Picked up a few loads of mystery mulberry over the last few weeks. Some guys love it, some guys hate it. Picked it up in central Jersey. No bugs. Was not standing dead. HEAVY. Heavier than white oak. I’m splitting into extra small pcs to help with seasoning. Stacks are covered. I’m mixing it in with cherry as I stack. Will 11 months be enough? nobody really seems to put a clear opinion. I got behind finding and bucking and now I am trying to get ready for next year And panicking a little bit.
Mulberry
- Thread starter Adonise
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I don't have any species go from green to ready to burn in less than 2 years. Depends on your (local micro-) climate, stacking practices, etc. And on your stove -- my old hotblast could burn blocks of pond ice if they had some bark frozen into them; newer EPA appliances, not so much.
I have not had much luck drying larger Mulberry/Cherry splits in one year but, your smaller splits should be dry in one year but loading a bunch of 2”-3” splits in my stove leads to a wicked hot fire that’s hard to control. At least that’s my limited experience. Drying will all depend on your weather: temps, humidity & winds. Then you have to consider where it’s stacked & how much sun/wind it gets. Mulberry will throw lots of heat. Mulberry & Cherry are very abundant around here so I get quite a bit of it.
See if you can get some ash and some pine. If you split that now into normal thickness splits and get it stacked + covered it should dry out in time.
I have to treat mulberry like oak...two years of seasoning, minimum. Preferably, three years.
Try it. You’ll love it. I promise.
hickoryhoarder
Minister of Fire
I'd expect two years or more if it's heavier than oak. On the other hand, hickory, another dense wood, is pretty good after 15 months. I have no experience with mulberry.
spudman99
Feeling the Heat
As a side note, I would consider running some tar paper on top of your plywood tops. Simple to roll out and staple down, will extend the life of the exterior plywood and not be that noticeable.
"Heavier than white oak..." - that would definitely be due to water, not btu's. White oak runs ~24 Mbtu/cord, while mulberry is around 23.
As mentioned your local climate (and even micro-climate) will have a lot to do with seasoning time. Down here, given a couple weeks of 100ºF + in the summer, bracketed both sides by a month of dry / 90ºF days, it would likely be ready to go next fall - no covering required.
As mentioned your local climate (and even micro-climate) will have a lot to do with seasoning time. Down here, given a couple weeks of 100ºF + in the summer, bracketed both sides by a month of dry / 90ºF days, it would likely be ready to go next fall - no covering required.
Over here in PA (Bucks and Montgomery counties) ash is EVERYWHERE! A ton of full trunks are just left on the sides of the road. They were cut to avoid them falling into the roadway. One town over the township even bucked it to entice scroungers like us. It does season quick. I've got 16% on splits I stacked in the spring.
How do you figure it will extend the life of pressure treated plywood? Just curious.
I see a lot of charts that have them at the same BTU, 25.7. The heft of the dry wood is about the same for both, from what I've seen here.
Yeah, I think the values on those charts are just limited to the samples tested, so they can vary quite a bit. Around here, the density of mulberry varies more than the density of white oak that I end up with. I have some slow growth pieces of mulberry that probably put my heaviest pieces of oak to shame. But overall, my oak is more consistently dense.
I read somewhere that charts vary on mbtu/cord depending on how much air space they figure in to a “stacked” cord. 10% - 25%. I could be mistaken though. The sample could also add to the variations also. But I digress: Mulberry makes good firewood.
Yeah, I don't know exactly how they come up with the numbers. It looks like many lists have just been copied from somewhere else. Almost any list you look at, you see a couple that don't agree with your direct experience.
spudman99
Feeling the Heat
Tar paper will keep the plywood dryer and less prone to warping or spalling. Yes the marine grade plywood lasts long, but with tar paper it will last even longer. No biggie, just a suggestion.
