Ants

[NORTHERN NYer]

Hey guys this is my first post here, but I have been viewing in the shadows for a while now. Man this site is addicting. I have been cutting and splitting 2 big loads of logs I bought a few months ago. I have found many carpenter ants in some cherry and maple while splitting the rounds. Should I have any worries about these critters? Will they get into my wood pile after its all split and stacked? Has anyone experienced this before and what did you do? I have been trying to smush them all but that is near impossible with a couple hundered of them little pests falling off the splitter into the sawdust. I have sprayed around my house and the maples in my yard with the ortho home defense stuff, hopefully that will keep them out of there. I would appreciate any help anyone has to offer.

 

[Big Woody]

Tractor Supply has a spray bottle (like a windex bottle) by Ortho (orange in color) you can spray and kill them with when that happens. It is about $8 i believe. They also have a spry can if you prefer that instead. You can mix up your own if you have some permethryn concentrate handy.

 

[buckwheat]

It seems like every maple I've cut up in the last five years has been infested with ants. I don't know if they kill the trees, or if they are attracted to the ones that have been weakened for other reasons.

I'm not an expert, but it's my understanding that once the nest is disturbed, the "worker" ants loose touch with the queen, and they tend to disperse. If I split into a nest, I usually just toss the log aside for a few days and then stack it later. The ants are usually gone.

Still, it might not hurt to spray the pile if you have it fairly close to the house, just for safety's sake.

 

[ontario026]

We recently had a carpenter ant problem in the house and had to set off 6 insect bombs. Seemed to work, however we occasionally see the odd dead ant carcass show up? not sure if there are any still alive in the walls, or if they are fresh ants coming in trying to find food, however they seem to die from the residual effect of the bombs?

However I do have a few maples out back all cut up which has ants in them when I split them, once the piles are all dried and I transfer it all to the wood shed I think I may drop a couple more insect bombs in the wood shed to make sure they are all dead and I don't transfer any more into the house this fall/winter... I don't think the original ant problem I had was caused by firewood, we never found any ants in the area of the woodstove and only ever kept a few armloads of wood inside a woodbox in near the stove....

Does anyone see any problem with "bombing" the woodshed? I figured I'd do it probably some time early fall, maybe a month or so before I start really burning any...

Matt

 

[Newfie]

I hear you get a real killer buzz when you burn insecticide laced firewood.

 

[12guns]

We recently had a carpenter ant problem in the house and had to set off 6 insect bombs. Seemed to work, however we occasionally see the odd dead ant carcass show up? not sure if there are any still alive in the walls, or if they are fresh ants coming in trying to find food, however they seem to die from the residual effect of the bombs?

However I do have a few maples out back all cut up which has ants in them when I split them, once the piles are all dried and I transfer it all to the wood shed I think I may drop a couple more insect bombs in the wood shed to make sure they are all dead and I don't transfer any more into the house this fall/winter... I don't think the original ant problem I had was caused by firewood, we never found any ants in the area of the woodstove and only ever kept a few armloads of wood inside a woodbox in near the stove....

Does anyone see any problem with "bombing" the woodshed? I figured I'd do it probably some time early fall, maybe a month or so before I start really burning any...

Matt

Bombing is not neccesary. It may work, but I've had great luck w/ the cheap grainular generic insect killer from lowes, or wal mart. Throw it all over the ground (about like you would fertilizer) and it keeps all kinds of bugs away. Keep in mind the carpenter ants can't eat the wood, they just chew up soft wood to make a nest. if you get rid of any rotting or pourus wood, you may get rid of the ants. Also the cheap ready-to-spray liquid works great for places w/ bugs. What I'm getting at is that if you keep the bugs out from around the wood, you may not have a problem w/ bringing them inside...just a thought.

 

[DeanBrown3D]

When I hit a nest and its full of live ants, I grab my gas can and poor a bit over the nest, all is dead in a few minutes. Then I throw it into the junk pile.

(Always got some gas handy when splitting)

 

[NORTHERN NYer]

Thanks

Thanks for replying everyone. Some great posts there, nise to see no one has had any major problems with them. I tried the gas thing, but at over 3 bucks a gallon I stopped. I was out around the wood pile last night and didnt see any crawling about the woodpile, that puts my mind at ease a bit. I think I'll just keep it sprayed around the house, throw some of those granuals around the wood pile, and get a spray can to kill them when I come across them.
Thanks again.

 

[turnkey4099]

Thanks for replying everyone. Some great posts there, nise to see no one has had any major problems with them. I tried the gas thing, but at over 3 bucks a gallon I stopped. I was out around the wood pile last night and didnt see any crawling about the woodpile, that puts my mind at ease a bit. I think I'll just keep it sprayed around the house, throw some of those granuals around the wood pile, and get a spray can to kill them when I come across them.
Thanks again.

My understanding is that on carpenter ants, the nest is always in the ground somewhere and only the workers will be in the wood. Thus cutting an infested tree in the woods and hauling it home = no problem as the workers will just die off. Did that once and had no infestation.

