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An old pine on my dads land recently died. Not sure of the cause. Would this be worth milling into boards? I don’t need this much pine, but I’d love to have some of it as it is on land that my family homesteaded. It’s probably been dead about one year. Does that make a difference in the cost of milling or the quality of wood? It’s in north Florida
Around here in SW Georgia, pine can be milled for around 35 cents a bf. One issue that may come up is why did the pine die. Was it natural, lightning, or possibly pine beetles. If pine beetles, you may not gain much since it has been a year. I have some trees that were damaged by hurricane Michael that have been attacked by the pine beetle and they died in a matter of weeks and are not worth milling.
How big is it? Dead about a year probably means the sapwood has blue stain in it.
It was pretty big.... I think I measured it 102” circumference a few years ago.
Is it still standing or is it lying on the ground. I think termites are pretty quick to find fresh dead yellow pine. If its still standing you may be ok, if it was struck by lightning it may be a different story, but you should be able to tell that when buck it.
Post on the Forestry Forum. Someone there will know the sawyers in your area, and can offer suggestions. You're probably going to need to drop it, and then decide what to do with it, but you need to have the plans that follow already laid out. It won't stay on the ground long, and continue to be any good, if it still is.
How recently? The pine beetles will quickly invade. Look for signs of sawdust in the bark or on the ground.
I'm in NE FL. Around here even healthy trees down for just a few days can already hear the sawyer bugs working.
They will also attack the wood after its milled, so you need to treat lumber with an insecticide prior to stacking.
Thanks for all the responses....no way to know but put it on the ground and see what’s inside. Forgot about an old friend that used to pull sinker logs from the river. He said a long leaf that big might have enough heart wood to make it worth something. We’ll see.
The last big yellow pine I milled was about 24" dia. and the sapwood was around 6" thick if my memory serves.