What do you do? Split it open and Carp Ants and/or Termites?

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Machria

Machria

Minister of Fire
Nov 6, 2012
1,071
Brookhaven, Long Island
So you have a decent pile of rounds you scrounged, not perfect but nice oak. You split the first round, and find live Carp ant larvae, the white things that look like maggots, and/or the black caviar in the center of logs with little ants running around.

Now what?

Do you get rid of the wood? do you keep splitting and stacking? Do you spray it to kill them, then stack?
 
When splitting at the house I start up the fire pit. When I split one open that has ants some or all of it goes into the pit. Hope there is a queen in there.
 
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I had this issue with some tulip I was splitting. It created a bird buffet. I kept splitting and whatever splits had the tunnels and ants I set aside in the sun. They are dry now and the ants have either been eaten or moved on.
 
Bang it on the edge of the splitter to knock most of them off and keep on trucking.
If I were splitting in a subdivision/near the house I'd probably nuke em with some Bayer advanced. Winter time though I just leave them to freeze and die
 
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Bird food for sure. Once you split it they're pretty much exposed and done for.
 
CTFIRE said:
I had this issue with some tulip I was splitting. It created a bird buffet. I kept splitting and whatever splits had the tunnels and ants I set aside in the sun. They are dry now and the ants have either been eaten or moved on.
Click to expand...

Exactly what I've been doing, I seem to get ants more so in maple than any other type of wood.
 
Been there a few times. The ants live in the tree parts where water has gotten in and created their oasis. I have the nuke spray at hand for times like this. Usually the splits that have had the little unwanteds make it to the firepit
 
I toss the splits off to the side & get them later.In winter they freeze & in warmer temps the birds get them pretty quickly.Carpenter ants & assorted grubs are fairly common in the dead Red/Black Oak that is 60% of my total cutting.
 
Don't know where they go, but once it is split I never see them again. By the time I get to stacking, they're nowhere to he seen.

These beauties were in the stump of a black walnut. Dozens of them, and a bazillion ants.

IMG_20130817_102914.jpg
 
I give the ants their eviction notice . . . toss their home to the side . . . let the local hoodlums/birds swoop in to take advantage of the ants . . . and then re-possess their home a few days later and add it to my stack.
 
I keep a propane torch with an ignitor on it by my side when splitting "questionable" wood....I've incinerated THOUSANDS of ants and termites over the years with that torch......

They don't stand a chance, especially in the cold weather......
 
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Scotty Overkill said:
I keep a propane torch with an ignitor on it by my side when splitting "questionable" wood....I've incinerated THOUSANDS of ants and termites over the years with that torch......

They don't stand a chance, especially in the cold weather......
Click to expand...

X 2
 
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