Started splitting today...

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claybe

Feeling the Heat
Nov 13, 2008
370
Colorado
I scored some maple earlier this week and started splitting today. Several of the rounds are infested with white worms and are rotten on the inside. Wife also thinks there are termites even though I did see any. She brought up a good point that we are splitting this wood and it will still have these creatures in them when I stack the wood and they will continue to eat the wood. What do you do about this????
 
I've seen this before and wondered if there is a risk of bringing termites into your home. Looking forward to hearing more on this.
 
Termites have to have a connection to the ground. I think you are OK there.

We call the white worms "wood worms" & used them for fishing bait. Great for trout ;)
Rotten in the center is due to moisture, once split & dry, it will stop rotting.
Worms may go away too now that it's split, but they have BTUs ( LOL :) ) & shouldn't be a problem.
I'd stack it off the ground & not worry ;)
 
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That is good news. My wife and I split (by hand) a full load of wood from my trailer this afternoon, a few of the pieces were rotten in the middle and had a lot of bugs. Good to know they won't be a danger.
 
Once the moisture leaves the wood they can't survive.
 
I have seen the smaller wax worm size grubs, larger 1-2" grubs and ant nests. Typically these are larger rounds so they get run through the hydros multiple times knocking most of the rot and bugs out. The rest just add protein to my stacks. Destroy their protection and remove the moisture and most will dye or just move on. I have never seen an ant or grub in the house but I do get a fly every now and then that was taking a winter nap under some bark.
 
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