Sprinkling White Pine to Prevent Bluestain
Advice on staving off the onset of blue stain by keeping the logs wet. October 12, 2007
Question
I still have about 6,000 bf of Eastern white pine left that I am trying to get sawn up before the blue stain and the pine borers are a problem. Would setting up a sprinkler or spraying the logs with water periodically help to preserve them? I am in northern NH.
Forum Responses
(Sawing and Drying Forum)
From contributor D:
The best thing to do is to saw them tomorrow. But the purpose of sprinkling the logs is to keep them cooler longer. If they were cut in the winter, it wouldn't hurt, but may be too late. I think we have had one warm day so far this year in this part of the world.
From contributor K:
Blue stain doesn't start here until the temperature is up over seventy degrees. Even then it does not turn every stick deep blue all at once. It is only an issue for the sapwood. It is not a structural issue (at the start). Contributor D is correct. The sprinkling is to keep the temperature down. It also mitigates the checking. Do you have a few days before it is seventy and the fungus gets busy?
From contributor D:
If you sprinkle them, you have to keep them continuously wet for the water to prevent blue stain. Essentially, you are creating anaerobic conditions so there is no oxygen for the fungus to thrive. The water replaces any oxygen.
