Bluestain on Bark?

[treeseer]

I had a colleague look at some spruce that the beetles had had their way with. i saw pics showing stuff on the bark that looks a whole lot like lichen or moss to me but they had the notion that it might be a sign of blue stain fungus within.

 

I had never known this condition to go outside the wood itself, but I am not a spruce expert. the pics are in a doc which won't attach here for some reason. I hope that someone more experienced with the species could opine on this matter.

 

Second question is the effects of this stain on wood quality. I've read that it blocks circulation but does not in and of itself compromise wood quality. Is this true? Mills here will not take blue-stained pine logs. Thank you!

 



[Tony Croft aka hamadryad]

I had a colleague look at some spruce that the beetles had had their way with. i saw pics showing stuff on the bark that looks a whole lot like lichen or moss to me but they had the notion that it might be a sign of blue stain fungus within.

 

I had never known this condition to go outside the wood itself, but I am not a spruce expert. the pics are in a doc which won't attach here for some reason. I hope that someone more experienced with the species could opine on this matter.

 

Second question is the effects of this stain on wood quality. I've read that it blocks circulation but does not in and of itself compromise wood quality. Is this true? Mills here will not take blue-stained pine logs. Thank you!

 



 

blue stain is well documented, I thought you might have read shigo on it?

[treeseer]

blue stain is well documented, I thought you might have read shigo on it?

Yup p 591 of ANTB shows all unstained wood in a pole rotted, so it acts a a preservative! That confirms other sources on the 2nd question so thanks for the prompt.. Nothing in MA. Have looked at lots of other studies but nothing to answer my first (admittedly dumb) question. It seems like an obvious NO, so never mind then...

 

Just wanted to get a second on that so to get some backup.