Carpenter Ants, Termite and Larve - A Whole LOT!

[bryankloos]

Hi Guys,

I've been lucky with recent free deliveries from a local tree company, and have been focusing my efforts on the freshly delivered wood, trying to get a few years ahead.

All this time, I've been looking at a couple cord of red oak rounds sitting on the side of my fathers lot, thinking I'll get to that in the near future.... 1.5 years later I move a few rounds today and see a metric S#$T-Ton of carpenter ants, larve, and what appear to be termites??? (1/4 the size of the ants, white, and numerous) all under the bark. I'm talking thousands of bugs. Gross! I guess I've let things go to far, eh?

What should I do?

Roll the rounds back into the woods and let nature take its course? Its a shame as the wood was very nice clean straight red oak. Lesson learned?

Going forward, what's the best way to store rounds?

 

[johneh]

Split them where they are . Stack them off the ground (pallets )
The bugs will leave when the moisture is gone . they leave very quickly
I had a cherry that way in fact we cut it because of the ants after splitting they
were gone in a week or two

 

[begreen]

Those ant ridden rounds may have the primary nest. I would move them far away, like to the forest floor and let them decay there.

 

[DaveH]

I also had a cherry that I cut because it was the primary ant nest. The ants had moved to the deck and were trying to get in the house. I would keep them a ways from the house because they will look to regroup but the wood was still good to go.

 

[bryankloos]

I'd be scarred to even hold the splits. I'm talking about thousands of little critters and bigger carpenter ants all
Nestled under the bark. The thought of the mess during splitting is fit for a horror movie.

While I'd love to salvage the wood I think I'm going to take a lesson from this experience and only cut what I can split within a reasonable timeframe and not keep rounds on the wet soil for so long... I'll roll the rounds back to the woods and let nature take its course.

I've got two grapple loads today that need my attention. Decent stuff that will replace what the ants got.

 

[billb3]

If they are just under the bark and not in the heartwood I'd cut and split it and if they are still just under the bark keep going.
I've never seen carpenter ants just under the bark. In the heartwood with hundreds of little colonies and in punky wood on the outside of on the ground quite a while wood. C/S/S and kept real dry they'll mostly dry out and die.



Or leave it for Winter and get the logs off the ground in the meantime. The ants don't move when it is real cold or the colder it is the slower they move. Easier to squish, torch or poison.

 

[mass_burner]

I had 10-20 rounds like this, I split them and placed them in the open yard but far away from the house. Let the birds have at'em.

 

[Highbeam]

Don't waste the wood. Do kill the bugs. Poison, split, stack, poison again if you must. In firewood you can't be afraid of bugs.

 

[blades]

ants - portable btu's ( well an extremely tiny fraction any way) On a more positive note you can learn and practice the Mashed Potato dance steps.

 

[TommyTally]

Split it, stack it away from your house, and leave it. They will move out. I've had quite a few deadfall that have large ant colonies in them.

 

[Sconnie Burner]

Split and salvage it in the cold temps when nights are getting below freezing. They barley move and will freeze to death once removed from the wood. Kept stacked away from the house for a summer should vacate all the bugs.

 

[Charles1981]

http://www.amazon.com/Termidor-SC-T...=UTF8&qid=1436063369&sr=8-1&keywords=termidor

Get a 1 gallon pump sprayer. Spray this on your stacks. Around your house, and inside your house.

Will kill all crawling insects. It is very non-toxic imo. The ingredient is Fipronyl. It is the same product in Frontline the the flea and tick medication you put on dog and cats backs.

Edit: btw it isn't an immediate kill. They pick it up, take it back to the nest, and it wipes out the whole lot.

 

[HisTreeNut]

Had an ant problem as well. Ortho & such worked for a day and they came back with a vengeance...I think the Ortho just made them angry
Talstar P is what I used. Hit outside the house, crawlspace, & woodpile. Ant trails in house while family was gone. Ants did not like it one bit...would walk to where i sprayed and then turn back. Within 2-3 days of spraying, ants are gone and we have only seen one ant in over a month.

http://www.amazon.com/Talstar-Termi...6066999&sr=8-3&keywords=talstar+p+talstar+one

 

[bob95065]

I found that both species don't like gasoline, They really don't like it when you pour gasoline on them and throw a match.

 

[HisTreeNut]

I found that both species don't like gasoline, They really don't like it when you pour gasoline on them and throw a match.

That is true but that is also kind of risky on a woodpile.

 

[blacktail]

I know a guy that had a similar situation. Shortly after buying his first house, he cut an alder down in his yard and found it to be LOADED with termites. While backing his truck down to the river by his house, those termite infested rounds accidentally rolled out of the bed and into the water.

 

[johneh]

I know a guy that had a similar situation. Shortly after buying his first house, he cut an alder down in his yard and found it to be LOADED with termites. While backing his truck down to the river by his house, those termite infested rounds accidentally rolled out of the bed and into the water.

So he took them for a swim or did they need a bath ?

 

[bob95065]

That is true but that is also kind of risky on a woodpile.

If I come across a log that is infested with wood-eating insects I'll pull it aside and put gas on it. I found that the gas burns off and the log generally doesn't catch. I do it hit with a hose to be sure. I have done this for 20 years with no problems, although I don't think I would do it now with the draught we are experiencing here in California.

 

[firefighterjake]

I run across ants all the time . . . I just toss the split aside . . . and when I get back to it a day or few days later the ants have all marched on to somewhere else . . . or are in some bird's gullet.

Never felt the need to use poison or flammable fuels to get rid of 'em.

 

[Dix]

If I hit firewood that's "loaded", I split as much as I can before I walk away, and come back to split another day. The birds take care of the bugs, I get a break, and I have viable firewood, even if it's for shoulder season.

*Caveat* When you split those rounds, there will be critters every where, they might be crawling up your pants, your arms, etc ..... just so you know

 

[Longstreet]

How is it that no one has mentioned chickens. Find a friend with some hens, show them the bugs, and sit back as you watch the frenzy.

Ants are too terrified to show themselves on my property. My girls must look like T-Rexs to those punks.

(broken image removed)

 

[mass_burner]

I hit a couple this weekend, gross, light brown, gummy paste inside, ants crawling around carrying larvae. I put the opened split in the sun where the birds could get to it. After I was done I put out some Advance around the processing area.

 

[bryankloos]

Hard to imagine splitting these rounds with the volume of critters present
I would be covered with them in no time... Every round is totally infested. These are big rounds that would require a lot of handling with multiple splits... Too much opportunity for a bug bath...

Unfortunately, and feel free to call me a wimp, I just don't want to bother with the wood when I have more fresh cut logs than I know what to do with...

I feel bad wasting the wood, but its been rolled to the woods and hopefully the bugs can continue their feast away from me and my splitting area...

I did learn a lesson here. Don't buck up wood and store it on the wet ground for 18 month and expect it to be bug free!

 

[mass_burner]

I don't think the rounds need to be on the ground to get infested.

 

[billb3]

No but on the ground is infectiously accommodating.