Ants

[Welderman85]

So my wife's little cousin wanted to help me drop a little ash today. It was dead standing. Once one the ground I noticed one or two ants close to the stump so inwas going to let the wood lay for a few days. Well I had to run to my moms and when I got back he had it stacked with all my other wood. What can I do about the ants I know there in there somewhere and I don't want my other wood to be affected

 

[Woody Stover]

Don't worry about them, they only want to nest in wet, rotting wood. They'll be gone by the time your wood dries and is ready to burn.

 

[jatoxico]

I don't think they'll be too interested in split, stacked wood. You'd have to bring the queen along anyway as far as I know. Had ants in wood, they vamoose after processing.

 

[Woody Stover]

Last Ash I cut had 'em. They had cleared out by the next day.

 

[weatherguy]

They're not frozen? I never had ants in winter, either way split and they'll be gone if alive.

 

[Welderman85]

It's been mid 40s here. I figured they would be down for the winter but I must have woke them

 

[mustash29]

I'm not particularly fond of the creepy crawly critters, mostly for fear that they will find something else on the property to infest.

I've had loads of log length delivered in the past and usually wind up doing a marathon cut & split deal. I let the splits sit for a few days before stacking but would always see the birds picking at the pile. I figure it's like a tornado went through the ant colonies home and while they are scrambling about trying to figure out what happened the birds swoop in and have a feast.

A few here and there is no problem, but whenever I come across an army of them they get the chemical warfare or napalm treatment. Wasp & hornet spray is essentially nerve agent and will stop them immediately. Carb cleaner, brake cleaner, WD-40 or even a splash of good old gas + match will fix them right up.

Once the stacks are dry and moved up toward the house, I never seen anything remaining except the micro fine sawdust from powder post beetles.

 

[firefighterjake]

In all the years I've been working with wood I've bucked up many a tree (OK, maybe 2-5 each year) with ants in them. I find that most of the time they move on by the time I get to splitting . . . but if they're still hanging around, by the time I get through with the ant genocide and Jake-pocalpyse and get ready to stack the splits there is no sign of the little buggers.

 

[SpaceBus]

Your local bird population probably handled this for you already.

 

[hickoryhoarder]

I haven't had them affect stacks of firewood, but I place logs with carpenter ants in their own stack in lots of sun. Crisscross-stacked, exposing all pieces to lots of sun. I use those pieces from there -- usually quickly because they're deteriorating. They come in the front door and are in the stove 2 seconds later. The ants don't reproduce well in those conditions, but they can over-winter inside logs (usually hickory in my case).

 

[peakbagger]

I was splitting some beech on a below freezing day this fall, there were some old major splits in the trunk and I expected I would see some carpenter ants. I found plenty of them jammed into crevices. I just threw the splits on the driveway in the sun and they were gone pretty quick. I have had good luck with baiting my house with Bayer Maxforce gel annually, the carpenter ants haul it back to their nest and kill off the nest.

 

[Grizzerbear]

My chickens love when i split wood. They clean ants and any other critter up quick and proper.

 

[Qvist]

I find when you split it most will fall out.

 

[snaple4]

What about cockroaches? I split some old trees about 8 months ago and stacked above ground. Started to move them under my carport for the winter and found little cockroaches... the section I was moving had been covered for the last few months with a tarp...

 

[SpaceBus]

What about cockroaches? I split some old trees about 8 months ago and stacked above ground. Started to move them under my carport for the winter and found little cockroaches... the section I was moving had been covered for the last few months with a tarp...

Let the birds eat them.

 

[Grizzerbear]

I split some 20inch red oak rounds this morning and in the center of the rounds it had quite a few carpenter ants. I was out in the woods away from the chickens but they seemed lethargic almost. Anyways i didnt give them much thought. They will leave the wood u split to find a new home. Seems every time i see them they are in damp damaged parts of a tree. When you split, stack and cover it dries out and forces them to find more desirable hospitality.