Termites!!

[chainsawaddict]

Just had a scare here in the woodpile. Saw a bunch of dead ants that looked like termites. Turns out Flying ants are mistaken for termites quite a bit.

Termites have straight antennae, Ants have a "bent" (nearly 90 degrees) antennae

Ants have a skinny abdomen, termites have a straight abdomen. Just some quick info, that i looked up. Hopefully it will help someone else.

This really scared me after last week I cut down a bunch of elm that was full of "wood boring insects." Little white grub like things that were in the bark. I still dont know what they are/were.

 

[mga]

i recently split open some maple where the center was loaded with large black ants. fortunately, it was less than 20 degrees out and they just fell into the snow. i also saw the same lavae that you mentioned. i figured maybe they were ant larva.

either way i killed as many as i could and placed that wood way out back. i'll watch it this summer.

also found a bee hive inside one...hornets. too cold for them to move too.

 

[habanero]

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but if you have any type of decaying wood, old stumps, brush piles, etc. on your property, you have termites. They are part of nature's recycling program. Keeping decaying wood picked up helps reduce the numbers, but even if there wasn't a single one on your property, if your house has moist wood near the soil you're probably going to have termites in it.

 

[chainsawaddict]

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but if you have any type of decaying wood, old stumps, brush piles, etc. on your property, you have termites. They are part of nature's recycling program. Keeping decaying wood picked up helps reduce the numbers, but even if there wasn't a single one on your property, if your house has moist wood near the soil you're probably going to have termites in it.

So all of us have wood piles, how do we keep termites away from our homes?

 

[beerman6]

Ship me all of your firewood,that'll get rid of them for ya.

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

Is there even a problem with termites in NE? Here in the MKE metro area, they are only in areas near the steam tunnels. It gets too cold for them over the winter.

 

[Bowtie]

Keep all wood above the ground. People use pallets to stack firewood on...bad idea. People pile firewood on the ground...bad idea. Stack your firewood on something other than wood, and keep the bark and stuff cleaned up if you split at home. I have been through the termite issue, its scary and unpleasant.

 

[Geez]

This really scared me after last week I cut down a bunch of elm that was full of "wood boring insects." Little white grub like things that were in the bark. I still dont know what they are/were.

These were probably elm bark beetles. Not to worry, they only live in American Elm trees, not your house. They are what spread Dutch Elm Disease. One way to tell for sure is to peel off some loose bark. The beetles leave what are called 'galleries'. That is, the beetle bores in for about two inches, laying eggs as she goes. The eggs hatch and the larvae eat their way outwards from the main tunnel, growing as they go which makes their individual tunnels get a little wider as they go. Then they emerge. What is left is an etching under the bark that looks somewhat like a carving of a long legged centipede. With American Elm Bark Beetles, the main tunnel runs with the grain of the wood, and across the grain if it's the European Elm Bark Beetle. The beetles then fly to another (or the same) elm and chew on tender twigs. Once they have a wound in the bark, they rub their shoulders (which are covered with tiny hairs carrying the Dutch Elm Disease fungus) into it and infect the tree. When the tree begins dying back, the beetles lay their eggs in it.
In effect they kill the tree for 'brood wood'. One six foot log can produce several hundred thousand beetles. That's why many localities will not allow you to keep elm for firewood unless the bark has been removed.
More than you probably wanted to know, but I thought someone might find it interesting. In my younger days I used to treat trees against the disease, and ultimately remove them when they died.

 

[chainsawaddict]

These were probably elm bark beetles. Not to worry, they only live in American Elm trees, not your house. They are what spread Dutch Elm Disease. One way to tell for sure is to peel off some loose bark. The beetles leave what are called 'galleries'. That is, the beetle bores in for about two inches, laying eggs as she goes. The eggs hatch and the larvae eat their way outwards from the main tunnel, growing as they go which makes their individual tunnels get a little wider as they go. Then they emerge. What is left is an etching under the bark that looks somewhat like a carving of a long legged centipede. With American Elm Bark Beetles, the main tunnel runs with the grain of the wood, and across the grain if it's the European Elm Bark Beetle. The beetles then fly to another (or the same) elm and chew on tender twigs. Once they have a wound in the bark, they rub their shoulders (which are covered with tiny hairs carrying the Dutch Elm Disease fungus) into it and infect the tree. When the tree begins dying back, the beetles lay their eggs in it.
In effect they kill the tree for 'brood wood'. One six foot log can produce several hundred thousand beetles. That's why many localities will not allow you to keep elm for firewood unless the bark has been removed.
More than you probably wanted to know, but I thought someone might find it interesting. In my younger days I used to treat trees against the disease, and ultimately remove them when they died.

