How long will these trees be good for ?

[Madman_Mark]

A lot of the land I'm working on now has lots of blowdowns on it from huricane Juan from back in September (I'm in Nova Scotia).
So far I've had no problems selling this wood to the mill (spruce and fir mostly).
The limbs are still green but most of the trees are uprooted but still have half the roots in the ground. Some of these trees can stay alive for a while but what effect will they have on the quality of the lumber after a while ?
Are they going to slowly dry and be no good by the end of the summer (some people say so) ?
How long do I have before thier no good etc... etc... ? One mill pays by the cord, the other by the weight, these trees are slowly losing weight (I think) so should I sell to the mill that pays by the cord ? Lets here from some foresters.

[Ron Wenrich]

As long as the roots are attached, I wouldn't see why there would be any loss of volume due to drying out.  I'm assuming that there is still green needles on the trees.  I've seen some of these in hardwoods that have lasted for years.

But, that doesn't mean you should let them lay there.  I'd harvest as quick as possible.  Depending on volume, I 'd even think about letting a bigger outfit come in and cut, just so you wouldn't lose the ones that aren't still green or just barely green.

Normally, wood doesn't lose much water volume until its cut.  Not much comes through the bark or across grain.  Its when you open it up that you get water loss.  These cracks could be due to breakage on a tree.  I've sawn some dead oak that still has plenty of water.  Eventually, it will dry out if left to stand for several years, since the water isn't replenished.  

I'd sell to the one that offers the best price.  Do they have any restrictions on dead wood?

[SwampDonkey]

Cedar will live indefinately, but spruce and fir you should be retrieving soon, they won't take the water stress for long. They can live a couple years if there are ample feeder roots attached to the soil. But once they die, time is of the essence. Then its not long before the sawyer beetles move in and you'll see little piles of sawdust on the downed trees from the exit holes. Crunch, crunch, crunch, crunch noises. : Hire a salvage contractor as Ron suggests. Some mills complain if its not fresh wood, if its pulpwood. If the sawyer beetles get into it then its rejected by the sawmills, if they catch it. And they are pretty sharp.

Sawlog specs from Fraser/Nexfor Plaster Rock/Juniper

Irving in Sussex - chip plant

Irving in Sussex studwood

As you can see from these specs they are pretty tough on dead, diseased and insect infested wood.

[Ron Scott]

Ditto to what Ron W. and Swamp said.

The "root sprung" wood will hold its quality for a while as long as its still standing, but it should be salvaged as soon as possible before it goes down for its best values and before the "bugs" and stain get to it.

Its also hazardous logging "blow down" wood so use care if you do it yourself or use a commercial contractor familar with such work.