Bleaching treatments for blue-stained lodgepole pine affected by the mountain pine beetle Dendroctonus ponderosae

Zusammenfassung

Over 400 million  m³ of standing lodgepole pine timber in the forests of British Columbia, Canada, is affected by the mountain pine beetle and associated ophiostomatoid fungi that stain the sapwood of infected pine trees a blue-grey color (Lee et al. 2005). Such staining is undesirable in appearance grade wood products and some grades of structural timber, and a simple method of removing the stain or reducing its severity is required. This study screened a range of bleaching agents to determine which ones were most effective at removing the blue stain and then optimised treatment parameters for the most efficient bleaching agent (sodium hypochlorite).