The effect of natural product treatment of southern yellow pine on fungi causing blue stain and mold

Blue stain and mold growth on wood can be aesthetically unappealing, but mold growth can also potentially trigger health related issues. In this study, a screening of the effect of selected natural products and derivatives of natural products including essential oils, plant based monomers, and shellfish exoskeleton compounds on the inhibition of blue stain fungi and mold fungi in southern yellow pine veneers and cellulose filter paper. The treatment of the substrates, the weight percent gain of the natural products, and the inhibition effect is presented. The natural products have been investigated previously, but most have not been applied to wood or investigated with regards to blue stain or mold growth. The specimens were treated by dipping, wrapping in foil, and then heating at 105 °C for 24 h in order to encourage reaction or grafting of the natural products to the wood. A selection of seven additives each exhibited significant protection against blue stain colonization in Petri dish tests and these were studied more in-depth. These included tea tree oil, propyl gallate, hydrogenated gum oil, salicylic acid, cinnamon bark oil, butylene oxide, and furfural. The salicylic acid, tea tree oil, and cinnamon bark oil had the least amount of mold growth after four weeks in the mold chamber test, and have been previously reported to have a mechanism of antifungal activity resulting from their ability to disrupt the fungal cell wall. Propyl gallate veneer was the only specimen that had a lower pH and that would be considered unfavorable to mold growth. While furfural, salicylic acid, and cinnamon bark oil treated veneers all had more hydrophobic surfaces when compared to untreated wood.