# Holy Crap, Bugs in the woodpile!



## snydley (Jul 8, 2008)

I noticed today, when a good gust of wind came up, what looked like smoke coming from my woodpile. I walked out back to take a closer look, and there is very fine sawdust all over the wood. There are approx. 1/8 diameter holes in the wood, and I could hear a crackling, raspy sound, when I was real quiet, and saw what looked like a little white grub with a black head apparently crewing holes in the wood and pushing the sawdust out of the hole. Anyone know what I've got, and are they going to destroy my woodpile? What can/should I do about it? Tomorrow I'm going to cut into a log with my chainsaw, try to get the critter out and take a picture of it.
I live in western N.Y. state, and as far as I know termites aren't a problem here, but this is my first year burning wood, so there's still so much I haven't learned yet. I have all of the wood stacked on pallets out in the open where it gets full sun and wind all day.
I appreciate any help you might offer!
Thanks,
Snyde


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## OldHickory (Jul 8, 2008)

I found some larvae in my woodpile too.  While trying to identify some wood in my woodpile, I found a great website that describes various diseases and pests in trees and wood.  I was afraid I had found something yet unreported for my area and sent the info to the agricult. ext. office.  (It looked like to me I've found several Asian Longhorned Beetles that came out of the maple I had in my pile.  I've seen another life stage as well that coincides with this invasive.)
Check out this website by The Nature Conservancy about invasive pests.

http://tncweeds.ucdavis.edu/gallery.html

Here is what I found in my woodpile:
http://i271.photobucket.com/albums/jj144/TNPHRX/AsianLonghornedBeetleCLOSEUP.jpg


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## begreen (Jul 8, 2008)

Ugh, that picture just ruined my dinner  :sick:


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## N/A N/A (Jul 8, 2008)

Hum...that looks like dinner!


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## woodconvert (Jul 8, 2008)

Heh, yeah, your woodpile is a critter habitat (which, when people talk about bringing their wood in doors for storage/seasoning makes me shudder). I debark my firewood and have similar grub looking things just under the bark. I don't know what they are but I do know that a catbird hangs real close to me when i'm peeling bark and eats those things. Oh, don't worry about them either unless they hatch into a flying dobermanwarewolf...then you got problems. Just take your wood from the stack to the fire.

Something i've noticed is that hickory in particular gets a lot of boring critters in it. I don't know why that is but you split it, stack it and it looks normal...look at it again in a week or two and it looks like somebody shot it with a shotgun and there is dust all over like you speak of. 

Good luck and don't worry about it.


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## Carl (Jul 8, 2008)

Your wood must be green yet. Most boring creatures like green wood to work on. Once it dries they will be gone to greener pastures.  

Probably the only thing they do is consume a little wood while they areate your splits for you. Lots of the dead oak I get is full of these burrows. I purchased a dead basswood tree for wood carving. Had it sawed up into planks and stacked it in my garage for drying with the same results you talk of. I could hear the chewing, see the sawdust, holes and holes, which really irritated me. I got some bug spray and gave them a taste of their own medicine. Ended the chewing but too late for the wood so had to pay for another tree, this time a live one with no bugs in it.

You will have to ask around in your area as to what the name of this is. There are plenty of different boreing bugs and they usually hang around in the same area so someone there should know.

As others have mentioned, a good reason not to store your wood in your house although these bugs won't attack already dry wood. My wood goes from the woodshed into the fire with no sitting around the living room for critters to warm and escape into our living space.


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## savageactor7 (Jul 8, 2008)

I never worry about bugs in the woodpile. Every living thing has a season, most outdoor bugs go dormant or whatever in the winter. If you keep your wood outside and bring in a few days amount to burn your not going to have a bug problem. Now I can't say the same thing if you keep wood in a cellar...that's why I don't recommend wood stored there.


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## JustWood (Jul 8, 2008)

OldHickory said:
			
		

> I found some larvae in my woodpile too.  While trying to identify some wood in my woodpile, I found a great website that describes various diseases and pests in trees and wood.  I was afraid I had found something yet unreported for my area and sent the info to the agricult. ext. office.  (It looked like to me I've found several Asian Longhorned Beetles that came out of the maple I had in my pile.  I've seen another life stage as well that coincides with this invasive.)
> Check out this website by The Nature Conservancy about invasive pests.
> 
> http://tncweeds.ucdavis.edu/gallery.html
> ...




