Burning Diseased Elm

[woodsroad]

Around here, we have a good bit of standing dead elm. I've been warned, by an Urban Forester, not to use it for firewood, because burning the diseased wood will spread the Dutch Elm spores.

True?
False?
Yeah but...?

 

[Woodie]

Around here, we have a good bit of standing dead elm. I've been warned, by an Urban Forester, not to use it for firewood, because burning the diseased wood will spread the Dutch Elm spores.

True?
False?
Yeah but...?

Yeah but...tell your urban forester he's an idiot.

Burning is the very best way to get rid of it, and is required by law in some areas. (Burn the bark with it, BTW.)

What a tool.

 

[ray benson]

Some info.
http://www.ci.orono.mn.us/dutch_elm.htm

 

[bassman]

Is dutch elm disease not anything more than a bug thing ????
around here you can not sell or transport the wood but you can burn it.

 

[woodsroad]

Yeah but...tell your urban forester he's an idiot..

Yeah but, he's a she.
Either way, good to know, because we have plenty of elm. Standing, dead, dry, ready to burn.
Thanks.

 

[Butch(OH)]

and just think you are paying her wages so she may give you that well informed advise:angry2:

Here is a link for her to look at,,,,, if she knows how to read and write

http://www.na.fs.fed.us/spfo/pubs/howtos/ht_ded/ht_ded.htm#which

 

[logbutcher]

Burn the Beast ! Take the License Away .

DITTO DITTO DITTO
For near a generation Dutch Elm Disease has been destroyed by burning in the Northeast. . Period.
Tell her to email us here....we will care for that Forestry license :censored:
:taped: :taped:

 

[sredlin]

So what does your urban forester recommend you do with standing dead elm?

 

[woodsroad]

Well, she recommends that I set patchouli perfumed candles around the base of the tree to help foster an aura of life spirit energy and then to start an email chain letter with prayers for the tree's recovery.

If that fails (and why would it?) she suggests total nuclear annihilation. Says that the temperature/radiation combination will most likely kill most of the fungus, and all other elms, within a 10 mile radius, on contact.


-DanZ

 

[Woodie]

Well, she recommends that I set patchouli perfumed candles around the base of the tree to help foster an aura of life spirit energy and then to start an email chain letter with prayers for the tree's recovery.

Now that's just crazy talk there, Dan.

Patchouli only works on oak wilt...

 

[jerseydevil]

Perhaps the joke is, as they say, on you. I kinda hope so, or that is some wasteful spending. Either way, she is wasting time.

 

[woodsroad]

Now that's just crazy talk there, Dan.

Patchouli only works on oak wilt...

Damn.
No wonder the drum circles and crystal stonehenges never helped.

 

[woodsroad]

Perhaps the joke is, as they say, on you. I kinda hope so, or that is some wasteful spending. Either way, she is wasting time.

No, she was quite serious about the elm.

BTW, if you are the Jesey Devil, what are you doing in PA? Shouldn't you be hanging out in Chatsworth or Batsto? Today would be a great day for a hike and picnic at the Carranza Memorial...

 

[JBinKC]

That advice is ludicrous. Burning it or burying it are the two acceptable ways to get rid of dutch elm disease. The catch 22 is in many urban areas you cannot store elm firewood unless it is debarked. No problem if the tree has been dead for a while but in many urban areas you can't get away keeping a standing dead elm on your property. If the tree is being taken down in the beginning stages of the disease that could pose a small problem.

 

[Woodie]

That advice is ludicrous. Burning it or burying it are the two acceptable ways to get rid of dutch elm disease. The catch 22 is in many urban areas you cannot store elm firewood unless it is debarked.

I was thinking about this, and no forester is dumb enough to say that burning elm releases live spores into the air. If she were that dumb, she would eventually lose the ability to recognize food and just starve to death.

Maybe JBin has it...could it be that she was saying it wasn't a good idea to keep it around for later use as firewood? That it was the actual storing that was the issue, not the burning?

Elm is notorious for taking a while to properly dry for firewood use. In the meantime, more beatles can emerge from the diseased bark, which in turn do the spore spreading.

Now, since the trees in question are standing dead, I guess it would depend on how long they had been dead. They're probably still too wet to burn just yet, and if they haven't been dead long, then it is possible for beatles to emerge while they're being seasoned. If, however, the trees have been dead for a while, the bark is probably loose enough to where the beatles would be long gone. In which case, burn away.

Are the trees in question newly dead, or have they been dead for awhile?

