Bugs! (In firewood, which ones to worry about.)

[MS460WOODCHUCK]

Does anyone worry about any of the little crawlers that they see when they are splitting their wood. Iknow of course that nobody wants to see termites but what about the other ones like woodlice, red ants, black ants and the whiteish/yellow grubworm that you usually see bored into a redoak. The grubworm is the one I am worried about. If they can eat into that can they devour your house too? Any opinions will be greatly appreciated.

 

[MS460WOODCHUCK]

I was reading just the other day about carpenter ants. Stray carpenter ants can't make a colony without a queen and the queen is very unlikely to be found in firewood.

There's one you don't have to worry about.

Thanks. Now, the grubworm any fact's or opinion's?

 

[Zodiac45]

They all burn pretty well (I hope there's not any Buddist's listening). I don't really worry about it. My house is 200+ years old and has always had 1 or 2 woodstoves heating it. It's still here.

 

[jredjim]

I'll go with zodiac but not sure what the BTU's are on them

 

[Suz]

Does anyone worry about any of the little crawlers that they see when they are splitting their wood. Iknow of course that nobody wants to see termites but what about the other ones like woodlice, red ants, black ants and the whiteish/yellow grubworm that you usually see bored into a redoak. The grubworm is the one I am worried about. If they can eat into that can they devour your house too? Any opinions will be greatly appreciated.

The one you have to watch for is the powder post beetle. They will eat you out of your house and home. However, I did read that they will not "jump from" the species of wood they are in to another species. In other words, if they live in oak they will not attack your pine or maple.
I don't know, but it could be all just an old wives tale too!
Personally I hate ants in my wood and I take great pleasure putting their home log into the fire!
Jim

 

[MS460WOODCHUCK]

I'll go with zodiac but not sure what the BTU's are on them

Good one!

 

[iowawoodcutter]

we have carpenter ants in some of our oak firewood. Takes about two to three days of inside heat before they start squirming around, so I never keep more than two days wood in the house at a time.

 

[ropensaddle]

They all burn pretty well (I hope there's not any Buddist's listening). I don't really worry about it. My house is 200+ years old and has always had 1 or 2 woodstoves heating it. It's still here.

:hmm3grin2orange: Pure protein too of course that would be before making them toast lol

 

[Bowtie]

I always hate seeing cockroaches in wood. The mulberry and hedge here is always bad about that, as well as carpenter ants. Probably the most common bug I see is the yellow striped sawflies. The are mean looking things, but I dont believe they harm wood in a structure. From the research I have done is that they only destroy live, or dying wood.

 

[Octane]

As long as you arent storing wood inside your house all summer long, I dont really see it being much of an issue.
Once it gets cold, most of the insects that are inside wood go dormant or die. In the case of ants, Im pretty sure that the queen is the only one who survives from one year to the next and she will make a new nest every year, so you should be OK even if you see ants in a piece of wood.

 

[bore_pig]

I don't know about what different bugs can do. I see many of the bugs you speak of myself. I just don't keep more than about 3 days worth of wood in the house at any time. I also split everything that's 6" and larger at least once to be sure that nothing is in it. Before there is a couple of good freezes, I don't keep anything in the house that has signs of bugs.

 

[eric_271]

Does anyone worry about any of the little crawlers that they see when they are splitting their wood. Iknow of course that nobody wants to see termites but what about the other ones like woodlice, red ants, black ants and the whiteish/yellow grubworm that you usually see bored into a redoak. The grubworm is the one I am worried about. If they can eat into that can they devour your house too? Any opinions will be greatly appreciated.

The grub worm you speak of is more than likely a borer. They are thick in our osage orange but don't seem to hurt them or our oaks. They are very bad news for some maple trees, crimson king don't last long after you bring wood into your yard that has borer's in it. Some people spray their wood to keep borer's from getting into the yard trees.

 

[farmer]

I have seen what powder post beetles can do. They destroyed the subfloor in an old farm house. They turned it into dust. I have only seen them in hardwood and they seem to prefer beech and ash to other woods. They get in firewood that has been stored for some time. Usually takes a few years.

 

[avalancher]

I am real lucky in the bug department, we have a large gathering of little chicadee type of bird that lives in the brush right by my wood splitting area, and as soon as I pull up with the log splitter they show up for lunch. They have gotten so used to being there that I have even had them perch on my splitter waiting for something to eat. They make quick work of anything that comes out of my split wood.I can tell you one thing, I have rarely found any bugs in my wood headed to the house after they have picked the wood clean.
We have 8 birdfeeders in our yard and a pond, so maybe that helps attract the little helpers to hanging out here.

 

[Bowtie]

good birds!

 

[BriGuy89]

I was reading just the other day about carpenter ants. Stray carpenter ants can't make a colony without a queen and the queen is very unlikely to be found in firewood.

There's one you don't have to worry about.

From the really unlikely department regarding carpenter ants:

I reuse some old lidded plastic trash cans for storing scraps left over when cutting logs to size for my stove opening. One of them must have had tiny hole in the plastic, near the lid band, seemingly chewed through by the ants.

So it's pretty dry in there, and I was shocked after a full summer (mostly lidded) to open the can and find it swarming with carpenter ants that made a nest among the end-cut scraps!

To get rid of the ants and not lose the dried scraps, I banged each piece into a five-gallon trash can to knock them out of the wood (easy to do; these were small chunks), put the scraps in another clean (old) trash can, hit the trapped ants with some carpenter ant dust I have, covered the lid, and then left it for a week. Dumped the dead contents into a ziploc bag and disposed of with the trash.

Never in a million years would I have guessed a colony of carpenter ants would be interested in building a nest in such a small confined area, and among such small pieces of end-cut scrap wood.

 

[darren_nh]

The fireproof ones?