Insects

[pyper]

Any tips for keeping insects out of wood piles?

I have some pear that's been seasoning about 18 months and it's infested with carpenter ants.

 

[Wood Duck]

First thing I'd do is tear down the stack and see exactly where the ants are living. My guess is they are in moist wood near the bottom of the stack, but you look and see where they are tunneling to know what they like so you can avoid attracting them again. I'd put all the ant-free splits into another stack that is raised off the ground, and burn the anty pieces in a bonfire. Another option for anty pieces if to split them small, which opens up the ant tunnels, and stack them way out in a sunny spot, moving them around every couple of days. This will make the ants leave within a few days, most likely. Although I am sure you could find chemicals to keep ants and other insects out of your wood piles, I think a far cheaper and healthier way to go is to stack in a manner that eliminates the conditions that they like. Generally ants will go for moist wood, and larger pieces. Is all your wood split? How large are the splits? If you have large rounds or large splits, I would split them again, stack off the ground, and I think you should be OK. You'll never eliminate all the bugs from your wood piles, but you should be able to keep out carpenter ants, I think.

 

[billb3]

Several people that stack a LOT more wood than me claim the outdoor ant killer granules spread around the stacks but not on them work.

I've only used the granules along the perimeter of the house to keep regular ants out.

 

[CrawfordCentury]

Any tips for keeping insects out of wood piles?

I have some pear that's been seasoning about 18 months and it's infested with carpenter ants.

Borax. You'll find it in the laundry department of your local super market or department store. The ants track it back to the nest, killing off the colony.

If you have any left over, you can use it to clean your clothes.

 

[pyper]

First thing I'd do is tear down the stack and see exactly where the ants are living. My guess is they are in moist wood near the bottom of the stack

I would have thought that too, but they seem to be pretty much everywhere (I can tell by the wood dust that's under the various pieces). If anything, they're tending more towards the top of the pile than the bottom. I used concrete blocks to keep the wood off the ground (so at least I don't have termites!).

The pile is in the shade though. I made a new pile from recently cut trees and put it well away from this pile. The new pile will have afternoon sun. It's the only seasoned wood I have, so I'm burning it in the stove. Figure the ants won't have too much impact on how the wood burns. It's still solid wood, just with ant tunnels through it... But I can't bring it near the house until it's ready to go into the stove!

 

[kalevi]

Carpenter ants need moisture. They tunnel into wet/rotting wood. If you do as advised and find the infested ones (probably wet ones at the bottom) and restack on something that can raise the stack of the ground, you won't have carpenter ants anymore. This also applies to your house. If you have ants, you have moist rotting wood.

 

[pyper]

Carpenter ants need moisture. They tunnel into wet/rotting wood. If you do as advised and find the infested ones (probably wet ones at the bottom) and restack on something that can raise the stack of the ground, you won't have carpenter ants anymore. This also applies to your house. If you have ants, you have moist rotting wood.

How far off the ground? I previously had it six inches.

None of the pieces seem appreciably wet, but I don't know the actual moisture content.

 

[sksmass]

Carpenter ants are bad news. Try to find the infected mother colony and gently take it as far away from your house as you can and dump the logs. Hopefully they will find new, natural, wood to infect and not your house.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

First thing I'd do is tear down the stack and see exactly where the ants are living. My guess is they are in moist wood near the bottom of the stack

I would have thought that too, but they seem to be pretty much everywhere (I can tell by the wood dust that's under the various pieces). If anything, they're tending more towards the top of the pile than the bottom. I used concrete blocks to keep the wood off the ground (so at least I don't have termites!).

The pile is in the shade though. I made a new pile from recently cut trees and put it well away from this pile. The new pile will have afternoon sun. It's the only seasoned wood I have, so I'm burning it in the stove. Figure the ants won't have too much impact on how the wood burns. It's still solid wood, just with ant tunnels through it... But I can't bring it near the house until it's ready to go into the stove!

That wood dust you see is not caused by ants, it is caused by powder post beetles and they are harmless. We just loaded up some wood for a fellow and this wood has been stacked at least 4 years and there was some fresh powder in the stack. We get it all the time but do not worry.

As for the carpen

 

[Backwoods Savage]

I dont' know what happened, why that posted. But as I was saying:

Carpenter ants need moisture but they should be dormant this time of the year. If you find a log with ants, take it right into the stove and the problem is over.

As for how high to stack wood off the ground, it only needs to be a few inches; just enough to let air flow through and keep the wood from touching Mother Earth.

 

[sksmass]

The first spring after I moved into my house it was overrun with carpenter ants. No number of ant traps would kill them. Borax didn't work either. So, I started following the ants. I would choose an ant, and follow it wherever it was going until I couldn't see it anymore. Eventually, I figured out that most of the ants were going in the general direction of an old woodpile of honeylocust rounds that the previous owner had stacked on the ground about 60' from the house. This pile had been rotting for probably 10 years (we're talking moss on some of the logs). So, early one morning, before the ants became active, I put every log gently in a wheelbarrow (so as not to leave behind too many eggs or the queen), and moved them ~150' away from the house, across a stream. The ants thinned out and then disappeared in a matter of days.

 

[pyper]

That wood dust you see is not caused by ants, it is caused by powder post beetles and they are harmless.

The dust is similar to powder post beetles -- there's just more of it than I would have expected from them -- as much as a quarter cup on some pieces.

There are definitely ants though -- if I split a piece I can see them inside.

Well, hopefully I'll burn off all this wood before it warms up and they won't find the new pile.