White Rot Fungus

Pick up your bark and whatever falls off the logs, throw it into a bag of mulch or lathe shavings and put the logs on top. Keeping it in the basement should work. Teh ground outside where you got the rot from in the first place is a lot colder than that right now, so I doubt that the temp will bother it, just make sure it has food and moisture. Least that's my thoughts on it. YMMV Dave in Fairfax

If the bark's off, you're ready for drying and radial splits. Rip up the middle, keep damp under plastic and hope for more spalt, or store it outside where it's going to freeze until you can rough it. Taking the bark off means you now must enclose it to hold the moisture the bark did formerly.

The spores are almost > > My question is... since it is colder than @#$@ here. What is a

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I assume you mean a Tulip Poplar and not the exotic Tulipwood. The exotic kind doesn't spalt well at all. The fungal growth you're seeing on the outside of the wood is NOT the same fungus that produces spalting. It's just a mold/mildew type of fungus you're seeing there. You really don't want much of this formation if you can prevent it either. It introduces a terrible stain into the wood that doesn't look good at all. However, the mold/mildew presence suggests that the conditions are (or, in your case

"wood appears to be spalting nicely" How do you know? Is this assumption just based on the mold/mildew on the outside bark area or have you cut into the wood to see if there are those characteristic sharp lines (zone lines) or the wide solid colors between those lines? Unless you've done this, you have no idea if it's actually spalting or not.

Fungus requires certain things to live and grow. The fungus can live in extreme ranges of temperatures, moistures, and other environmental conditions. They can only *grow* in certain conditions. The particular "spalting fungus" only grows in temperatures between 70 - 90F and a moisture content of around 30%. It also needs plenty of oxygen, etc. etc. etc. too.

If you give the (specific) fungus these conditions (and it's actually present in the first place, which it is not necessarily so), then it'll grow. Try to put the bark back on and tape it in place. If you can't, wrap it heavily in paper bags. Plastic is not good. Yes, it helps hold in moisture but you CAN get it too wet. The paper bags will wick moisture in AND out as needed. You don't have to keep the logs in the dark. Just out of direct sunlight so that the sun doesn't dry out the log too quickly. Just wait until the temperatures during the day reaches around 80F during most of the day and put your log outside. Keep it moist, etc. You might get some spalting if you're going to get any at all. If not, move the log somewhere else.

I'll be sending you more detailed information directly.

- Andrew

How do you get more moisture inside a plastic bag that came in with the wood?

The presumption, in all its meanings, appears to have been yours.

In fact, if the spalting is proceeding, maintenance of the status quo is indicated. Only a full enclosure seems appropriate.

I do implore you to please not just give out