Take them worms fishin'!     Bass love em.


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## Adios Pantalones (Jul 8, 2008)

Ya- I had the same thing in pine that was wet (see the thread on 2 kinds of wet wood).  I also found several adult beetles that apparently are Asian Longhorned Beetles.


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## Backwoods Savage (Jul 8, 2008)

snydley said:
			
		

> I noticed today, when a good gust of wind came up, what looked like smoke coming from my woodpile. I walked out back to take a closer look, and there is very fine sawdust all over the wood. There are approx. 1/8 diameter holes in the wood, and I could hear a crackling, raspy sound, when I was real quiet, and saw what looked like a little white grub with a black head apparently crewing holes in the wood and pushing the sawdust out of the hole. Anyone know what I've got, and are they going to destroy my woodpile? What can/should I do about it? Tomorrow I'm going to cut into a log with my chainsaw, try to get the critter out and take a picture of it.
> I live in western N.Y. state, and as far as I know termites aren't a problem here, but this is my first year burning wood, so there's still so much I haven't learned yet. I have all of the wood stacked on pallets out in the open where it gets full sun and wind all day.
> I appreciate any help you might offer!
> Thanks,
> Snyde



Post beetles. Very common.

Don't worry about them doing a lot of damage. We have them every year. Just knock the loose fine sawdust off before you take the wood in to the stove to save a mess, but don't worry, nothing really bad is going to happen.


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## snydley (Jul 8, 2008)

woodconvert said:
			
		

> Heh, yeah, your woodpile is a critter habitat (which, when people talk about bringing their wood in doors for storage/seasoning makes me shudder). I debark my firewood and have similar grub looking things just under the bark. I don't know what they are but I do know that a catbird hangs real close to me when i'm peeling bark and eats those things. Oh, don't worry about them either unless they hatch into a flying dobermanwarewolf...then you got problems. Just take your wood from the stack to the fire.
> 
> Something i've noticed is that hickory in particular gets a lot of boring critters in it. I don't know why that is but you split it, stack it and it looks normal...look at it again in a week or two and it looks like somebody shot it with a shotgun and there is dust all over like you speak of.
> 
> Good luck and don't worry about it.



I wonder if that's what kind of wood I've got. I've got 3 big stacks, all free, well I had to take it away and then split it, one pile I had to cut too, but the tree was in large sections on the ground when I got to it. The 1st stuff was box elder the guy said, all cut up into rounds on the side of the road for the town to pick up, I got it first. 2nd pile same thing, but there was a little more hauling involved. The 3rd pile was the trunk and large branches. The small branches and leaves had already been carted to the side of the road for the town to pick up. I never saw any leaves and don't know for sure what kind of tree it was. The owner said it was locust, but when I got it home my neighbor, who used to burn wood, said he thought it was red oak. It does have a orange-red color to it, but I wonder if it could be hickory. One thing I know, it was pretty tough cutting into rounds, but it split with my hydraulic splitter easy enough. These bugs aren't under the bark, they've actually bored holes into the wood, making their nests I guess. I'm not all that concerned except I don't want them eating it all up before I can burn it this winter! :-S


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## bartlett920 (Jul 9, 2008)

I cut up a oak the other day that was living the day before and noticed small looking white grubs and then seen a big black ant carrying it off I suppose it was an egg sack but I dont worry to much about bugs and worms in the summer...let'em eat whats the most there gonna take one log worth before winter? even if you season for 10 years your not gonna lose much wood from them and they are dormant by winter just dont stack in or around the house.


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## snydley (Jul 9, 2008)

hedgeburner said:
			
		

> I cut up a oak the other day that was living the day before and noticed small looking white grubs and then seen a big black ant carrying it off I suppose it was an egg sack but I dont worry to much about bugs and worms in the summer...let'em eat whats the most there gonna take one log worth before winter? even if you season for 10 years your not gonna lose much wood from them and they are dormant by winter just dont stack in or around the house.


The thing is, this being my 1st year of wood gathering, I didn't know if it was a problem or not. I've got no problem with them chewing a few holes in the logs, but I don't want to go out in the fall to gather up some of the wood and find that there's nothing left of the inside of the logs, all that remains is an exoskeleton of sorts, and nothing on the inside  :ahhh: The bugs haven't bothered the box elder or the black walnut I've got stacked.
Thanks for the advice, everyone!,
Snyde


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## bartlett920 (Jul 9, 2008)

If your burning it this fall the damage is done another couple of months isn't going to make much difference. I wouldn't eat walnut either you ever smell that stuff burn its worse than piss elm I wouldnt worry if I was you!


