No good wood bugs

[boda65]

Need advise:help:
I don't see the critters that are devouring my Hickory but I suppose they are carpenter ants. At this rate, I won't have much wood left for January
If I spray them with insect killer, could that make poisonous fumes in the fireplace?? With the way they bore into the wood, I'm not even sure spraying would kill them. I often bring in 2 days worth of wood in the winter, I really don't need these bastages in my house.

 

[Laird]

Might be powder post beetles. They go for the Hickory first. Sawmills keep them away by keeping the sawlogs constantly wet, not something that you want to do for firewood. Unless you leave your wood 4-5 years before burning shouldn't do too much damage.

 

[Mike PA]

I don't hink I'd be too concerned about that. There isn't that much wood lost there. Just burn it this year.

 

[Streblerm]

yeah, don't worry, they won't eat much. As soon as the weather turns cold, they'll quit. If its ants, they'll leave as soon as the wood gets dry. Burn it this year and don't use any chemicals.

 

[oneoldbanjo]

I don't know exactly what they are.....but I am in Northern Kentucky and I get the same thing in my Shagbark Hickory soon after the tree is down. Inside the logs are grubs that eat the wood and leave tunnels through the wood. They don't eat much and they don't move on to other wood in the shed - but they sure do make a powdery mess. I have an OWB and burn outside and have tried various sprays with mixed success, as the grubs never come to the surface to where the spray is. At this point I just burn the Hickory as soon as I can and just let the other wood without bugs stay put until the Hickor is gone.

 

[muddawg]

they wont eat much , they make a nice big POP !
in the stove

I use a granule anti-ant around the house and woodpile
didnt cure all but slows them way down

mike

 

[Curlycherry1]

Hickory is a boring bug magnet. If you spray with chemicals they won't have much affect because the bugs are deep inside the wood. Just burn the wood soon after bringing it into the house. They need to bore out of the wood to escape and so if the wood is brought in cold there is little chance they will make it out of the wood in the 24-48 hours it takes to burn the wood. Also, they do not like the same wood in a house like they do firewood.

 

[boda65]

Hickory is a boring bug magnet. If you spray with chemicals they won't have much affect because the bugs are deep inside the wood. Just burn the wood soon after bringing it into the house. They need to bore out of the wood to escape and so if the wood is brought in cold there is little chance they will make it out of the wood in the 24-48 hours it takes to burn the wood. Also, they do not like the same wood in a house like they do firewood.

That is interesting, because I am only having this problem in the Hickory. I have it positioned in my wood stash to be burned around January.

 

[oneoldbanjo]

Hickory is a boring bug magnet.

I agree. Hickory must be really tasty as it takes very little time for it to get infested. Cherry seems to be the next favorite for bugs. The Carpenter Ants seem to like the Locust and Oak. Nothing much seems to bother the Maple or Cedar in my wood piles.

 

[Curlycherry1]

Years ago my brother got about 40 truck loads of big hickory in for firewood processing. He had probably 300 loads in total on his land at the time. 6 Months later when it was all processed and stacked he found ~3-5" deep piles of frass (wood sawdust from beetles) around the base of the piles that had hickory. No other piles on his property had frass like those hickory piles did. Now when he gets the occasional hickory log it go straight to his personal OWB pile. He does not mix it in with his other wood because his customers do not like to see all that sawdust. No matter how hard the pieces are beat to knock it off, there always is some that falls off inside the customer's house, and they do not like that.

 

[super3]

Same thing I had with the hickory I cut last winter. They didn't start eating till the wood dried out quite a bit. Split one open to get a look at them and the grubs matched the looks of the round headed borer. They either got full or hatched out and flew off. Seemed to only be in the sapwood.

 

[boda65]

Wood bug update

When I wasn't looking, the bugs invaded my stash :msp_mad:

By December, it was so bad that I had to wire brush almost every piece to get all the sawdust off it. I don't have to tell you what a PITA that is. I don't see any sign of it in all my other wood, just the three rows that were stacked together for this year. The mulberry wood seemed to be immune from the bugs. I will be keeping a very close eye on the rest of my wood this summer though.
I broke open a small piece of wood that was badly infested. Here are pics of the grub or larvae or whatever it is. Looks almost like a bee.

If I find any sign of these things anywhere else, I will initiate a scorched earth policy!

 

[mizzou]

I get this same sawdust like fras on some of my woood also. Worst is hickory, but it gets in the walnut and honey locust pretty bad too. Never seems to bother the black locust or hedge at all. The bugs will hit pecan too, just as bad as the hickory.

 

[John R]

To hell with them bugs, they'll burn too.

 

[mooseracing]

yeah, don't worry, they won't eat much. As soon as the weather turns cold, they'll quit.

Tell that to the little bastards eating my barn. They are making sawdusts of my joists.

 

[Hedgerow]

I get this same sawdust like fras on some of my woood also. Worst is hickory, but it gets in the walnut and honey locust pretty bad too. Never seems to bother the black locust or hedge at all. The bugs will hit pecan too, just as bad as the hickory.

I know these bugs well... In the summer, I can go to the wood shed and hear them "Munching"... Not kidding... They have never bothered the building or structure at all. I have tried killing them by spraying around the base and outside the building, but found out the adults fly!!! The larval stage eats the wood, matures, and they fly away. Their preferred food is honey locust and Hickory. Mizzou is right, they don't like hedge as much, but I've noticed they'll eat through the soft outer layer to the bright yellow and stop! Get this... They don't like oak or Mullberry!!! They've even left the cord of hard maple alone. I've stopped trying to kill them... But they do tend to make a mess in the wood pile.:msp_blink:

 

[deerlakejens]

Check out this link: http://bugguide.net/node/view/99307. I can tell by your picture it is a long-horned beetle, and is most likely the hickory borer, as it prefers hickory and pecan. There is a different species called a "live hickory borer" that prefers hickory and oak. You're wasting money spraying anything on the surface of the wood. Just burn them. I doubt this is what's in the joists of the barn unless they are made of hickory. There you probably do have powder post beetles.

 

[Hedgerow]

Check out this link: http://bugguide.net/node/view/99307. I can tell by your picture it is a long-horned beetle, and is most likely the hickory borer, as it prefers hickory and pecan. There is a different species called a "live hickory borer" that prefers hickory and oak. You're wasting money spraying anything on the surface of the wood. Just burn them. I doubt this is what's in the joists of the barn unless they are made of hickory. There you probably do have powder post beetles.

Bingo!!! That's the bug...

 

[boda65]

Check out this link: http://bugguide.net/node/view/99307. I can tell by your picture it is a long-horned beetle, and is most likely the hickory borer, as it prefers hickory and pecan. There is a different species called a "live hickory borer" that prefers hickory and oak. You're wasting money spraying anything on the surface of the wood. Just burn them. I doubt this is what's in the joists of the barn unless they are made of hickory. There you probably do have powder post beetles.

Thanks for the link. Is there any way to eradicate them? I will have all the obviously infested wood burnt soon. But if there are more, I want them GONE! I do not want to be out in 10 degree weather chipping and wire brushing sawdust off of wood again. Anthrax, sarin, agent orange, anything?:msp_laugh:

 

[1harlowr]

I'd just bang a couple pieces of the wood together before bringing it in. That should get most of the powder/dust off the wood. Don't think I'd bother wirer brushing any of my firewood. Much easier to sweep up the dusk if it falls on the floor of the house.