Should I worry about elm?

[NTBugtraq]

I'm getting some firewood delivered on Monday and its all well-seasoned Elm. A friend suggested it was probably Elm that had died from some disease which he didn't know the name of.

The wood is coming from a lot 3km away. I don't have any living Elm in my bush...should I worry?

Cheers,
Russ

[SevenCreeksSap]

burn it up, but hope you have a splitter, its tough. splits very stringy. Most likely died of Dutch Elm Disease, which gets a lot or even most of them, but some seem naturally resistant. I use a ton of it, and always cut it down standing dead for dry firewood in the winter when I run out. I've found even milling it has a very pretty grain and I'm cutting beams from it to hold a loft in the cabin we are trying to get to building.

[TerryEspo]

I agree, burn away.

Tragically my area has/is suffering from Dutch Elm Disease. Many, many mature Elms (city wide) have had to be cut due to this. I do split Elm by hand at times and work from the outside in. I have many Elm centers that never get split, into the firebox for all night heat.

Russ, you are fine to burn it, actually good to burn it.

Good luck and thank you friend who is delivering it !!

[NTBugtraq]

Seven,

My 20 ton splitter is sitting under 4' of snow atm...lolz, this year's taps were not properly planned last fall....;-] I got like 20 x 60' trees sitting on the ground waiting to be cut and split, but they're all under snow. So I had to buy someone else's bush cord of cut and split wood.

[NTBugtraq]

Terry,

I agree, a big ty to my friend...

[Bruce L]

Dutch Elm Disease is taking another " kick at the can" around here. We lost probably 98% of our huge majestic elms last time around, young trees were spared or had more vigor. This time around it seems the rest of the old elms are going, as well as young ones are dying too. Soon elm will probably be an extinct species of tree.

[Run Forest Run!]

Like Bruce said, Dutch Elm Disease isn't finished with us just yet. Many places in Canada have strict regulations about elm firewood. I'd give this a read before I accepted the firewood (it's not a Canadian source, but interesting none-the-less). Hope it helps.


Dutch Elm Disease and Fire Wood


Storing elm firewood, unless the bark has been removed, is an absolute "no-no" if you're concerned about the health of the elm trees in your neighborhood. The elm bark beetle, which is the carrier of Dutch Elm Disease may already be present in the wood; and if they aren't, they may colonize your elm wood pile as a breeding site. They seek out dead or dying elm trees or elm wood piles to lay their eggs.

After the bark beetles hatch out, they can only fly a short distance, but usually that is far enough to reach your healthy elm trees as well as the others in the neighborhood. Repeatedly, we've heard of trees getting Dutch Elm Disease only a few houses away from a large elm wood pile. If you're planning to save a few dollars by heating with elm firewood, just consider the cost of air conditioning for the twenty years it will take to replace the elm trees in your yard. If elms are lost gradually, orderly replacement can occur without total loss of shade.

Debarking the wood, especially if it is infested with the bark beetles or diseased, is a safe wood storage procedure. Destroy the bark that is removed from the elm wood as this is where the beetles will be located. Early in the year the bark should be easy to debark, but as the summer progresses, it becomes more difficult to remove. If elm wood is stored in late fall, it can be stored with the bark remaining, but this wood must be burned before April 1st or the beetles will emerge and infect trees close by.

Storing elm wood inside may keep the wood out of sight, but probably will be of little value in preventing the spread of Dutch Elm Disease.

Source: http://www.ag.ndsu.edu/hort/info/inform/disease/wood.htm

[NTBugtraq]

Thanks Karen,

The wood is being delivered debarked.

Cheers,
Russ

[Run Forest Run!]

That's great Russ. Burn away. :)

[bnbmaplesyrup]

If you have a lot of dead elms you have prime Morrell mushroom locations

[Big_Eddy]

Dutch Elm disease has been in most of Ontario for years. It pops up and dies back in cycles every few years. Moving logs 3km is not going to contribute to its spread.

Elm burns well and hot once dried. It can be a pain to split, and takes longer than many other woods to cure.

There are still lots of elm in the bush, however they don't get to the size they once did. It seems that once they get to 20-30yrs, they succumb. Interestingly, I read a study recently that stated that Elm has evolved since the onset of DED - the ones that throw seed sooner propogate and young elm now are maturing and throwing seed 10 yrs before they used to.

[NTBugtraq]

I decided today, I have a choice; split the larger pieces with an axe, or use the axe to chop a path to my splitter...tomorrow I will retrieve my splitter from under the snow...;-]

Cheers,
Russ