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## RedRanger (Jul 9, 2008)

Ya, don`t even cook them things to eat.  just split the wood far away from the house and bring it in cautiously to burn.


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## Cluttermagnet (Jul 9, 2008)

I have tons of Red Oak here. The tree died slowly and it had insect pests and fungus, ants and borers and bark beetles and all that sort of thing. I have seen signs of at least 2 different kinds of borers. These little guys chew through solid oak hardwood- amazing! The tiny ones bore holes scarcely 1/16 inch diameter. The bigger guys bore holes around 1/4 - 5/16 inch dia. I actually found a couple of live specimens of the larger size this past week as I split. They like to chew up the wood and make cement all around themselves with stuff that looks a lot like 'plastic wood'/ Bordens Wood Dough, etc. Anyway, in theory, I suppose either type could get loose in my house and chew through our vintage, solid Oak hardwood floors. I bet they greatly prefer Oak to Pine. In practice, I think it very unlikely that will happen. What wood I have stored inside has been split down pretty small. It is also real dry. Those insects hate dry conditions. It's hard to imagine their making their way out of my firewood and into some other wood in the house. The dry environment is too hostile to them. Oh, all the wood sits in cardboard boxes, elevated on wood racks, etc. I have seen zero sign of any of these pests, such as the sawdust mentioned. BTW sawdust is also present when the wood has ant colonies. I have trimmed away a whole lot of punk wood from my splits. Bark and punk can harbor pests. But dried out, they ain't gonna survive in there.

So far as your grubs getting active and chewing up most of your wood, that is not going to happen. They make a few tunnels, that's about it. Hopefully only outside!


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## Girl (Jul 9, 2008)

Last year some of you picked on me when I told about my friends woodpile making "munching sounds"
You are all jerks, lol...   
Last Sunday my daughter came running in screaming about huge Beatles having bug sex.


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## Cluttermagnet (Jul 10, 2008)

Can barely see the beetle in the photo. But I can see it. We found a few of the big, black, bark beetles munching on our Red Oak.

Oh, bugs do indeed make noises. There's a certain night in mid summer when you can listen to the sound of a whole bunch of grubs or locusts or whatever, simultaneously digging up out of the ground to feed and mate. It's a positively spooky sound, "the woods were alive..." etc. I suppose wood piles 'whisper' like that, too. We believes ya, honest!


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## Scrounger (Jul 10, 2008)

Beetle picture lightened a little bit


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## moondoggy (Jul 10, 2008)

thats so flipping nasty, i cant tell which end is the front.
quick squish that.



edit: oh geez i see it better now....GO little guy, get up there..this is your big date! (and boy is she a big one)

squish it when they are done.


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## fossil (Jul 10, 2008)

Backwoods Savage said:
			
		

> ...but don't worry, nothing really bad is going to happen.



The beetles might have a different interpretation of this turn of events.   :ahhh:   Rick


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## kjklosek (Jul 10, 2008)

snydley said:
			
		

> hedgeburner said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


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## fossil (Jul 10, 2008)

Don't forget "toasty".  Oh, that's 6 letters, oops.  Ok, then well, "toast", which is what will become of any bug that survives all the way to the loading door.  Oh, that's 5 letters.  Nevermind.   :cheese:   Rick


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## Metal (Jul 22, 2008)

I am thinking about adding this bug to my woodpile.


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## moondoggy (Jul 22, 2008)

from the side it looks like he riding in a wicker basket!


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## Hillbill (Jul 19, 2009)

I have sawdust in my current woodpile, so I was searching for other's experience and ran accross this site.  After reading the thread, I just had to join and give my 2-cents.  Look at the pic.  These critters are not harmless.  The sawdust is over an inch thick in places, all since spring!  Okay, facts:  wood is 99% hickory.  Larvae are same as the two pictures in this thread.  They are in all the smaller, unsplit pieces, but are mostly confined to the bark of large rounds.  I am separating the small rounds , and splitting the large.  Hope that works well enought to save most of the wood for winter.  I grew up in the country, and this is the worse problem of this type I have ever seen.


