worms

[rich81]

i have been bringing some wood into the basement now that its getting colder, only about a weeks worth at a time and noticed somesmall white worms(best way i can describe it) on the pieces of oak that have bark falling off. they are only on my oak and mostly on the bark only. what are these and should i be concerned. take them off and use them for icefishing??lol

 

[MountainStoveGuy]

grubs? Fry em up and chow down.

 

[rich81]

i hope thats all they are and not some type of other bug thats gonna chew my house down. is it common to find them in wood. if i get a picture will that help?

 

[Jay H]

Grubs:
http://nysipm.cornell.edu/publications/grubs/images/hand_sm.jpg

Termites:
(broken link removed to http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/4f/Formosan_subterranean_termites.jpg/200px-Formosan_subterranean_termites.jpg)

Different kinds though and they don't typically look like worms as grubs do.

Do the above look like the ones?



Jay

 

[rich81]

the look more like the grubs, but are all white, i just went down the basement to take some bark off and found some more. it looks like there are channels going through the wood, i think i'm gonna throw the wood back outside, getting a little nervous here that they might be termites....

 

[MountainStoveGuy]

hard to mix up grubs and termites. termites are usually the size of ants and grubs are fat little stocky worm like bugs that are about a inch long.

 

[rich81]

doing some research and it could possibly be a powder post beetle larvae or can grubs make channels also, thanks for the responses i wanna try to get this figured out today. i'm located in southern maine if this helps any and the temps have been mild over the past week, altough getting colder now

 

[tjg911]

i have been bringing some wood into the basement now that its getting colder, only about a weeks worth at a time and noticed somesmall white worms(best way i can describe it) on the pieces of oak that have bark falling off. they are only on my oak and mostly on the bark only. what are these and should i be concerned. take them off and use them for icefishing??lol

No, those look like jap beetle grubs.

Rich, I know exactly what you are talking about. For years I have seen these but as you say only in oak, under the bark and they create channels as they eat the wood. I called them oak grubs. They have flat heads and a large black spot on the flat head that I just passed off as an eye tho I don't know if it is.

I'm going to try to find a picture because I would like to know exactly what they are called.

OK! The internet is amazing! I think they are Red Oak borers. Here's the best photo I could find and these look like what I get -

http://www.forestryimages.org/images/384x256/5025070.jpg

They are about 5/8" to 3/4" long, 3/16" to 1/4" wide. IIRC they are flatish grubs definitely with flattened heads, haven't split any wood this warm winter so I haven't seen any for over a year.

Here's a good write up about them.

(broken link removed)

I always wondered what the heck these things were!

Tom

 

[wahoowad]

I think they improve my reburn

 

[par38lamp]

I had very similar looking "larve" in the bark of some old elm. I think they are not termites since the one piece of wood I split had crawling white litte bugs in the hearth of the wood. I believed they were temites, and set them on fire.

 

[rich81]

i have been bringing some wood into the basement now that its getting colder, only about a weeks worth at a time and noticed somesmall white worms(best way i can describe it) on the pieces of oak that have bark falling off. they are only on my oak and mostly on the bark only. what are these and should i be concerned. take them off and use them for icefishing??lol

No, those look like jap beetle grubs.

Rich, I know exactly what you are talking about. For years I have seen these but as you say only in oak, under the bark and they create channels as they eat the wood. I called them oak grubs. They have flat heads and a large black spot on the flat head that I just passed off as an eye tho I don't know if it is.

I'm going to try to find a picture because I would like to know exactly what they are called.

OK! The internet is amazing! I think they are Red Oak borers. Here's the best photo I could find and these look like what I get -

http://www.forestryimages.org/images/384x256/5025070.jpg

They are about 5/8" to 3/4" long, 3/16" to 1/4" wide. IIRC they are flatish grubs definitely with flattened heads, haven't split any wood this warm winter so I haven't seen any for over a year.

Here's a good write up about them.

(broken link removed)

I always wondered what the heck these things were!

Tom

thank you very much that is exactly what they look like. set my mind at ease a little, knowing what they are

 

[DiscoInferno]

I think there are lots of borer species with similar-looking larva. I find them under the bark of most species, mostly if the tree has been dead for a while. I didn't think most types go after live trees (EAB being the big exception of the moment), wood framing, or furniture. The creepiest to me are the ones I get in balsam fir (pine borer or pine sawyer, something like that). You can hear them gnawing (very loudly) inside the log.

The little white bugs that drop en masse out of old rounds that have been in ground contact are termites. The colony is underground, so they are harmless if kinda gross.