Ants in wood

[MinivanFan]

We have a couple rows of stacked rounds that have been sitting for at least a year. I tryed splitting one yesterday and there was a ton of ants inside (dorment from the cold) and some other rounds have tunnels and a few others are fine. The wood is in good condition so I would hate to have to drag it out in the woods to get rid of it. I have read that insects and bugs leave wood once it is seasoned but I think those are insects that are between the pieces of wood, what about stuff like ants inside the wood? Is there any way to get rid of them?

 

[MinivanFan]

Just thought of something. The ants that I saw weren't moving so I thought they were dorment but we just had temps in the mid teens the other night. They are most likely dead now right?

 

[stint]

I have encountered same mostly in wild cherry ( also called choke, black cherry)

Have not bothered to examine closely enough to confirm all ants, and not termites.

Since tunnels inside trunk usually go down to ground, could be either

Since I split/stack soon after cut, I just split and throw well off to side for a while. Seems that they do not like having their home tunnels opened up by splitting, and they soon vacate wood and area

end problem

 

[knockbill]

i take in wood as i burn ,, not too much in teh house at a time,,, if teh ants are still alive, thats the 1st piece in the stove!!! taht'll fix um....

 

[wdchuck]

Take one of those ants, put it in some water, put that in the freezer, wait a week, put the frozen block in a cake pan, let it sit on the counter until melted, draw off the excess water.

The ant will walk away once warm enough to move.


You can burn ants, or poison them, but they say uncle for nuthin.


Instead of wasting those splits, put them where ground feeding birds can get to them, they'll eat them up each morning/evening. My woodsplitting areas have nuthatches and cardinals every evening. One the ants are gone, just stack that wood like any other.

 

[Woodcutteranon]

I split open an ash log and it was filled with big, plump black ants. I showed them to my chickens but they didn't find the ants too appealing. So...I sprayed the ants with Raid.

Later the next day I saw my chickens over by the ash log eating the dead ants. I thought the poison on them would make my chickens sick but they seem fine. Funny the chickens won't eat a live ant but chomp on the dead ones.

 

[peterc38]

Ants tend to leave once the wood is split and starts drying. This is another reason why I like to try and split everything I cut as soon as possible, rather than leave it in the round too long. They seem to like dampness. I agree with others that the cold while making them inactive, does not kill them. When I do split a round that has ants, I toss it in a seperate pile until it drys out and like wdchuck said, I get a lot of birds near the pile eating the ants.

 

[Curlycherry1]

Ants, the big black ones often called carpenter ants need water to survive. They will not move into a dry piece of wood and set up a home. But put that wood in a covered area with moisture and they will go to town on any rot in the wood. Split wood stacked so it is not really wet will not harbor ants.

Carpenter ants also do not move into a house to live unless there is water. People find these ants in parts of their house like footings, eves, support beams and stuff but they are only in those places because the area is wet. Dry the area out by fixing the water leak problem and the ants will clear out.

I repaired a set of headers in a 6 car garage once and every single door header was filled with tens of thousands of ants. All the way across the top of every door there was cedar siding and no flashing. So the water was getting into the top of the trim on every door and that allowed the ants to get in a eat the header beams. It was a total mess. They had eaten the outside two 2x12s leaving only part of the 3rd one left, but they were starting on that one.

Ants this time of year are also in suspended animation so if you toss them in the fire they will croak and not be a problem.

 

[Wood Doctor]

Curly said, "Ants this time of year are also in suspended animation so if you toss them in the fire they will croak and not be a problem."
--------------
+1. Without the queen, ants are toast, especially in late December. Reminds me of Tiger Woods.

 

[Scootermsp]

My exterminator comes 2x a year and due to all the customers I have given him by word of mouth, he sprays around my wood piles. The chemical he uses breaks down by the time the wood is burned. Besides don't ants have BTUs that can heat the OWB when they burn?

 

[savageactor7]

We have a couple rows of stacked rounds that have been sitting for at least a year.

Yup that'll happen, another reason why my 'all knowing' wood burning mentor from a long time ago cautioned us from ever stacking rounds. If you want seasoned bug free wood for the house than split it asap. Bugs desert dry wood...also stacking rounds is an extra handle, something that efficient wood burners what to minimize.

 

[Mike PA]

I split the ants out and tap them out. I just keep splitting the pieces till I get solid wood. Most ants will fall out of the wood, then.

When I bring wood in, I look for ants or tunnels. Pieces I think might have ants either go in teh stove right away or sit close to the stove to go in soon. Every now and then I will have some trouble, but not much. Couple squirts of Home Defense and they're gone.

 

[mga]

if i suspect ants in a piece of wood, i'll leave that one outside until i'm ready to throw it in the fire immediately.

it's bad enough some sleeping hornet wakes up from a warm house then i gotta chase that damn thing around.

 

[knockbill]

[QUOTE

it's bad enough some sleeping hornet wakes up from a warm house then i gotta chase that damn thing around.[/QUOTE]

the cat inspects every piece of wood that i bring in,,, if there are any bugs, they get eaten before i see them!!!!!!!!

 

[barnumb]

Dip them in chocolate and snack on them while your working. We have a fondu pot that plugs into the lighter plug on the splitter.

 

[Wood Mainiac]

I split open an ash log and it was filled with big, plump black ants. I showed them to my chickens but they didn't find the ants too appealing.

Mentioning chickens reminds me of the robins. If I'm splitting wood and there are ants around, Ms. Robin Red Breast is hanging right around just waiting for me to go in the house to get something cold to drink. So I get to watch the robin having a field day with the ants as I take a break from splitting.

It's amazing how they know those ants are there with the noise from the splitting and the music that's cranked. I almost feel bad going back out to continue splitting, as I'm interupting their meal.
I'm sure that robin is telling me to git!

 

[Kansas]

Just thought of something. The ants that I saw weren't moving so I thought they were dorment but we just had temps in the mid teens the other night. They are most likely dead now right?

Around here ants in wood are usually carpenter ants - not good you dont want them around your house!!!

I use seven dust on my wood it gets em pretty good. They must hibernate during winter because when you bring the wood inside they will come back out eventually.

Kansas

 

[Zodiac45]

I seem them all the time in the course of splitting up the years wood. As soon as they are exposed, they make a run for it if they are not half asleep. If you split your wood before you season (Fastest way) it's not a problem. They will vacate as the wood dries, if there are any left. I've been burning wood for along time and my house here is over 200 yrs old and has always had woodstoves in it. Never had an ant problem indoors.

 

[woodbooga]

I was in the wood a few weeks ago and bucked up a dead and downed oaken carpenter ant motel. Damn things were napping for the winter before I gave them a rude awakening.

They just poured out of the bucks like chiclets from a 25 cent candy machine. They'd gone majorly Hogans Heroes on that oak, carving out quite the impressive system of tunnels.

Decided to move on to another tree. Figure I'll fetch up those rounds next fall after the little buggers have had a chance to relocate. Seems silly to be driving ants from the woods to my dooryard when there was plenty else to cut.

If I find 'em whilst splitting back home, the infested pieces get chucked into the puckabrush and reclaimed later closer to stovin' season.

 

[Nandy]

Funny I see this post. I split a big chunk of white oak the had plenty of them, real big too. Carpenter ants does not eat the wood. They chew the wood to make their nest.
If you split a piece of wood with them just toss it to the side. They will be gone quick enough if nothing eat them first. They do get lethargic when it is cold.