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## SolarAndWood (Jul 19, 2009)

I hope your woodpile isn't near any buildings.


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## gzecc (Jul 19, 2009)

When wood is split it will dry.  If its left in rounds it will be a nice place for critters for years.  The moisture is the attraction. Split it, elevate it, store it in an open sunny location and the critters will find better digs!


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## Wood Duck (Jul 20, 2009)

I have had some sawdust in my pile, but that is the worst case I have seen. I would try splitting the rounds, since whenever I split I dislodge a few grubs. Maybe you'll have to split small to dislodge most of them, but that would be better than ending up with nothing but sawdust. I have seen grubs in many different species of wood, but apparently hickory is the worst.


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## Zimm (Jul 20, 2009)

Sounds (snydley in your case looks) like painted hickory borer.  Do a google search on this and you can get a good pic of the adult.  This species mates and lays eggs in the spring on green or only partially dried hickory wood.  The trick here is to cut your hickory in the fall and give it plenty of time to dry before the beetles mate in the spring, or if its not too hot in your area cut in mid summer after the mating season.  There is a related beetle that infects locust trees that mates in the late summer but I don' think thats what is causing your problem.  Good luck.  Z


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## Flatbedford (Jul 20, 2009)

I found those white things in Locust that was cut last summer when I split it this spring. I season my wood far from the house. I keep a week or so supply on the front porch after the temp drops in the fall. I figure most of  the bugs are dead by then and won't move into the house.


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## Highbeam (Jul 20, 2009)

The bugs in my pile just go to sleep when it gets cold. Then wake up while in the woodstorage hoop in the house. Thus, even a couple of days worth of wood storage is enough to bring the bugs in.

And no, dry wood under cover off the ground will not prevent a bug infestation.


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## LLigetfa (Jul 20, 2009)

Highbeam said:
			
		

> And no, dry wood under cover off the ground will not prevent a bug infestation.


Really?  Where do you think the bugs get their water to live?


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## quads (Jul 20, 2009)

They're just bugs.  Pitch them in the stove with the wood and they will help heat your house when they burn.  In the meantime, scoop up some of the sawdust and add it to your kindling.  Think of all those holes they bore as ventilation.  Helps dry the wood quicker.  When burning, the air flows through it resulting in a cleaner burn.  It's all good.


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## andybaker (Jul 22, 2009)

I'm with most everybody here - firewood = bugs.  When I started it sometimes freaked me out, but I've learned to deal with it.  Borers don't bother me at all.  Black ants, I won't even take the wood home.  I live in the city and am afraid of the house or a neighbors house getting infested.  I keep the largest wood pile in this end of town and don't need any trouble from the city.  My biggest problem/annoyance is the spiders that hide in the wood.  Takes only a couple of hours and they thaw and are on there way.  Everyone in the family wonders where all the spiders come from in the winter, I just keep my mouth shut.  Best control, don't bring so much in and when it's above freezing don't store too much near the house.

On another note:  I'm looking out the bedroom window upstairs out across the freeway and I see the loggers have shown up and started cutting down the woods over there.  Aparently it's gona be baseball bats or something.  The Ash Borer has killed hundreds of trees over there.  I thought I might have a perfect source the next couple of years.  My luck!

Andybaker


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## TreePapa (Jul 27, 2009)

This was more "bugs in the wood" than "bugs in the woodpile" ... I split a few more pieces of the pine I scrounged six months ago (most of it is already split, just a few leftovers and odd-shaped pieces waitng for Thumper's attention ... or for me to rent a splitter again).

Anyway, one of the pieces o' pine, 'bout 6 inches round and 18 inches long, had a "stringy" or ragged end. When I split that piece (w/ the super-splitter ax, not Thumper), about two dozen earwigs came running out from *inside* the wood. More came out when I resplit the splits. I banged the resulting splits together real well to get out as many of the buggers as possible, but I doubt they all came out. Oh well, as others have said, they burn okay.

Peace,
- Sequoia


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## mn_jon (Aug 1, 2009)

actually I think the holes make the wood dry faster   There isn't a single piece of pine up here that doesn't have the same type of boring bug in it.  They do like wet wood.  Trees I cut in the winter were too dry for them in the spring.  And I can hear them chewing almost constantly.  I believe its a large black beetle.  And as far as i can tell, they are completely harmless.  They won't touch a pile of 2X4s that are next to the woodpile.



Jon


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