Pine storage & borers

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Justburnit

Member
Hearth Supporter
I have a lot of White Pine on my land. There are a few trees that are a danger to the house due to a V crotch that is showing weakness and need to be taken down.
The pine I currently have burned in my Tarm has worked fine. My issue is with the Pine Borers in the wood. I am not willing to store the wood in or near the house as I do with hard wood.
The Pine is very cost effective for me but since I load the pickup and park outside the door and the pine that comes in goes directly into the boiler. Not real convenient.

What I want to figure out is the best way to store the pine and use it rather than have it trucked away.
At this time it is stacked on pallets in a row near the hardwood I buy. The hardwood is brought into the house a cord or two at a time. This works well.

I expect I am right in not wanting the pine to warm up so the borers can wake up and find my house appealing.

How do others that burn pest infested wood deal with these issues?
 
We just keep it away from the house until seasoned.
 
Interesting,
By that I take it you mean the borers are only active while the wood is moist? Do they actually leave the wood and move on once it is dry?
 
Yes. They like the wood when it is sappy but not when it is dead and dry.
 
Nice, That would be why the trees that were standing dead have not been bored into while stored with the fresh fallen wood.
Thank you,
 
Acres and acres of pine trees in our mountains are standing dead due to the pine beetle. I use pine to get my fire going and will only get wood that has been dead for over a year or two so that I do not infect the pine trees on our property. By then the beetles that have hatched out are gone and they do not infest dead/cut wood.

Like others have said, I keep my stacks away from the house because there are always some kind of insect, rodent or amphibian lurking around them. WHen the weather gets cold - most of the wild life vacates or hibernates.

I usually keep about 2 days of wood inside at a time. Sometimes, when all is quiet, I can hear something gnawing away in a round but, so far, nothing has been seen or heard gnawing on our house.

Must add that I live in a very dry climate so bug problem is minimal compared to some areas.
 
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