What is eating my pine

[joefrompa]

Sorry, no pics today of this...

Just went out to my stack of pine in rounds. About 5' high, 6' deep, and 8' wide. Ton of freshly downed pine that I'm slowly whittling into (who knew that really thick, knotty, extremely moist pine would be hard to split!).

Anyway, I went up to my pine pile on Monday morning and I start noticing that on every piece is about a 1/2" high pile of sawdust somewhere on it. I realize it's on just about every piece in the pile. I move it away and I see a very small (1-2mm) perfectly round hole. All of this seems to be occuring through the bark (which is extremely moist).

I go and check my stacked, cut pine and notice none of this - it appears to only be occuring on the stuff that is in rounds.

Any ideas on what this is? I don't care if they get a minor meal on my wood, especially since by boring little holes they'll help it season

 

[woodsmaster]

Sounds like postpowder beetles.

 

[Adios Pantalones]

I get this on pine- the beetle responsible (though it's the larva eating wood) looks a fair bit like the Asian Longhorn Beetle, but is a more muted color and without the same white spots. I only get them on downed pine- not in live trees.

You may have something different if it's just freshly downed wood.

 

[joefrompa]

Any concern with eventually bringing this stuff into my house after it's been c/s/s for 6+ months?

 

[BrotherBart]

Every year I say these are pine borer beetles and every year people say I am wrong. I get them in my pine stacks every year. Go out on a quiet evening and you can hear them gnawing away at the wood. After the stuff dries they lose interest.

 

[woodsmaster]

Lots of criters that eat wood. Most lose intrest when the wood dries. Best defence is to have a dry house. (Dry crawl space, No leaks under doors and windows, no plumbing leaks, or roof leaks.

 

[Adios Pantalones]

BroBart- I believe that is the bug that I identified (google search). The wood has to be really dry for me before they leave, it's only pine that they attack.

 

[fossil]

I've got something that absolutely adores Juniper...doesn't seem to matter how seasoned the wood gets, they're still in there gnawing away, making very fine sawdust. I never bring that wood inside unless it's going directly into the stove. Dunno what they are, I've never seen one. I sure have burned a bunch of them, though. Rick

 

[peakbagger]

The pine bark beetle will munch for quite a while on cut pine until the bark is removed or the wood is split. The bark isnt that hard to removee from logs once they have munched on it for awhile. They are pretty scary looking critters and get confused with the asian long horm beetle frequently.

 

[Bub381]

Wood Gnome larvae,keep an eye out for their lil hats. It's a true sign.lol Just funnin.

 

[Joey]

I get a ton of carpenter bees around here in the spring. Kids are afraid of them,,but they are basically harmless, but very intimidating. They try to bore holes underneath my deck. You can hear them chewing away during the day,,,,gotta get rid of them at night,,,with some spray.

 

[Redbear86]

I'm going to cut some beetle killed pine this weekend, still standing but dead for a little while, do i need to worry about these bugs in my house? i live in a hay Field so them infecting other trees isn't a problem, just the wood in my house