What's Boring into my Locust??

[Woody5506]

Well we all know about ash borers but has anyone else had issues with bugs boring into locust? I have all my wood piles mixed with a fair amount of honey and black locust, and these bugs only seek those two out.

I have a big honey locust tree in the yard with zero signs of this issue. It seems they only cause issue with split locust.

Any ideas??

 

[Fuut Master]

Carpenter bee?

 

[kennyp2339]

Looks like your wood is leaking btu's

 

[Woody5506]

Carpenter bees bore pretty large holes if im not mistaken, these are roughly the size of a typical ash borer hole. Looking a bit into it, there are locust borers but they are pretty distinct looking and I don't really think that's what's doing it in this case. I would've seen one by now.

 

[JSeery]

Possibly carpenter ants. Maybe they are just munching the fresh splits but will hopefully move on once it dries out.

 

[Fuut Master]

Yeah carpenter bees do bore larger round holes. I thought I seen one in the first picture upper right corner. But I was looking on my phone. I believe I was mistaken now.

 

[baseroom]

I have those in my honey locust pile as well!

 

[Smokyjeff1]

I recently cut up a few cords of black locust and carpenter ants love the stuff.I agree with the other guys this looks to be bee's

 

[Supersurvey]

I have the same issue with my 1 year old split oak. Perfect 1/16 inch holes with lots of sawdust. Was thinking they were fire flys.

 

[heavy hammer]

Either carpenter bees or ants they seem to love locust once it dries out more they will leave. I have seen it in my locust stacks as well.

 

[Woody5506]

Most likely ants, although the only bugs I've seen around the holes are tiny things I cant even tell what they are. Oh well, not a big deal if that's the worst they do, I just don't want my wood looking like swiss cheese by the time it's ready to burn

 

[Dima1973]

I have something similar going on with my locust. It was css this spring

 

[JohnDolz]

I am going to say wood boring beetle. I have them in some monster pines that have been taken down. I have learned to debark the pines as soon as possible. I am getting the same little "saw dust piles" for the hardwood that i put in that area as well. The bark on the hardwoods does not come off as easily as the pine so I am quarter splitting for now, hoping that dries the wood enough to minimize the damage. Similar to my multi year pursuit of dandelions (chemical free), I am hoping to reduce the population and have them head towards a neighbors...........

 

[brenndatomu]

I had the same issue when I cut a couple Honey Locusts down a few years back...those lil buggers made a royal mess of things with all the dust. Everybody here said it was Powder Post beetles and that they would stop when the wood dried out some, but I think these are Locust Borers...they did stop after the first year though.
You could actually hear them munching on the wood if it was quiet and you put your ear right down by the wood.
I saw sawdust coming out of a hole one day so I started splitting until I found the lil guy...it was a big white grub. Dunno if it was a Powder Post beetle grub or not...they did stop after the first year...I had to move and restack the wood to get rid of all the sawdust laying on it though...once it got wet it just laid there and held moisture.
I posted pictures of all this on here somewhere at the time but the search feature is not coming up with them right now...

 

[brenndatomu]

Here's the pics...

 

[Woody5506]

I assume they would all die off once winter rolls around? If not then they will die off when they get put into the stove...lol

A guy in my area just posted a big load of Kentucky Coffee Wood for free on Craigslist and says he doesn't want to deal with it because carpenter ants have gotten to it. Interestingly enough I'm only having issues with the black and honey locust in my piles, but I also have coffee wood that these bugs haven't touched. Overall it doesn't seem like they are really ruining the wood, it's just irritating seeing piles of saw dust all over the place.

 

[sportbikerider78]

I have the same issue and mine are little beetles. They are tiny...only about 1/8 long at most. The strange thing is that they only bore into my stacks that are covered in my wood shed. I haven't found them anywhere else in any of my uncovered stacks.
They must like cool, damp areas.

 

[brenndatomu]

A guy in my area just posted a big load of Kentucky Coffee Wood for free on Craigslist and says he doesn't want to deal with it because carpenter ants have gotten to it

Have chickens? They will make quick work of ants when you cut/split.
If not just get a jug of Home Defense Max...it's not very good for ants...