Effects of long-term storage of southern pine sawlogs under water sprinklers

Loblolly pine sawlogs were stored under water sprinklers for a 2-year period to determine the effectiveness of different sprinkling schedules on preventing infestation by insects and fungi. Sixty freshly harvested test logs were selected from the same timber tract for the project and were placed under water sprinklers in four separate sprinkled decks, each with a different sprinkling schedule. The test logs were sampled periodically to determine moisture content, presence of fungi and insects, and change in mechanical properties. At the end of the 2-year sprinkling period, the test logs were processed in a sawmill and veneer plant to determine the extent of degradation by fungi and insects. The continuous-heavy sprinkling schedule afforded the best protection to the logs of the four sprinkling schedules; there was no visible evidence of blue stain fungus, pine sawyers, or ambrosia beetles after 2 years of storage. Logs in decks with other sprinkling schedules with lower water volumes showed various amounts of fungal and insect degradation, relative to the volumes of water applied. Some mechanical properties appeared to be affected by long-term sprinkling. Tangential toughness was significantly lower at the end of the test period, but modulus of rupture, modulus of elasticity, and radial toughness were not reduced by a significant amount.

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