Wood with hen tails/mushrooms

[johnsopi]

A lot of my woodpile is growing hentail mushrooms on the nonsun side. The wood is Cherry and Sweet gum
C/S and stacked 2years ago. How much time does it have left? I'm going to give the nice elderly lady @
the coner some but still have some that will be burned next winter. I really don't want to move it and restack it.
When I stacked all the wood to begin with only the front row gets full sun then it blocks the sun. I cut a few trees that block the sun so next year will be better.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

It should be okay to burn. I've had 6 year old stuff like that and it burned okay. However, if it is turning punky, that is a different story. (I speak of the cherry as I have no experience with sweet gum.)

 

[Gooserider]

Even if wood is getting punky, it will still burn and give off some heat, though not as much as solid stuff... Seems to me that mushrooms don't do that much harm by themselves, as they take a long time to cause much rot, though I'd want to try and make sure the logs they were growing on really are well off the ground, and have good ventilation.

Gooserider

 

[Bigg_Redd]

I'm burning wood with mushrooms growing out of it right now.

 

[Duetech]

Mushrooms are a fungus. Agriculturally it is the first step of decomposition and visible fungus are an indicator that other fungi are most likely present. The fungus advances or its roots bore/eat into the wood and leave channels for oxidation and actually permit easier absorption and retention of water and further fungal growth. On the ground with the bark on I have seen hard and silver maple go from good to marginal in three years. Wood cut and split and kept dry from that same supply was good even after 6 years. It would probably be best to take your wood fro burning from that side of the pile if you want to utilize the btu potential. Something that creates a watershed yet allows good air circulation would stop the advancement of the fungal growth.