 

[woodsroad]

That advice is ludicrous. Burning it or burying it are the two acceptable ways to get rid of dutch elm disease. The catch 22 is in many urban areas you cannot store elm firewood unless it is debarked. No problem if the tree has been dead for a while but in many urban areas you can't get away keeping a standing dead elm on your property. If the tree is being taken down in the beginning stages of the disease that could pose a small problem.

Absolutely. It's the bark beetle that spreads the fungus. You have to basically encapsulate the wood if you are going to store it in urban area, or so they say. Frankly, if they can't enforce drug laws or police common property crimes in the city, where does Dutch Elm Disease play into the priorities of your average urban center?

 

[woodsroad]

...

Now, since the trees in question are standing dead, I guess it would depend on how long they had been dead. They're probably still too wet to burn just yet, and if they haven't been dead long, then it is possible for beatles to emerge while they're being seasoned. If, however, the trees have been dead for a while, the bark is probably loose enough to where the beatles would be long gone. In which case, burn away.

Are the trees in question newly dead, or have they been dead for awhile?

I live in a heavily wooded semi-rural area. It was rural when we moved into this old house, 9 years ago, now it is less so. Still have a 5 acre minimum lot size, though. The area has been under steady intensive agricultural use since the mid-1600's. It was a popular nut-gathering area for the Leni-Lenape before that. Stone mortars near my property attest to that. This is the area that gave rise to the first "direct tax" revolt in the new USA, the "John Fries Rebellion" of 1799. By the turn of the 1900's, the area was pretty well de-forested. There is some original growth left, but not much. About 75 years ago, during the depression, ag changed and many of the smaller (50 head) dairy farms went under. Fields filled in with brush, then trees. There are a LOT of small patches that were once fenced for cows, now filled with 75 year old trees. My property was logged for Hickory, Oak and any other useful wood at that time. Thus, any Elm that we find is pretty much under 50 years. Most are a lot younger. Got some very old Tulip Polar though! The Elm seemed to love this condition created by the logging and moved in as secondary succession. And there are thousands of semi-contiguous acres of Elm around me. I am told by the folks who grew up here that the Dutch Elm disease runs in fits and starts. We are at a high point right now. trees that are 50 years old are succumbing. We had several years of bad summer droughts and very wet springs. Wells dropped 150' and more. This has affected the tree population severely. So, by the time that I see that a tree has DE, and I have time to do something about it, the bark is already falling off. Doesn't much matter. I only have 5 acres. There is a 100 acre wooded parcel behind me, and thousands of more acres of these trees that I have no control over.
What is to be done? Nothing much, I am afraid. I love live trees as much as the next tree-hugger with a chain saw, but I like being warm in the winter, too. I'll burn the standing dead Elm, and let the Shagbark Hickory grow up in it's place.

 

[jerseydevil]

No, she was quite serious about the elm.

BTW, if you are the Jesey Devil, what are you doing in PA? Shouldn't you be hanging out in Chatsworth or Batsto? Today would be a great day for a hike and picnic at the Carranza Memorial...

Well, you must be from the area, to know the memorial. Yes, I am from south Jersey. I am a big fan of the legendary devil, not so the legendary hockey team although, they do deserve credit for doing more than my beloved Flyers have in the past decade. I grew up in Blackwood, but spent many days and nights in the pines. I spent the better part of many summers at Red Wing Lakes campground And I really miss the area. I now live in PA which I love for other reasons, but boy do I miss the long nights in the woods, the canoe trips and the greenheads. Great, now I'll be thinking about this all weekend. Oh, btw, I have two little girls, who I plan to take camping a plenty.
JD

 

[woodsroad]

I worked in SJ for a dozen or more years, starting in 1985 and lived in central Jersey for four of those years. I bought all the topos for the pines, kept them in the car, and when I had some free time, I'd veer off the main road and take the sand trails. I drove all over that area for work, and sometimes ended up avoiding traffic by heading into the pines on those trails.
I'm outside of Quakertown, PA now. Wouldn't move back to NJ if it was the last state available to live in. The political climate is abysmal. But it's a great place to visit. OC for a week every summer!

Where do you go camping?

Arborist content: Pygmy Pines!

 

[logbutcher]

Splitting Elm

It's not a great wood on the BTU scale anyhow. But you burn what you got.
Elms were dumped by the 1000's of tons in New England in the 70's. Tree crews would dump big stumps on our driveway for firewood.
So, if you want to split the non-rotten elm be sure to "slab split". That's along or tangential to the rings from the outside in, rather than perpendicular to the rings as done with oak or ash for example. Elm will eat wedges . Besure that it's well dried before putting it in the stove; it sizzles when even slightly damp like a moldy rag.
Henry Moore, British sculptor, loved elm for his carvings.
Good luck.