Pinus Maximus!

[Woody Stover]

OK, so it's nowhere near the tonnage of Pineburner's Tacoma load, but not too shabby. I thought those 8' Pine logs would be a little lighter. It was some work getting 'em in the trailer. I'm going to use this for starter wood or in the fire pit. I was going to split the starter wood small in hopes that it will light with just newspaper. Maybe bungee it and put it in a tire for quick splitting to a small size? There's a lot more that I can get from this neighbor's other property. It's less than 2 miles away. I may load all my peeps up wit some o' dis...
Dang, I just found a blob of Pine pitch on my neck! :lol:

http://i1108.photobucket.com/albums/h407/2bnator/Hearth/001-3.jpg
I haven't tried to ID this Pine in the book yet, but thought maybe someone would know just by looking at it. Had the standard longish needles (about 5",) two needles per cluster. Orange-red bark under the weathered gray bark.
http://i1108.photobucket.com/albums/h407/2bnator/Hearth/002-1.jpg

 

[ROBERT F]

Red pine would be my guess for your area. The tree show signs of bark beetle damage? The way its flaking off and the color underneath it looks to be. Cambrian damage.

 

[Woody Stover]

Red pine would be my guess for your area. The tree show signs of bark beetle damage? The way its flaking off and the color underneath it looks to be. Cambrian damage.

Do I risk spreading the beetle to Pines in my yard? I've got two, one is already dead, the other still has some green in the top. What do I look for to determine if it has the beetle?

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Seems to me the beetles would have already moved on to greener pastures.

 

[Woody Stover]

I examined this wood and it has holes of varying size in the bark. The Pines in my yard have similar holes, with the dead tree having more holes than the one that is still living. These beetles must take a while to kill the tree because the ones in my yard have slowly been losing the lower branches over the years.

 

[Kenster]

I split using an old auto tire. Bungee also works. But you don't need both. A bungee in a tire is overkill. The tire will hold the wood up and you don't have to worry about slicing up a bungee cord.

 

[ROBERT F]

The beetles dont really kill the tree, the larvae do. they eat the layer under the bark, slowly cutting off the flow of water. the holes are the aftermath if I believe correctly. time for the larvae to leave, eat a way out and fly to their short lived beetle adult hood, only to complete the cycle in another host. I would also say that the danger if infestation is low, the house was no longer a home, and the kids flew the coup!

 

[DanCorcoran]

The beetles dont really kill the tree, the larvae do. they eat the layer under the bark, slowly cutting off the flow of water. the holes are the aftermath if I believe correctly. time for the larvae to leave, eat a way out and fly to their short lived beetle adult hood, only to complete the cycle in another host. I would also say that the danger if infestation is low, the house was no longer a home, and the kids flew the coup!

If you are referring to the Ips beetle, I believe it is the tree's inability, in times of drought, to expel the beetles by oozing large quantities of sap. This in turn allows the beetles to deposit the larvae, as you said. In a normal (non-drought) period, most trees are able to defend themselves from the onslaught. Thus drought is the primary cause. (I attended a full-day session conducted by the Colorado forestry folks when the pinions first started dying and we lived in SW Colorado.)

 

[Woody Stover]

The beetles dont really kill the tree, the larvae do. they eat the layer under the bark, slowly cutting off the flow of water. the holes are the aftermath if I believe correctly. time for the larvae to leave, eat a way out and fly to their short lived beetle adult hood, only to complete the cycle in another host. I would also say that the danger if infestation is low, the house was no longer a home, and the kids flew the coup!

If you are referring to the Ips beetle, I believe it is the tree's inability, in times of drought, to expel the beetles by oozing large quantities of sap. This in turn allows the beetles to deposit the larvae, as you said. In a normal (non-drought) period, most trees are able to defend themselves from the onslaught. Thus drought is the primary cause. (I attended a full-day session conducted by the Colorado forestry folks when the pinions first started dying and we lived in SW Colorado.)

We certainly have had drought conditions several times in the past few years. Not this summer...got 4"+ last night. :gulp:

 

[DanCorcoran]

I doubt that you have Ips beetles in Indiana...they target pinions.