I have a few elms in my yard, if i bring this wood home, how far can these little buggers travel?

 

[stihl sawing]

I stack all my wood on 2 by 10 tin roofing. It does a good job, But if you let one log hit the ground the termites will tunnel up through the one on the ground into the others. Also if you keep the ground dry like under a roof or cover that will let the pile get air it will help some. Termites like moist wet places.

 

[davegster]

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but if you have any type of decaying wood, old stumps, brush piles, etc. on your property, you have termites. They are part of nature's recycling program. Keeping decaying wood picked up helps reduce the numbers, but even if there wasn't a single one on your property, if your house has moist wood near the soil you're probably going to have termites in it.

You are right about that. Termites live in just about every corner of North America. The populations in the south are year round beeders. The Orkan man is the worst enemy. Up north they thrive but are relatively dormant in the winter months.

 

[habanero]

So all of us have wood piles, how do we keep termites away from our homes?

The tips Bowtie gave are good for keeping your firewood free of termites (though in the interest of full disclosure I've never stacked my wood on anything but the ground). But the point of this is like Davegster said, there are termites everywhere. There is no acreage in the country that doesn't have a rotting stump somewhere, particularly below ground out of sight where termites really love them.

I do think termites are less of a problem here in northern climates, but our house in Manhattan, KS had previous termite damage and that isn't that far south of you.

To keep them out of your house, keep all the structural wood dry and away from the soil and termites aren't likely to find any interest in it. From what I've read, they generally only prefer damp rotting wood. Even if you bring a log in from outside full of termites, they aren't going to do much harm and most will only add BTU's to your log.

Just for the record, if I remember correctly, carpenter ants will attack dry, sound wood. So at the end of the day, they are probably more of a worry than termites.

 

[Geez]

I have a few elms in my yard, if i bring this wood home, how far can these little buggers travel?

They can travel quite a ways, seeing as they are flying beetles. If you have any elms dying of the disease within a mile of you, I'd bet you have Elm Bark Beetles in your yard already. If not, and you're bringing the wood from a more distant location, I guess I'd think twice.
I store and burn it because I already have the disease around me and I can see the writing on the wall. If I even see an elm sapling in my lot, I cut it down and let other, more disease resistant types of trees take hold.
You can tell when a tree has succumbed to Dutch Elm because it will 'flag' for a couple years before it really goes downhill and dies. That is, it will have wilting, yellowing foliage high in the top of the tree first. It will get progressively worse. This is because the fungus is starting to plug up the vascular system of the tree. It gets harder for the tree to get sap and nutrients all the way to the top of the tree.
Additionally, when the crowns of two trees touch, so do the roots. And where they touch, they usually grow together and the disease will spread from tree to tree through the roots. That is why the disease has devastated the long boulevards of trees across the country. You could just watch the diseased trees progressively die along the strees. In that case we used to isolate the trees by injecting chemicals into the ground and burning the roots apart, but all we really were doing was prolonging the inevitable.

 

[chainsawaddict]

They can travel quite a ways, seeing as they are flying beetles. If you have any elms dying of the disease within a mile of you, I'd bet you have Elm Bark Beetles in your yard already. If not, and you're bringing the wood from a more distant location, I guess I'd think twice.
I store and burn it because I already have the disease around me and I can see the writing on the wall. If I even see an elm sapling in my lot, I cut it down and let other, more disease resistant types of trees take hold.
You can tell when a tree has succumbed to Dutch Elm because it will 'flag' for a couple years before it really goes downhill and dies. That is, it will have wilting, yellowing foliage high in the top of the tree first. It will get progressively worse. This is because the fungus is starting to plug up the vascular system of the tree. It gets harder for the tree to get sap and nutrients all the way to the top of the tree.
Additionally, when the crowns of two trees touch, so do the roots. And where they touch, they usually grow together and the disease will spread from tree to tree through the roots. That is why the disease has devastated the long boulevards of trees across the country. You could just watch the diseased trees progressively die along the strees. In that case we used to isolate the trees by injecting chemicals into the ground and burning the roots apart, but all we really were doing was prolonging the inevitable.

