What's eating my wood?

[ridensnow23]

I have a stack of 2 year old oak and sweet gum. I've been pulling a lot of piece out which have almost perfectly symmetrical holes through it. Looks like some one took a drill to it. The holes are through both the oak and the sweet gum.

So what's eating my wood?

 

[Bostontom]

From what I've seen in a lot and I mean a lot of my ash wood and from what I understand it's a wood boring beetle don't know the exact species. But in every hole is a large larvae. I saw holes in my wood that look precision cut upon inspection the bark falls right off with lots of dust under it. I split those pieces and that's when I found the larvae. They havn't bothered me much other than lots of saw dust on the wood. During the winter people say they die we've had a cold cold winter here on the shores of ma and they havn't died. I brought wood in and once it warmed up a "worm" came crawling out. My wife freaked. I said grab the tequila and keep burnin. They havn't bothered me yet, but I'm sure they're not great to have

 

[bigbarf48]

The only bugs I ever find IN my wood is ants and those holes don't look like carpenter ant holes. Done kind of borer maybe?

 

[Studdlygoof]

I have the same worms in a stack of hickory. I was worried they would spread to surrounding live trees on my property but after doing some research it seems they only infest dead wood. Here's a good site that explains it all:

http://extension.oregonstate.edu/sorec/what-are-those-worms-my-firewood

I have a ton of woodpeckers I feed at my bird feeders so hopefully they pay their rent and help me manage these guys

 

[MrWhoopee]

I first discovered these beasts after bucking some white fir on my property. I could HEAR them chomping away in my stacks, then I would find mounds of frass (fine sawdust) between the rounds in the stack. I split open a round and found those big, hideous b@st@rds munching away under the bark. Gruesome!

 

[weatherguy]

Yeah I think they're some type of beetle, I had something eating some wood in the front row of my stack and had a shovel full of sawdust, I saw some black beetles that I assume were the culprit. They ate some wood and didn't touch other species right next to them.

 

[ridensnow23]

I have the same worms in a stack of hickory. I was worried they would spread to surrounding live trees on my property but after doing some research it seems they only infest dead wood. Here's a good site that explains it all:

http://extension.oregonstate.edu/sorec/what-are-those-worms-my-firewood

I have a ton of woodpeckers I feed at my bird feeders so hopefully they pay their rent and help me manage these guys

Yeah I've found the worms under the bark. I didn't realize there were worms that would chew right through the wood though.

Unfortunately the woodpeckers around me are of no help. They like to drill into my trim and T-111 siding of my garage rather than the forest behind my house.

 

[Fred Wright]

Agreed with the mention of wood boring beetles. They're big, ugly buggers and cold weather doesn't seem to faze 'em.

Haven't seen 'em around these parts... but had 'em when I lived in Virginee. Behind the house there was a nice red oak on the ground. I bucked, split and stacked it over summer. Those big beetles were all in the splits.

 

[MrWhoopee]

The are commonly called Pine Sawyers (for obvious reasons). The genus is Monochamus. Our larva look like this:


I wonder how they taste deep-fried.

 

[Paulywalnut]

A large beetle with a hand drill

 

[Paulywalnut]

The are commonly called Pine Sawyers (for obvious reasons). The genus is Monochamus. Our larva look like this:
View attachment 127711

I wonder how they taste deep-fried.

Actually not bad. They do need salt though. A little bland, like sawdust.

 

[mstoelton]

Those holes look like the ones that Carpenter bees make. They like to make these holes in the kids plat set on the underside of the wood. I watch the bees making the holes and spray them with wasp spray.

 

[Beer Belly]

The are commonly called Pine Sawyers (for obvious reasons). The genus is Monochamus. Our larva look like this:
View attachment 127711

I wonder how they taste deep-fried.

I have the same holes, and periodically seen that larvae while splitting.....I bring a good amount of wood into the garage (attached to the house), and some have the holes, but no larvae spotted.....I imagine they would gnaw the crap out the house

 

[farmboy05]

The maple I'm splitting now was dead standing. A few splits have several larvae in the wood. I'm hoping the wood dries out faster then they can ruin it come spring and summer. But it will be wood that will go straight from the pile into the stove next winter assuming everything turns out ok.

 

[ridensnow23]

Those holes look like the ones that Carpenter bees make. They like to make these holes in the kids plat set on the underside of the wood. I watch the bees making the holes and spray them with wasp spray.

These are not from carpenter bees. We have those too unfortunately. They like to attack my deck, and the holes are much bigger.

 

[Bostontom]

They don't ruin the wood. They burrow in turn to beetles and leave. Makes the bark easier to get off makes it a bit messier to bring in but it comes with the territory

 

[MrWhoopee]

They don't ruin the wood. They burrow in turn to beetles and leave. Makes the bark easier to get off makes it a bit messier to bring in but it comes with the territory

They also ventilate the wood which accelerates drying.

 

[jillybeansisme]

Some like them deep-fried and some require salt . . . how about chocolate dipped? Or totally roasted . .. . But in all seriousness, if you have them in the wood, how do you keep them out of the house, especially if the wood has to thaw out . . .