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How To Keep Your WoodPile Bug Free
Posted: 29 February 2008 09:46 PM   [ Ignore ]
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One thing that will work to keep bugs out of your wood pile or anything else for that mater is the electronic high frequency sonic bug repellers that they sell for $6 or $8 dollars in places like walgreens, rite aide, cvs, k mart, wal mart & etc.

At my firing range, where we go to spend the day enjoying the outside & our sport, a nest of hornets
inhabits one side of the overhead roof & a bee’s nest on the other side. Yellow jackets.

Of course, I am alleragic to bee stings, so i bought 3 of the electronic noise
makers. People cant hear them, but to insects, they sound like rap music on volume level 100 . The hornet hovered all day , about 20 feet from me, giving me dirty looks but he wouldn’t come any closer. same thing for the bees, they flew around in circles about 20 ft out & wouldn’t come any closer.

The insects sure dont like that noise & wont get close to it if they can possibly help it.

These things run on 1 aa battery or you can get them that plug in the wall. So far as I can tell
after owning them for 4 years is that they really work.

To keep the wood pile clear of insects, you would have to place one or two units in/ on/ near the wood pile & protect it from getting crushed by the wood or rained on & i don’t know what the battery life is with 24/7 opperation so the plug in model looks better for the wood pile
but then you will need to run an extension cord out there.

If your wood pile is near an electric outlet , this would be doable.

The range of 1 unit is about 10 to 12 ft & with 3 units, one pointing outward at the three 120 degrees points of a circle , as high frequency sound wall shield is established, with a diameter of 12 to 20 ft depending on if the sound waves reinforce each other or not or maybe just the insect in question’s tollerance for really anoying noise.

Like i said, works for me for most insects, most of the time.

BTway.... just like flashlights when the light goes out because of bad contacts with either the
switch ,bulb or batteries, these units are prone to the same troubles as flash lights, at least the battery powered ones are. The ac plug in model does not have that problem.

my friend complained about getting bite by a misqueto while wearing one but we founs out later that the electronic noise maker had stopped running because of a bad connection.

If you hold the unit, while “on” , right up real close to your ear, you can very faintly hear a high pitched whining noise which means that it is “on” & working properly.

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I;m no expert,just a highly knowledgeable amateur.But,I’m Close to an expert,as he lives just next door!tongue wink
wood stove primary heat 12.0cu.ft.FB- 1/4 plate steel,1970’s. 150k-btu.DIY converted to secondary burn technoligy,by me!
cut my fuel usage by 60% !!!
NEW-just buy summersheat M#50-snc30lc @ lowes 1/2 price sale,$476.oo-2000 sq ft,3.5 ft FB sec.air .
Pellet stove secondary heat, pel-pro 50kbtu pelletstove.--2hp,4ton elect spliter,22 ton huskee splitter.Chain saws 4 gas ,4 electric.4"x8" trailer,3 woodsheds.free wood scrounger.

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Posted: 29 February 2008 10:54 PM   [ Ignore ]   [ # 1 ]
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Thanks for the info.  That’s really good to know.  I’ve tried the ones that supposedly repel mice, but either they don’t work at all or the mice get used to them within a few days.  With several cats who go outdoors, I sure don’t want to use a poisonous insecticide.

<if you ever hear of something that will keep the voles out of the potatoes in the garden, let me know!>

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Posted: 01 March 2008 01:45 AM   [ Ignore ]   [ # 2 ]
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I have lizards that hangout in my woodpiles.  They tend to take care of the insects.

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Posted: 01 March 2008 02:14 AM   [ Ignore ]   [ # 3 ]
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zamboni’ tongue rolleye tongue wink s lizzards should that care of your vole problems, if you can get him to part with a few.

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I;m no expert,just a highly knowledgeable amateur.But,I’m Close to an expert,as he lives just next door!tongue wink
wood stove primary heat 12.0cu.ft.FB- 1/4 plate steel,1970’s. 150k-btu.DIY converted to secondary burn technoligy,by me!
cut my fuel usage by 60% !!!
NEW-just buy summersheat M#50-snc30lc @ lowes 1/2 price sale,$476.oo-2000 sq ft,3.5 ft FB sec.air .
Pellet stove secondary heat, pel-pro 50kbtu pelletstove.--2hp,4ton elect spliter,22 ton huskee splitter.Chain saws 4 gas ,4 electric.4"x8" trailer,3 woodsheds.free wood scrounger.

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Posted: 01 March 2008 03:25 PM   [ Ignore ]   [ # 4 ]
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I spray my stacks down with Triazicide while I’m stacking.  It keeps most of the critters out.  We have some mud wasps though that I can’t seem to get rid of no matter what.

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Posted: 02 March 2008 11:24 AM   [ Ignore ]   [ # 5 ]
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Good way to keep the woodpile bug free is to always have cold weather.

Here we don’t worry about bugs and certainly would never spray the wood pile. The roaches do find the wood though but after they are frozen they are easy to take care of. Same with carpenter ants.

I found a neat way to get rid of carpenter ants. One year I split wood that was loaded with ants. I went to where the wild turkeys go through and laid a path of birdseed down all the way to the ants. Worked like a charm and the turkeys made short work of the ants.

