Ants

Ants will not destroy your wood, but it does tell you that there may be some moisture or rot present somewhere in your stack. They will remove rotted or punky wood to make room for chambers, or 'birthing rooms' to put their eggs in. The ants may be sub-terranian but alot of times they bring there eggs to a place above ground. Either way, maybe sprinkle some ant killer around the stacks or spray some kind of pesticide around your wood stacks. I wouldn't soak my wood stack with pesticide, keep in mind you will be burning that stuff someday in your stove, don't want to be breathing that pesticide when burning the wood.

My daughter's response after she sees ants with eggs crawling in the wood stacks:
"Look Daddy, those ants are hiding jelly beans in the wood!"

I dont worry about them, as long as they go straight in the stove and not in my house. Ants are BTU's.

snap crackle pop!

Scotty Overkill said:

Ants will not destroy your wood, ...

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Those little brown ants won't, but carpenter ants nest in wood and will hollow it out, even fallen wood. They can only be killed with a specifically labeled termiticide, not diazinon. There are ants, and there are ants...

Even carpenter ants do not like dry wood. try soaking the area down with bleach, seems to work pretty well on the little pavement red buggers

Big magnifying glass . . . sun . . . mischievious boy . . . time.

DanCorcoran said:

Those little brown ants won't, but carpenter ants nest in wood and will hollow it out, even fallen wood. They can only be killed with a specifically labeled termiticide, not diazinon. There are ants, and there are ants...

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I still use my stockpiled liquid concentrate diazinion and it happily kills carpenter ants with it's neuro-toxin goodness. Getting pretty old now since diazinon was outlawed in 2004.

My next poison will be termidorSC which kills the bajeepers out of termites and carpenter ants. It's one of those pro chemicals that you can buy online.

Oh and I have no problem applying pesticides to wood. I am not in the least bit worried that the smoke may be toxic. Smoke is already toxic, carcinogen, and deadly.

I often split wood and dump out a ton of ants or termites but by the time the wood is dry and ready for burning there is no evidence of these critters. They seem to disappear. What I do get are these funny small beetle cockroach looking guys that I have not been able to identifty. They don't fly but seem to gather under the bark and in the cracks of the cured firewood.

I use Talstar for carpenter ants. It is a termiticide that is labelled for carpenter ants. It also states that it can be used on firewood, but to allow 60 days after spraying before burning the wood.