan on splitting and stacking it before long but have read that cherry rots quick. How long will it last after splitting and stacking? Will it still be good next year or should I plan on burning it in late winter this year?

Thanks,
Rob

 

[thewoodlands]

I cut up and hauled a big cherry tree home this past weekend. I plan on splitting and stacking it before long but have read that cherry rots quick. How long will it last after splitting and stacking? Will it still be good next year or should I plan on burning it in late winter this year?

Thanks,
Rob

I had a cherry stacked in the woods two years and brought it out this summer then stacked by the house and it's fine, been burning it here in the shoulder season.


zap

 

[Battenkiller]

I plan on splitting and stacking it before long but have read that cherry rots quick.

Cherry sapwood rots rather quickly, but the dark heartwood is fairly durable. Both will be perfectly fine a year from now, however.

 

[chinkapin_oak]

It's similar to oak. The sapwood rots quick, but the heartwood is considered rot resistant. It will last for atleast a decade on the forest floor and still be decent. Split and stacked off the ground it will last for a long time. It's arguable my favorite wood to burn.

 

[Wood Duck]

I assume you mean wild Black Cherry. It will last about as well as any other firewood if split and stacked off the ground - it definitely should last two or three years at the very least. Other cherries should last if split and dried, but I think they are more rot prone than Black Cherry. This group include edible cherry, Fire Cherry, Pin Cherry, Bird Cherry.

 

[allhandsworking]

I cut up and hauled a big cherry tree home this past weekend. I plan on splitting and stacking it before long but have read that cherry rots quick. How long will it last after splitting and stacking? Will it still be good next year or should I plan on burning it in late winter this year?

Thanks,
Rob

It seasons pretty quick if I remember!

 

[mattinpa]

I'll be burning some that's been split for 3 years this season. However, wild cherry left out in the elements that is not cut and stacked will usually have significant rot in 2 years time. That being said, here in PA, we have alot of snow that sits on downed trees that aids in the rotting process.

I should note too, that there is no advantage at all for waiting years to burn cherry. Stacked with good air flow, it is good to go in 6 months time. It dries out quick!

 

[firefighterjake]

Buck, split, stack off the ground . . . should last for several years with no problems.

 

[billb3]

My dad had a emergency stack of wood under a metal roofed lean-to
(heat in the Winter should the power go out)
all cherry - I cut it and stacked it there.
10 years later he died and I cleaned up his yard and gave that stack to my sister who needed seasoned wood.
The stuff on the top of the stack was fine.
The stuff on the bottom that tended to get wet in the rain was rotten.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

I burned some cherry last winter that had been cut, split and stacked for 7 years. I still have some that is either 6 or 7 years in the stack. It burns very nicely and there is no rot at all.