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Posted: 02 March 2008 01:58 PM   [ Ignore ]   [ # 6 ]
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gryfalcon lowes an hd have Castor oil granules take should get repel the voles but it is directional so start using it in the direction you do not want to chase them then work your way to the potatoes I chased my ground hogs into my neighbors yard and now he is having fits with them

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Posted: 02 March 2008 04:15 PM   [ Ignore ]   [ # 7 ]
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put cedar mulch all around and under stack smells good and all natural.........

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Posted: 02 March 2008 04:52 PM   [ Ignore ]   [ # 8 ]
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I read somewhere that ants (our problem is carpenter ants) will only move about 500 feet or so, if you can place the wood at least that distance.
I’d be concerned that using a repellent method (like the sonics) that the insects would move closer to your house!

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Posted: 02 March 2008 05:03 PM   [ Ignore ]   [ # 9 ]
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jd - 02 March 2008 01:58 PM

gryfalcon lowes an hd have Castor oil granules take should get repel the voles but it is directional so start using it in the direction you do not want to chase them then work your way to the potatoes I chased my ground hogs into my neighbors yard and now he is having fits with them

Thanks very much for the recommendation.  THis stuff is OK to use with domestic animals (cats, chickens, etc.) around?

LOVE your pic!

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Posted: 02 March 2008 05:06 PM   [ Ignore ]   [ # 10 ]
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Getting “totally” rid of bugs is a good but impossible goal. I think the trick is to make the bugs go somewhere else. I live on the edge of the woods at the end of a field. There are bugs, all kinds of bugs.
I have Orkin do the house all the time. I built the house and had Carpenter ants visiting within a month. Orkin’s goal is to repel them from the house. So they spray and drop granules, etc. It works. So, you can do the same around the house and the woodpile.
In the winter when you bring the wood into the house, the bugs are down/slow. By the time they get up they will most likely be ash. If one gets out occasionally, kill it. If you see a piece with ants or something, leave it outside until you are ready to burn it and the bugs.
You are not going to get rid of all the bugs, you have to work around them.

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Posted: 02 March 2008 05:13 PM   [ Ignore ]   [ # 11 ]
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I had to laugh at the post about leading the wild turkeys to the bugs. We had two chickens for a bit and had absolutely no problems with bugs for 3 years. They ate everything, bugs, eggs, etc.

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Posted: 02 March 2008 07:04 PM   [ Ignore ]   [ # 12 ]
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I cut and split almost 10 cords of hickore and walnut three years ago and stored it in a 20 foot storage (sea) container. locker her up in May and left it there till October. I checked on it every so often and since it looked the same I really left it to dry. Well as well as being “Kiln” dried I did not see ANY bugs and I store about two weeks worth in the basement at a time......Heat, my friends....Heat it probable got 150 in that box in the Summer and killed off the vermin ...

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Posted: 03 March 2008 08:17 PM   [ Ignore ]   [ # 13 ]
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elleninpa - 02 March 2008 04:52 PM

I read somewhere that ants (our problem is carpenter ants) will only move about 500 feet or so, if you can place the wood at least that distance.
I’d be concerned that using a repellent method (like the sonics) that the insects would move closer to your house!

Simple cure for that,just put a 110 volt sonic between the wood pile & the house, 4 feet from the house. insects come, insects here, insects go different direction, away from noise.
signed, sealed & delevered.

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I;m no expert,just a highly knowledgeable amateur.But,I’m Close to an expert,as he lives just next door!tongue wink
wood stove primary heat 12.0cu.ft.FB- 1/4 plate steel,1970’s. 150k-btu.DIY converted to secondary burn technoligy,by me!
cut my fuel usage by 60% !!!
NEW-just buy summersheat M#50-snc30lc @ lowes 1/2 price sale,$476.oo-2000 sq ft,3.5 ft FB sec.air .
Pellet stove secondary heat, pel-pro 50kbtu pelletstove.--2hp,4ton elect spliter,22 ton huskee splitter.Chain saws 4 gas ,4 electric.4"x8" trailer,3 woodsheds.free wood scrounger.

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Posted: 03 March 2008 08:21 PM   [ Ignore ]   [ # 14 ]
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jd - 02 March 2008 01:58 PM

gryfalcon lowes an hd have Castor oil granules take should get repel the voles

but it is directional so start using it in the direction you do not want to chase them then work your way to the potatoes I chased my ground hogs into my neighbors yard and now he is having fits with them

Must be a James Bond Secret Spy Code or something like that. Maybe it’s a KG Used To Be code? Where did I hide my Captian Crunch Secret Decoder Ring?  That will crack it for sure!! tongue rolleye tongue wink

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I;m no expert,just a highly knowledgeable amateur.But,I’m Close to an expert,as he lives just next door!tongue wink
wood stove primary heat 12.0cu.ft.FB- 1/4 plate steel,1970’s. 150k-btu.DIY converted to secondary burn technoligy,by me!
cut my fuel usage by 60% !!!
NEW-just buy summersheat M#50-snc30lc @ lowes 1/2 price sale,$476.oo-2000 sq ft,3.5 ft FB sec.air .
Pellet stove secondary heat, pel-pro 50kbtu pelletstove.--2hp,4ton elect spliter,22 ton huskee splitter.Chain saws 4 gas ,4 electric.4"x8" trailer,3 woodsheds.free wood scrounger.

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