mold on wood???????????

[fbelec]

i was stacking some of the maple and sycamore the other day and found this super dark brown or black stuff on the end of a split. it was slick and looked like silicon. has anyone run into this ? this is the first time i've seen this anywhere.

thanks

frank

 

[bogydave]

Mold happens quick on some wood types, birch & maple top the list.
(Not sure about sycamore, might be a real wet wood when green.)
Sun & air/wind circulation will solve the problem.
Just needs to be able to dry.
I get some on my birch, under the snow in the spring when it's above freezing but no sun or air can get to it.

Loose stacking with space between rows (for about a year) until it dry

 

[Woody Stover]

Yes, I've been seeing that stuff but not much. It's been very wet here so far this summer. I'm also seeing a little mold (white or blue) on the on the north side of a triple-row stack of live-cut Red Oak that hasn't been split down to final size yet....

 

[gzecc]

Probably feeding of the sugar in the maples.

 

[Ram 1500 with an axe...]

Probably feeding of the sugar in the maples.

I had a beautiful stack of maple, golden in color, then it started to turn bone white, then it started to get some black on it, it is loosely stacked in a single row in the sun and wind all day, yes we had a lot of rain, but it's happening to me too.
The other day I came home from work, it rained really hard that day, I looked at the stack and I could have swore there was less black on it then, the rain must have washed some away. Will this stuff be safe to handle, store near the house or even store in a garage ready to burn time? I'm getting Leary .

 

[ScotO]

You'll never get rid of mold on your wood, mold is literally EVERYWHERE. I have the same mold on my wood here, it's been a very VERY wet summer here. It's expected.....you'll be fine.

 

[PA. Woodsman]

Yes like others have said we all get mold on the cutsides of the splits and rounds. If it really bothers you do what I do, scrape it off with a putty knife. The wife and I'm sure the neighbors confirm that I'm crackers when they see me doing that but I don't care!

 

[Woody Stover]

dark brown or black stuff on the end of a split. it was slick and looked like silicon.

What he and I saw wasn't your run-of-the-mill mold, but a gelatinous substance. I've seen better examples but this was all I could find at the moment.

 

[ScotO]

What he and I saw wasn't your run-of-the-mill mold, but a gelatinous substance. I've seen better examples but this was all I could find at the moment.

Kinda looks like a bunch of slugs had, shall we say, a "party" on your wood there, Woody!
I've seen that before too, many times, actually having grabbed a piece of wood and put my hand in it before......YUCK!

 

[bogydave]

Send the picture to your local or state forestry dept. I bet they can ID what it is

S.O. might have nailed it, slug or snail snot.

What he and I saw wasn't your run-of-the-mill mold, but a gelatinous substance. I've seen better examples but this was all I could find at the moment.

 

[Grisu]

If the weather continues like that my woodstacks will have turned into one big heap of mold by the end of the summer. Right now, I am not sure if there is any drying going on at all; as soon as the sun has dried of some of the rain we get another torrential downpour. Today I checked on the stacks. There is just mud and puddles underneath the pallets and that is at the highest point in my yard!

 

[Backwoods Savage]

We get some mold occasionally. I've never worried about it in the least. No doubt we have some now because I was late in splitting wood this spring and it still is not stacked. So no doubt there will be some mold on the bottom of that wood pile. No problem.

 

[osagebow]

What he and I saw wasn't your run-of-the-mill mold, but a gelatinous substance. I've seen better examples but this was all I could find at the moment.

I think that may be a "slime mold' -not an actual fungus bot a type of colonial protist - a catchall kingdom for anything with a nucleus that isn't a fungus, plant or animal. A common type is that stuff that looks like someone hurled in the landscaping woodchips

.

 

[clemsonfor]

I have all kinds. Been pulling apart a quadruple stack of wood. Its been wet here this spring summer. I have some oak that was green when stacked and gone almost pinky in some of it. Saw white, red, purple and yellow. Here is a pic of one split with the bark pulled off and set to the side. This wood was pulled from second stack to the north of the first one. It was about 4.5 feet up in like about 3 to 4 layers deep. This was green wood when stacked a bit over a yr ago. Been top covered mostly but with just a single row of shingles.

 

[fbelec]

thanks guys. i thought i was seeing things. in all the years that i have processed my own wood this is the first that i have seen it. and it is only on the sycamore. osagebow i have the same thing in my mulch but mine is a pinkish white. and the picture of that jelly you have there is it. this year is nuts with this rain. we can't seem to go a full day without a downpour or two or three. this year is definitely not a wood drying year.

 

[Ram 1500 with an axe...]

Np, but do you have pics of it?

 

[clemsonfor]

I had some that was clear/whiteish. Was like a gell, i was thinking it may have been some insect egg structure? Also had some slime gelly like mold that was brown to blackish like yours as well.

If i remember right from college there are many types of "slime mold"

 

[Paulywalnut]

People hear the word Mold and they run for the hills. Its part of nature.
Without mold we wouldn't have penicillin. lol

 

[fbelec]

i don't have pics but will try to find some for a look see.
like PA. Woodsman i must have got the eye also scraping with my knife.

 

[Mr A]

Looks like bird chit