DIY Spalting?

[Texjake]

Not sure if this is the right sub-forum, but looking for any experiential knowledge on some specifics in the subject of inducing spalting.

I’ve been reading and searching a bit, watching some videos on YouTube as well. Most of the info shared that I’ve found so far seems to be that the generally accepted methods are:

1) leave wood on the ground, possibly turning over time and waiting “a while.” This seems to be a little to vague for me to try and follow, as well as the longest time to results.

2) put wood inside of a plastic bag with shavings or dust from working other spalted wood and waiting “a while.”

3) put wood inside a plastic bucket with fungi cultures or other “stuff” from the ground layers that are decomposing and wait “a while.”

My search is for some clarity around the following:
- In the plastic wrap/plastic bag methods, seems like folks are just putting either fresh cut or dampened wood in a bag or tight plastic wrap.
- sometimes this is with sawdust or shavings, sometimes specifically from other spalted wood. Does it matter which? Do you need to use shavings or sawdust?
- how long does this generally seem to take? Some folks are saying 3-4 weeks, some 4-6 months…
- what kind of temps to keep this bagged or wrapped wood?

Has anyone tried to grow or encourage specific type(s) of fungi for specific results (color, thickness of zone lines, etc)

There seems to also be conflicting info about whether or not one can expect to see results when using wood that has already dried. Any experience with this variable?

I’m probably going to toss a couple pieces of wood in some plastic bags in the corner of the shed, some with shavings and some without (I don’t currently have any spalted wood shavings) and just give this a shot, but wanted to see if there’s any experience that can save me some failures along the way…

 

[Tom Smart]

If you have not already research Dr Seri Robinson, aka Dr Spalting. You will find all you need to know with her. You can also buy vials of specific spores that will grow different colors of spalt.

 

[Nature Man]

Dr Seri Robinson

https://www.northernspalting.com/about-us/dr-spalting/

 

[Texjake]

Thank’s, y’all!
I’ve found videos with her in them, and seen her quoted or featured in other writings. Somehow, I didn’t just go straight to her site…where most of the answers I was just looking for are literally on the FAQ page

 

[Tim Carter]

Some time ago there was an article in Fine Woodworking about spalting and how to do it. You can probably find the article in their index.
I have used the plastic bag method with Norfolk Island Pine and found that it took about 60 days to get decent spalting in South Florida. A colder climate would take longer.
Tim

 

[phinds]

You can also buy her book on Amazon Spalted Wood

 

[JonathanH]

Last summer I had good luck spalting some fresh-cut Hackberry just by moving the pieces into the edge of the woods and standing on end. Flipped ends after a couple of months.

It was just an experiment but it induced nice spalting in most of it. A few pieces got too soft. Plano, TX area.

 

[Mike1950]

lots of answers above-all good. Climate temperature, humidity and what wood? Hackberry is going to spalt fast, a little slower soft maple. To start pick a wood that spalts easy. if you have a log that you want to spalt, bury it in sawdust or leaves and forget about it for 6 months or a year.

 

[Mike Hill]

What all that means - is that all the methods work - at least for some at some time. What might work up in the North, might not work in the Hill Country - the Hill Country being hotter and drier. Having the fungi present and with moisture seems to be the key. How you do that is the other question. Here, in Middle TN, all I have to do is lay some wood on the ground, watch it so it doesn't go too far and viola' - particularly hackberry as Mike said. But around here, laying it on the ground you also risk ants, termites, and wood grubs. So I've tried putting in a black plastic bag - that was quick, have to check often so it doesn't go too far. Yes, I have experience of that! Have had results for maple, cherry, magnolia, mulberry, and pine roots. But have not been able to get walnut to spalt. I had a grand idea, that to speed up the process, I would put some logs in my compost pile. Don't know why, but all they did was turn dark on the outside.

If you want to experiment with different fungi to obtain different spalts and colors of spalt there is a website you might need to visit - Northernspalting.com.

There was also a WB member Sleevecc that used to sell spalting juice, but he quit a few years back and hasn't been on the site for a few months now.

And I would also recommend that book. Wish I could remember where I left my copy! Is that a sign of getting old or just being away from Texas for so long?

 

[Sprung]

I've put chunks and log sections of green wood in plastic bags a few times with decent results. But, I'll be honest, nearly all of the handful of times I've done it, it hasn't been intentional, lol.

 

[Alancw]

lots of AAW info on site re spalting if you are a member and can access.

 

[Texjake]

What all that means - is that all the methods work - at least for some at some time. What might work up in the North, might not work in the Hill Country - the Hill Country being hotter and drier. Having the fungi present and with moisture seems to be the key. How you do that is the other question. Here, in Middle TN, all I have to do is lay some wood on the ground, watch it so it doesn't go too far and viola' - particularly hackberry as Mike said. But around here, laying it on the ground you also risk ants, termites, and wood grubs. So I've tried putting in a black plastic bag - that was quick, have to check often so it doesn't go too far. Yes, I have experience of that! Have had results for maple, cherry, magnolia, mulberry, and pine roots. But have not been able to get walnut to spalt. I had a grand idea, that to speed up the process, I would put some logs in my compost pile. Don't know why, but all they did was turn dark on the outside.

If you want to experiment with different fungi to obtain different spalts and colors of spalt there is a website you might need to visit - Northernspalting.com.

There was also a WB member Sleevecc that used to sell spalting juice, but he quit a few years back and hasn't been on the site for a few months now.

And I would also recommend that book. Wish I could remember where I left my copy! Is that a sign of getting old or just being away from Texas for so long?

Yes, these are all great replies and helpful to my search for some guidance based on experience.

Thank you to everyone so far. Its interesting to me that the plastic bag method seems to work so quickly relative to some other reported experiences with covered bins or buckets. Its helpful to know that there's been success using plain ol sawdust and leaves rather than starting with sawdust and/or shavings from already spalted wood.

I also considered just dropping some pieces in my yard compost pile to see what would happen, but I wasn't sure because I don't see much fungal activity when I turn it over. I've also been concerned about just leaving wood on the ground around here to just let something happen naturally because my the bottom of my firewood pile gets destroyed by ants and other grubby insects and I don't know that I could battle against that while encouraging/allowing for fungal growth. With our climate, I also think that the outside method is unlikely to be reliable because unless I add the area to my watering rotation, its likely to more often be too dry than not for the growth to take hold, at least before some other naturally destructive force takes over instead.

I can imagine that without going through significant efforts of controlling for species, temps, etc it gets really difficult to narrow down a better answer, but these nuggets are very useful and I appreciate them all! I'll pick out some pieces here in the near future and bag em up with some moisture and see what I get.

 

[Texjake]

Here’s a question - I have this dry (9-10%) maple burl. If I save the dust when I resaw it, do you think that whatever caused this spalting and zone lines would help in a new piece? Or is it done and over once the wood has sat dry for a long time?