Mold on Wood

[Vic99]

As some of you know, we have had a huge amount of rain during June in Northeast. For a couple of my stacks, many of the ends of my splits have developed mostly green and some white mold. Is it worth it to remove this either mechanically or through a dilute bleach? I'm not concerned if a few pieces here and there have mold, but this is significant.

My concern is that:
a) over time mold will deteriorate the wood,
b) it will cause problems if brought into the house for fall/winter burns (walls, human/pet sickness).

I do the best I can do avoid this by planning where I stack, but with the space I have, much of my wood does not get full sun . . . and this June almost no sun.

What do you reckon?

 

[gzecc]

If its not stacked on the dirt, you should be ok. If you can stack it more loosely, do it. What kind of wood is it? How about a picture?

 

[Vic99]

All of my wood is either on pallets (holzs) or on racks that I built with 2x4s. Thus, all the wood is 4-5 inches off of the ground.

Affected wood is mostly oak and sugar maple with some hickory.

Rain is coming down to hard right now to post a pic. Very dark outside also.

 

[Highbeam]

That's funny, wet in the NE and 80 degrees and sunny in the wet Washington State.

Unless the wood gets punky, I would allow it to dry and burn it whether its moldy or not. I'm not afraid of mold unless it is growing in my house on my house.

 

[gzecc]

I would suspect that in late july and august they will be dry as a bone with out the offending mold. A picture would still be nice. Maybe you have a very unusual situation going on.

 

[madrone]

I get mold of all colors in my woodpile here in the PNW. Plus larger fungus on occasion. Except for this year. I haven't ever seen any deterioration of the wood, or mold growth in the house. I'm guessing that you'll get enough sun in July/August/September to slow it down.

 

[stejus]

I stacked a pile in May and there are a few pieces that have black rubbery mushroom like things growing on the bark. I tried to wipe them off like a regular mushroom and no way. These things are like they are glued on or something. Never saw this happen before.

 

[JustWood]

I'll bet the wood was cut from the stump in the spring.
High concentrations of sugar in the sap will grow mold like nobodies bizness. I woodn't woory about it to much. As the wood seasons the sugar content will receed and mold growth slow or stop. To avoid this in the future cut your wood from the stump in late fall or early winter.

 

[Vic99]

Ditto on the black shroom/mold thing here as well . . . although that has only been growing on pile of split wood (off the ground and on pallets). I have also never seen that before. It's on about 1 cord of knotty uglies and 3 inch or less rounds (some I'll split, someI won't) that I am slowly working on about an hour/day 3 times a week. Not too much of that black fungus, but quite strange.

 

[Vic99]

Wandering,

Although I scrounge quite a bit of my wood, this particular pile I cut myself, some with another Hearth.com member actually. We took the trees down in October. The sugar maple and hickory fell during a particularly nasty ice storm that we had in December.

Good thinking about the sugar contributing to mold, though.

 

[billb3]

If this [weather] keeps up we may have to rename the state Seattlechusetts.

Cherry will get some growth on the ends on me like that, especially if I don't keep a 'roof' on the pile.
I've never seen it affect anything but the very ends of the split/log.

I'm on the (maybe a bit damper) South Coast and I've gotten a bit of growth on the ends before (especially the bottom row of a stack (more rain) and it is usually sun/heat dried by August.
Even those big white shroom looking things that grow on the cherry dry up and burn.
We have a predominant southwest wind here so maybe that helps.

I've had to wash the green mold off a plastic fence this year already and the North side of my house is no longer white.


My garden looks like it did June 1st. Not much has happened and some things have rotted, died and or turned yellow.
I'm gonna have to start taking vitamin D tablets if this weather keeps up.

 

[Custerstove]

I've seen fire wood covered with orange juicy mold - looks like a bracket fungus growing out of the bark. Finally, one day, when the mold started to dry and turn white, I chopped it with a maul and found the wood so punked that it was only good for mulch. Since, then I have noticed that "rounds" with "thick bark" are prone to mold under wet conditions. To prevent the mold, it is a good idea to knock the bark off. The bark can trap water moisture and lead to mold. Bottom line, strip off the bark, especially on rounds, and especially when your wood gets rained on regularly.

 

[raybonz]

As some of you know, we have had a huge amount of rain during June in Northeast. For a couple of my stacks, many of the ends of my splits have developed mostly green and some white mold. Is it worth it to remove this either mechanically or through a dilute bleach? I'm not concerned if a few pieces here and there have mold, but this is significant.

My concern is that:
a) over time mold will deteriorate the wood,
b) it will cause problems if brought into the house for fall/winter burns (walls, human/pet sickness).

I do the best I can do avoid this by planning where I stack, but with the space I have, much of my wood does not get full sun . . . and this June almost no sun.

What do you reckon?

I got the same rain you did and I got some mold etc. too.. Just keep it dry and burn as usual...

Ray

 

[Adios Pantalones]

Don't bother with bleach- the mold is growing IN the wood as much as on. Ditto mechanical removal- it would be like you scraping some ugly off. You're ugly all the way through and aint nothin nobody can do about it.

Let it dry. Burn it. Don't store indoors if you're worried. When it gets really cold (freezing) it will go dormant and would require rehydration anyway.