Brought home termites with my scrounge, now what?

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lumbering on

lumbering on

Feeling the Heat
Hearth Supporter
Dec 7, 2012
482
New York
Loaded the car up with curbside wood in the twilight. Came home, threw it all into the BIG pile of wood waiting to be split (its a 20 x 10 x 6 foot pile).

Then found dozens of termites crawling around inside the car trunk and backseat. Killed them all.

But what did I just do to my woodpile and house?

should I put out bait traps?

spray??
 
What I would do is find out exactly what pieces of wood are infested, split them up and destroy the termites (propane torch works well for this), and get rid of the heavily infested pieces......here's some info on termites...

(broken link removed to http://www.termites101.org/termite-basics/colonies)
 
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Scotty Overkill said:
What I would do is find out exactly what pieces of wood are infested, split them up and destroy the termites (propane torch works well for this), and get rid of the heavily infested pieces......here's some info on termites...

(broken link removed to http://www.termites101.org/termite-basics/colonies)
Click to expand...

Can it wait until saturday?
 
what if they are the winged ants? should I still worry? pretty sure they are termites though?

[Hearth.com] Brought home termites with my scrounge, now what?
 
lumbering on said:
Can it wait until saturday?
Click to expand...
Absolutely....they ain't going to form a colony overnight. We did a job a couple years ago in the fall, it was a big red maple. Long story short, we stacked the rounds at my buddy's place, never really noticing any active termites. By early spring, we got around to splitting those rounds and there had just begun to be a 'budded' colony forming out of one of the rounds. We took care of them right away, but still, it took the termites quite a while to form that budded colony. so you'll be fine until the weekend. Termites (the ones around here) need to stay moist and cannot be exposed to air for long periods of time, which is why they build mud tunnels. To build mud tunnels, they need to be in contact with the ground. Being your rounds are on a pile, I'd say they won't be able to make it to the ground and will have to wait it out in the wood......

Don't let them there long, if you do there is a chance they can adopt a new queen and start a new colony.
 
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lumbering on said:
dead ones are gone, but will check out the others when I find them.

right time of year for winged termites?
Click to expand...
its actually a little late for winged termites. Did you notice any workers or soldiers? The workers are all white (very small) and the soldiers are a tad bigger, with a big brown head and large mandibles.
 
In my wood that I think may be infested I hit the area around it with insecticide and the pile with some too out of a 5 gallon bucket. Cheap easy insurance. supposed to stay active for 6 months.. till burning season
 
Augie said:
In my wood that I think may be infested I hit the area around it with insecticide and the pile with some too out of a 5 gallon bucket. Cheap easy insurance. supposed to stay active for 6 months.. till burning season
Click to expand...

I may do that just to be sure.
 
In NY the termites nest in the ground. That is where the queen, the eggs, and the nursery are. Termites in wood are there to gather food which they bring into the ground to the nest. Termites with wings leave the nest to establish a new nest. They usually have wings and fly off the first warm days of May. Termites that are in wood are usually workers, no wings and white bodies. If the wood is removed from the area of the nest they will usually die off. A little termite spray for insurance doesn't hurt.

If they still have wings, nested in the wood, and you found eggs &/or the queen in the wood they are most likely some type of ant. Most ants do not eat wood. They find soft/rotted wood to hollow out a burrow and make their nest. When you disturb them the workers try to take the eggs to establish a new nest elsewhere. They probably will not destroy solid wood. They look for water damaged or rotted wood for their nest. Once again a little bug spray will let you sleep better.

KaptJaq
 
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Get rid of pieces and spray....
 
KaptJaq said:
In NY the termites nest in the ground. That is where the queen, the eggs, and the nursery are. Termites in wood are there to gather food which they bring into the ground to the nest. Termites with wings leave the nest to establish a new nest. They usually have wings and fly off the first warm days of May. Termites that are in wood are usually workers, no wings and white bodies. If the wood is removed from the area of the nest they will usually die off. A little termite spray for insurance doesn't hurt.

If they still have wings, nested in the wood, and you found eggs &/or the queen in the wood they are most likely some type of ant. Most ants do not eat wood. They find soft/rotted wood to hollow out a burrow and make their nest. When you disturb them the workers try to take the eggs to establish a new nest elsewhere. They probably will not destroy solid wood. They look for water damaged or rotted wood for their nest. Once again a little bug spray will let you sleep better.

KaptJaq
Click to expand...

I think I have ants then. Makes me feel better. Thanks.
 
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* and I only joke because at the end of the day it turned out to NOT be a big deal :)



* now if I could just get rid of the WASPS that love MY wood!! :)
 
Big Donnie Brasco said:
* and I only joke because at the end of the day it turned out to NOT be a big deal :)



* now if I could just get rid of the WASPS that love MY wood!! :)
Click to expand...
You'll see those wasps all the time. They are just chewing a tiny bit of wood to make pulp for their paper nests.....they won't do much damage.
 
So how often does this happen to people, bringing home termites I mean?

I have a hard time turning down ANY wood, no matter how cr*ppy.
 
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