# Carpenter ants



## kmmuellr (Sep 12, 2011)

In the "when it rains, it pours" thread I showed my score of a few weeks ago.  I'm 99% stacked (had one stack fall over Sat night, and had to re-stack yesterday.  Bummed about that!)

A few of the logs had a decent amount of carpenter ants in them.  Of course they scattered when I split, but when loading the pick-up to transfer to my friend's house I noticed there were still some ants crawling around on the pile.  Should I be worried that I'm going to have infested firewood come spring time when I move the wood from my friend's shed where I'm storing it, to the stacks in my yard?  Anything I should treat it with?

I hate the multiple handling of the wood, but I just don't have the space to store a lot at my house!

Thanks!
K


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## Wood Duck (Sep 12, 2011)

When I find carpenter ants in firewood I split the wood then leave it out on the lawn, scattered around, for a week or so. If I remember I kick it around a few times. The ants abandon the wood when it starts to get dry and heats up. Then I stack and, so far, no Carpenter Ants in my stacks. There are tons of them around here and some live quite near the stacks in trees, but never in my stacked firewood.


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## DanCorcoran (Sep 12, 2011)

Wood Duck said:
			
		

> When I find carpenter ants in firewood I split the wood then leave it out on the lawn, scattered around, for a week or so. If I remember I kick it around a few times. The ants abandon the wood when it starts to get dry and heats up. Then I stack and, so far, no Carpenter Ants in my stacks. There are tons of them around here and some live quite near the stacks in trees, but never in my stacked firewood.



Carpenter ants seem to be everywhere around my cabin.  I spray the foundation of the cabin as well as my woodpiles with Talstar, which has instructions for doing both.  It is a termiticide as well as a general insecticide.


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## billb3 (Sep 12, 2011)

They really don't find splits of wood  attractive for a home.
You might find a half a dozen  holed up together  trying to survive the Winter between two tight wind free splits.

I've found them between layers of stacked plywood.
Carved out a little protective  bowl to stay in.
Right after I cut a infested red oak.
They had to hide somewhere.
Without a queen I think they just survive for a while.


Any one I know with   big long stacks just puts ant/bug killer on the ground around  the stacks.
Probably doesn't do much of anything except make the  stack owner sleep better at night.


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## Chopernator (Sep 12, 2011)

Yeah I had the same problem with those nasty black carpenter ants from hell!   Argggggh.... I had to sacrifice a round of hickory cause I just couldnt kill em all with the homemade spray I had.  So I just placed it on the fire pit I started and burnt it on there.  Even if I had a commercial spray I still wouldnt of kill em all.  So I sprayed em and stomped on them as they would try to get away and the queens came out the ones with the wings I believe and killed them  Anyways I need to attend my wood stacking party and split my rounds up.  Peace.


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## jimosufan (Sep 12, 2011)

suck them up with a shop vac,  then sacafice to the fire pit gods with lighter fluid. FYI all ants hate crushed red Chile peppers. just learned this myself. someone from work told me he found it from the net. check it out.


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## raybonz (Sep 12, 2011)

Have I mentioned that I HATE carpenter ants?!?!

Ray


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## n3pro (Sep 12, 2011)

I find lots of them under the bark.  One of the reason I try to debark before I move to the deck.  I'm amazed that wood C/S/S for 12 months can be moist under the bark and have a crap load of ants.


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## red oak (Sep 13, 2011)

I realize not everyone can do this, but chickens take care of any bugs in my wood very quickly.  My hens will come running as soon as they hear me swinging the splitting maul.  Last spring I split a round with HUNDREDS of carpenter ants in them, chickens took care of them in 10 minutes.  I had one hen a few years ago that would jump right up on the round when I was in mid-swing.  Tempting, tempting....


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## Backwoods Savage (Sep 13, 2011)

Don't think I've ever found any in the wood that has been split. They are usually gone by then and hopefully gone away from the house.