Harry K

 

[jerseydevil]

My advice is to keep the area clean of wet/rotten wood and leaves and do as I do, I don't bring any questionable wood into your home or barn or around them.
You can't kill all of the ants, but you can stack the wood away froim your house and keep an eye on it. I suggest it be stacked off of the ground to dry properly. You can bring it into your home in small bundles in the winter, just enough to burn that night. All the bugs will be dormant, but don't keep anything inside for more than a day or two because the warmth will wake them up.
That being said, I'll add that the worker ants by themselves can't do much but wander around looking for direction. As stated, they can't really survive in dry wood, it is too hard to chew up.
I DO NOT recommend dumping gasoline anywhere except into a gas tank. I dare say only FOOLS use gasoline for anything else. Once you are burned, it is TOO LATE, and this practice will eventually lead to somebody getting burned or worse.
You are also wasting time spraying bugs, especially ants. The easiest way to deal with them is what I said, take away the environment they like, and they will go away. Ofcourse that is not always convenient, like when they are into rotten/ wet joists, but replacing those joist is the fastest safest cleanest way to get rid of the ants.

 

[DeanBrown3D]

How can you burn yourself pooring a little gas onto ants?
Compared, for example, with pooring gas into an engine thats at 400 degrees? lol

 

[jerseydevil]

Why would you pour gas onto an engine? Especially a hot one?
If you meant pouring gas into the engines gastank, then that is a different story. I infact agree with that, as I stated, you should only pour gas into gas tanks.
Dean, allow me to rephrase a statement I made in my last post. I should not have said people who use gas to kill ants are fools. What I should have said was, killing ants with gas is foolish. For the following reasons.

1. Gasoline is extremely flamable, once one drop of it is ignited, it is too late, it is all going up instantly. Not like in the movies where guy spills gas, gas is lit, guy outruns flames spreading. NO WAY MAN. you are as good as fried.
2. Gasoline is pretty expensive right about now where I live, so if I was gonna pour anything on bugs, it would not be gasoline.
3. Gasoline fumes are also explosive not to mention unhealthy to breath in.
4. Stupid is as stupid does.
5. No matter who you are or where you live, you are capable of having an accident. The best way to prevent accidents is to cut down on situations that can lead to accidents. In other words don't put yourself in a position to get hurt.
6. Think about it like this, would you do this with your kids around? If you answer yes then I am wasting my breath here. If you say no, then think about why that is , and perhaps you will see the light.
The point is safety practices are put in place not because you will get hurt everytime you do something, but because that one time when you least expect it, you can get F'ed up.
Now I don't know you and I know you will do what you want too anyway as everyone does, but I told you what I think. I hope you agree with me.

If you are not convinced, then I suggest you call your local burn ward and ask them how often responsible people are injured by pouring gasoline on ants and hot engines. You may be surprised.:angry2:

 

[pigwot]

Years ago I recall watching as a neighbor was dripping gas along the cracks in his sidewalk, killing ants and the sprigs of grass growing through as well. Years later I listened to a groundwater engineer speaking about how bad toxic spills are for our aquifiers. A gallon of gas spilled can contaminate up to a million gallons of groundwater. I have no idea if his figures are correct, but it is definitely something to think about. . .

 

[jerseydevil]

thank you pigwot. I don't know if those figures are correct but I know there is some truth to it. I did not bring up the environmental damage because I know I would hear something about all the pollution that is already there.
People are quick to respond if they feel the repercussions directly.
JD

 

[DeanBrown3D]

Ok that message was for all the non-green treehugging PC types. When you break open a round with 1000 ferrocious black ants and they are crawling around your splitter right there on your property, I'm not one to go an look for some (btw highly toxic) pesticide, while they all scatter. I grab a can of gas, poor a LITTLE right onto the pack, and then lob the whole thing as far away from my house as possible. The gas kills them all.

 

[DeanBrown3D]

I am not always convinced that the queen is absent. Does the queen generally live underground or can she live in the tree itself?

 

[laynes69]

I use a little propane torch to kill the ants. Seems to work and doesnt burn the wood.

 

[DeanBrown3D]

That's a good idea! Maybe I can light the gas after pooring it over the ants, that way I won't be poluting anything

 

[jerseydevil]

Good thinking Dean. It is people lke you that give New Jersey its good name.

 

[cinders]

Carpenter Ants For Over 2 Years Now

I started spotting Carpenter Ants over 2 years ago inside the house, coming out my molding. Called ORKIN and hired on for treatment in 2005. They have powdered the walls multiple times, sprayed the area, checked my attic and crawl space, jelled the windows and find NO moisture. After $1400.00, I am residing and reconstructing my house. Ants still persist. I complain to Orkin they are baffled. Opened one wall yesterday and found over 600 ants alive amongst all their treatment. They argue it's the application and their product WORKS everywhere else. I ask, How many tear their walls apart to be sure the product works. How do you know what's going on in the walls? Bought a can of ORTHO and it killed on contact. Going to set off 12 bombs throughout my house now and ORKIN is to refund my money. There is a formula using Boric Acid also. By the way, no wood piles, no Maple trees in my area and I keep my yard clean and clipped.