Does this just happen to elms? Sorry for all the q's, but I like my trees:censored:

 

[mga]

To keep them out of your house, keep all the structural wood dry and away from the soil and termites aren't likely to find any interest in it. From what I've read, they generally only prefer damp rotting wood. Even if you bring a log in from outside full of termites, they aren't going to do much harm and most will only add BTU's to your log.

gees...my house is surrounded by mulch.

but, i do spray both the inside and outside of my house twice a year with Ortho Home defense. whether it helps or not...who knows....but no ants or signs of any wood dwellers.

my biggest problem is i have rough sawn cedar trim on the house. those darn wood bees bore into it, leave their larvae and then those damn woodpeckers come and rip the wood apart trying to eat them. i chase them away, since it's illegal to kill them, i paint the wood, i fill the holes with sealant, i've even tried coating it with oil.

those wood bees, for me, are a bigger problem.

 

[Geez]

Does this just happen to elms? Sorry for all the q's, but I like my trees:censored:

Well, all trees get SOMETHING, but other species won't get Dutch Elm disease. Oaks do get a similar fungus, called Oak Wilt, but not from Elm Bark Beetles or Dutch Elm disease. Maples and ash get a fungus called Anthracnose. Symptoms of all are about the same and for the same reason, limb tops that begin dying back because of some fungus slowing up the sap flow. And all are eventually fatal to the tree.
Also, if you stockpile the elm late in the year, and make sure you burn it all before warm weather comes back, you will probably be safe. The larvae will give you some added BTU's.
And I don't mind all the questions. Just happy to help out with anything I have some expertise in.
Oh, one other test for Dutch Elm disease. If you can reach some dying (but not dead) twigs, strip back some of the bark. The wood right under the bark will be brown instead of creamy colored if it is diseased.

 

[gtstang462002]

Carpenter ants will do more damage in a shorter amount of time that termites to your wood framed houses. Just because as mentioned earlier it is dry and the termites prefer the moisture. Though they have been known to venture to the dry side when there is a lack of moist food for them. I would rather them attack my woodpile and get thrown in the fire when they hibernate in the wood than attack my house that is not getting thrown in the fire.

 

[Bowtie]

Carpenter ants will do more damage in a shorter amount of time that termites to your wood framed houses. Just because as mentioned earlier it is dry and the termites prefer the moisture. Though they have been known to venture to the dry side when there is a lack of moist food for them. I would rather them attack my woodpile and get thrown in the fire when they hibernate in the wood than attack my house that is not getting thrown in the fire.

What you dont understand is that termite are social feeders. Having your wood on the ground will not draw them away from your house. What it will do is allow them to thrive and build a larger colony. They "wander" searching for food, its in their nature. Stacking wood on the ground is like tossing chum into shark infested water.

 

[ZeroJunk]

Termites are common here. The fence beside my house has little tunnels up most of them. Remember that the actual feeding termites don't fly and can stand very little contact with open air.Check around the inside and outside of your foundation. If there are what look like little dirt tunnels about half the size of a pencil coming from the ground up, you have termites. Take a screwdriver or similar and jam in to the nearby joist to check for damage. The tunnels will run in the corners. Doesn't take more than a 1/8 crack for them to go through around a window etc.
They ate one of my basement windows before I noticed them. Now, I pay Terminix $350 per year. They put the green traps around the house which is full of some very soft wood bait. If they see any activity they spray with Termidor or whatever the latest is. Was $1800 a gallon. But, they will guarantee against any damage as long as you maintain the contract.

 

[Bowtie]

I have pretty much the same thing, but Sentricon. I found termite damage in my house after I bought it. It never had termite protection before. Im almost ashamed to show pics of the damage. Im not taking ANY chances with firewood drawing more termites. Colonies can number in the millions. It only takes one termite to find a yummy stick of wood and they all can come a-running.