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## ikessky (Sep 13, 2011)

My split piles are all kept 15 miles away from the house for the first drying year and have diazinon sprinkled all around and in between.  I've yet to bring home an ant.


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## firefighterjake (Sep 13, 2011)

Wood Duck said:
			
		

> When I find carpenter ants in firewood I split the wood then leave it out on the lawn, scattered around, for a week or so. If I remember I kick it around a few times. The ants abandon the wood when it starts to get dry and heats up. Then I stack and, so far, no Carpenter Ants in my stacks. There are tons of them around here and some live quite near the stacks in trees, but never in my stacked firewood.



Same here . . . split and leave it be . . . when I return they are all gone.


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## ChrisNJ (Sep 13, 2011)

I split on my driveway and my 2.5yo and 5.5yo are usually around, when I split open a nest I toss the whole thing in the center of the driveway and call over the kids and dog and we squish em all while the dog eats some.


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## mainemaul (Sep 14, 2011)

red oak said:
			
		

> I realize not everyone can do this, but chickens take care of any bugs in my wood very quickly.  My hens will come running as soon as they hear me swinging the splitting maul.  Last spring I split a round with HUNDREDS of carpenter ants in them, chickens took care of them in 10 minutes.  I had one hen a few years ago that would jump right up on the round when I was in mid-swing.  Tempting, tempting....


Almost spit my beer out!! LOL


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## Wood Duck (Sep 14, 2011)

I don't think it is worth worrying too much about a few Carpenter Ants that come home with the firewood. I have a wooded lot and there are thousands and thousands of Carpenter Ants in my trees, just like in almost every woodland in Pennsylvania. Take a close look at the trees in the forest - many of them have carpenter ants. They are all around me whether or not I bring home firewood.

I split the pieces of wood with ants small enough to open up most of the tunnels, then leave the wood out in the open. The ants end up under the wood at first, then I kick the splits around and the ants end up scattered. An ant without a colony is dead ant walking - nothing to worry about. I suspect any Caprenter Ants that esacpe my wood splitting are killed as intruders by the surrounding Carpenter Ant colonies. I'll have to alert the chickens next time I find some ants.


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## kevinmerchant (Sep 14, 2011)

ChrisNJ said:
			
		

> I split on my driveway and my 2.5yo and 5.5yo are usually around, when I split open a nest I toss the whole thing in the center of the driveway and call over the kids and dog and we squish em all while the dog eats some.



Can you please get a video of this. My kids would love to see that. I'll even send you a round or 2 with some nice big juicy ones.


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## steeltowninwv (Sep 14, 2011)

I just cut a few sycamore trees that had been down a year...wolf spiders everywhere...the wood will be in that pile to season in field for a year...will the spiders leave?... also is it OK to spray ur firewood with chemicals?


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## DanCorcoran (Sep 15, 2011)

Read the insert that comes with the insecticide.  Talstar specifically says it is okay for firewood, but you have to wait a certain time before burning (30 days?).


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## Wood Duck (Sep 15, 2011)

steeltowninwv said:
			
		

> I just cut a few sycamore trees that had been down a year...wolf spiders everywhere...the wood will be in that pile to season in field for a year...will the spiders leave?... also is it OK to spray ur firewood with chemicals?



My prediction is that somehow the sycamore laying down was a very good habitat for wolf spiders so there were a bunch there. When you stack the wood I suspect that it will not be as attractive to the wolf spiders, so they'll leave. I personally would prefer wolf spiders to bugs that chew on the wood, but I don't really have a choice. I get the number of spiders that occur naturally and can't really change that much whether I want to or not. I find spiders hiding between my firewood sometimes, but not usually a lot of spiders. My wood is stacked in a weedy and brushy field that has plenty of bugs of all kinds, so spiders are definitely near the wood, but still I odn't see what I consider a large number of spiders. In the winter the spiders are dormant and tend to drop off the wood as I take it from the stacks and move it to the house. I haven't had prolems with spiders or other bugs waking up in the house and crawling around. Maybe one or two last winter?


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