Am I on to something here?

[riverswamp sawyer]

I have been sawing for a little over 3 years now.
Almost everything that I saw and air dry is SYP. (Southern Yellow Pine)

Learned
to like the looks of blue stained wood because here in centeral GA. with our humidity and very little breeze thats what ya get this time of year.
Yes, I sticker stack the lumber under a shelter, the stacks are 36" wide with room between stacks for air movement.

When stacking lumber we usually sweep the sawdust  off as we go, but about a month ago I got in a hurry and sticker stacked aprox. thirty 1 x 8's without cleaning.
This morning we had to move this stack and oh my gosh..... they looked horrible....

After moving half the stack I started cleaning the yecky lookin sawdust off and the boards looked great underneath. Went back and cleaned the whole pile and there was very little stain at all.

The stack next to this one had been cleaned prior to stacking was blue stained like usual boards cut this time of year.
I realize this stack is not fully dried yet but sure looks good at this point.

Maybe I should leave sawdust on drying lumber during summer?
When we saw again I am gonna do a stack or two without cleaning sawdust off and see how it turns out........

[riverswamp sawyer]

I have used fans in the past in an attempt to avoid the blue stain.......
Did'nt help much other then I felt cooler while admiring my wood pile  :-\ :-\

[tcsmpsi]

Hasn't rained here in a long time.  101 degrees, clear, breeze from time to time, and still 96% humidity.

My experience has been, only way to avoid blue stain, is to mill the log very, very soon after cutting.    This time of year, I have found nothing to completely be devoid of mold/mildew in SYP.   I spray with bleach solution and sticker at the end of the day, with fans, under a roof to keep it at bay the best I can.  The mill fans are situated where it keeps the air moving around the lumber stacks before they get stickered. 

When the youngest son was in woodshop his senior year of high school, the winning project at the third level showing was a denim pine (blue stain) china cabinet.   There were some mighty nice projects throughout the shows.  My son's class was a full set of oak kitchen cabinets.

[Tom]

There is a stain that will appear on lumber that was dried while it was still covered in sawdust.  The term for the stain is Sawdust Shadow. I don't believe that you have anything to gain by leaving the sawdust on the boards unless you like the shadow stain. In my opinion, leaving sawdust on the boards is like creating a seed bed there. If it does get moist, it will grow fungus and mold very fast because of the increased surface area provided.

[Buck]

Try racking them "a" frame style for a couple of weeks. I have done it this time of the year and gone straight to flat stack in just a few weeks. 

[bandmiller2]

Not always possible, but I try to cut good pine in the cooler weather when the blues are not a problem.Frank C.

[tcsmpsi]

Not always possible, but I try to cut good pine in the cooler weather when the blues are not a problem.Frank C.

I attempt that, as well.  It simplifies the process with pine, greatly.  Odd how seldom it seems to line up that way, though.   

[customsawyer]

Don't know if you are on to something or not but let us know how the next stacking goes.

[Magicman]

True "blue stain" is caused by bacteria that the pine bark beetle deposits in the SYP that ultimately kills the tree.  This can not be avoided or eliminated.

It sounds like mildew is your problem.  Remove the sawdust and provide sunlight and ventilation.  It may not be avoided, but it might can be minimized.