something funny going on in my woodshed (not funny haha)

[RustyShackleford]

So I started burning wood out of my second woodshed a few days ago, and I've noticed something weird and disturbing.

The wood seems to be covered with sawdust. There is a pretty good layer of it, and it's sifted down through the stacks and over most of the wood. Kinda messy, I have to shake the pieces off before I put 'em in the log carrier.

What the heck ?

 

[TreePointer]

Fine dust or small chips?

Maybe powderpost beetles.

 

[mywaynow]

Found the same in my pile this morning. Fine dust, and a fair amount. There is some older wood that I believe was standing dead elm or oak. The likely candidate for some boring bug.

 

[RustyShackleford]

Find dust, very fine. I have seen some beetles in my woodpile from time to time, for years. Not a lot, but some.
But never anything like this amount of sawdust. What should I do ?? Can't spray the wood. Could bait the area
with something I suppose.

 

[mywaynow]

I am not concerned. There is no great amount of damage to the wood. They don't seem to be touching any good quality wood, like the oak and ash that is most prevelant in the pile.

 

[RustyShackleford]

I am not concerned. There is no great amount of damage to the wood. They don't seem to be touching any good quality wood, like the oak and ash that is most prevelant in the pile.

Yeah, I hope the same is true for me. We should both be careful not to let any get in our houses - carry only as much in the house as you plan to load in the stove NOW. And/or squish any beetles you see scurrying away - they seem to do that.

 

[BrotherBart]

The only thing that makes "dust" in my stacks are termites. They live in the ground and commute to work every day.

 

[soupy1957]

Termites crackle when they are burned..........adds some character to the fire!!

-Soupy1957

 

[Adios Pantalones]

If it's in the wood you may find small piles of sawdust indicating an entrance hole.

Make sure it's not in the shed structure. Otherwise, it's not going to destroy the firewood. I get the same.

 

[velvetfoot]

I bet it's powderpost beetles. They make very small holes in the wood.
I keep wood in my garage, and they attacked the unpainted window frames some.
I painted the windows last fall. They like unpainted wood.
I've heard they mostly like hard wood, but not in this case.
I think I stacked the wood early, and the bugs emerged and flocked to the windows.

 

[maplewood]

I had some grubs making little sawdust piles in my softwood this year. Normally I don't burn poplar, pine and fir - just maple and birch.
It all burns. Snap, crackle, pop.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

We've burned wood for many, many moons now and rarely do we get a stack of wood without the powder or dust. Simply put, it is powder post beetles doing their work. We simply don't worry about them at all even though it is a bit messy. Have to really knock the wood together to get the dust off before bringing into the house. Other than that, they are no problem.

They do seem to hit some woods more than others and for sure we've found they really love elm.

 

[firefighterjake]

If it's really fine sawdust . . . probably powder post beetles . . . not a big deal.

 

[TreePointer]

Rusty, your avatar is the great Dale Gribble, and you're asking about sawdust in your woodshed? Shame on you!

 

[RustyShackleford]

Rusty, your avatar is the great Dale Gribble, and you're asking about sawdust in your woodshed? Shame on you!

OMG, best answer ever.

Simply put, it is powder post beetles doing their work. We simply don’t worry about them at all even though it is a bit messy. Have to really knock the wood together to get the dust off before bringing into the house. Other than that, they are no problem.

So you don't think thy consume an appreciable quantity of your wood's mass ? I might just cover the ground around the woodsheds with some low-toxicity pesticide like Rotenone this spring.

 

[steam man]

This post brought back memories of a "sawdust" problem I had years ago. One winter day I walked out in front of my garage and saw what looked like a pile of sawdust. It was kind of spread all around the house. The sawdust was reddish color and I have a redwood sided house. I started to panic. I needed a snow shovel to help dispose of the piles. It wasn't until I handled the stuff that I realized it was moving. BTW-the cat was laying in it. I went to war with just about any insecticide I could find trying to get rid of these things, not to mention keeping them out of the house. Come to find out while at a veternarian's place one day I mentioned the bug problem. He said they were Snow Fleas and were completely harmless. Seen them only one time in twenty years but I could have sworn it was sawdust.

 

[jimbom]

Thought someone had pranked you. A fellow at work built a beautiful gazebo and told us about every joint, compound angle, and fastener in that thing. Finally the gazebo warming bbq was scheduled so they gathered up lots of fine wood dust, some bag house stuff, and considerable metal filings. They dosed his masterpiece when he wasn't looking. The guys horror at the sawdust was great, but the real payoff came when they found the piles of metal filings and started telling him about the zinc termites that had been destroying cold dipped galvanized connectors. The look on his face when he realized he had been had was memorable.

 

[billb3]

I get something that's at least similar in my stacks of pine ( for whatever reason they like just the pine) and It seems they only get into the pieces that are on top of a stack and only where the wood faces up ( sun exposed ? ). Seem to be just in the bark, though, but I haven't split any open to see, either.
I've got no roof on the pine either. Some of it doesn't even get stacked.
It's kinda there for some people who want free wood.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Rusty, your avatar is the great Dale Gribble, and you're asking about sawdust in your woodshed? Shame on you!

OMG, best answer ever.

Simply put, it is powder post beetles doing their work. We simply don’t worry about them at all even though it is a bit messy. Have to really knock the wood together to get the dust off before bringing into the house. Other than that, they are no problem.

So you don't think thy consume an appreciable quantity of your wood's mass ? I might just cover the ground around the woodsheds with some low-toxicity pesticide like Rotenone this spring.

No, they don't. As stated, we simply do not worry about them but accept them as part of the wood burning process. It also doesn't seem to help by moving the wood piles. The beetles will find it.