Roaches in the wood

So a while back when I was loading firewood to bring into the basement I found about 5 roaches under a piece of wood in the stack. I squished them and kept a lookout, finding about 3 more as I was loading my wagon. I still took about a weeks worth of wood and stacked it in my basement.

Was this bad? Should I have left the wood outside and only brought in wood one stove load at a time? It's been a month and I haven't noticed any roaches in the house, but that's not something I want to deal with and I wonder if I just got lucky, or if they're in hiding in my house, breeding now.

 

We stack wood in the garage portion of our walkout basement and put a ring of granular insect killer around it. That keeps the crawling type at bay but won't stop the flying and jumping type.

Found about 5 locust borers in the living room the other day where the stove is. Girlfriend was none too happy about that...

 

Ya gotta do what ya gotta do. But I keep mine on the front porch - that way the little buggers stay frozen, until they become bonus BTUs in my stove.

My girlfriend doesn't want me bringing any inside anyway. We got into a couple anthill rounds over the summer and she was thoroughly disgusted. So I am forbidden to keep any inside, unless it's going right into the stove.

 

These were about 5/8" long. I don't know enough about home infestation to know if there's a difference. Luckily I haven't been able to convince my wife to ever help me bring in firewood, so she doesn't know what goes on with bugs since it's out of sight in the basement. And I haven't dared to tell her either, she's not really a fan of heating with wood anyway and is looking for an excuse to get me to stop.

Just about every 4th piece of wood has a spider or spider nest stuck to it, and I make a habit of squishing them and knocking them off, but every now and then when I'm loading wood in the stove and I find that I missed one or 2, and get the pleasure of burning them alive while they are waking up. While I hate spiders with a passion, roaches don't really bother me. But that doesn't mean I want them in my house!

 

I find them in my wood piles all the time. I think it's pretty normal. Roaches aren't just an "in the house" bug. They are everywhere.

I usually bang my wood once before loading it. They typically fall right off. Oh and when I split my wood, I remove the bark first in a thin layer and then split the log normally. A little more time consuming, but no chance of a bug hiding under the bark.

 

See http://ento.psu.edu/extension/factsheets/pennsylvania-wood-cockroaches And yes according to this they can infest your home, however, it's not common. Also see http://animals.pawnation.com/difference-between-wood-roaches-cockroaches-7472.html

 

Thanks for the link. I find it interesting that it said “As breeding populations rarely become established indoors, house interiors should not be treated.”

That’s my main concern. I can deal with a few roaches that I might bring in. But I don’t want them breeding inside the house.

I guess I’ll just keep an eye on things. There isn’t much I can do outside as my stacks are right next to the woods and there isn’t another place for me to put them. I could probably keep my weekly stash right outside the door, but for now its much more convenient to bring the wood inside. Then I can go down in shorts and bare feet (my typical before work and evening attire) to load more wood in the stove.

 

I guess thanks for the information , but I don't like it. Lived in Sarasota for a while, and saw more than enough various cockroaches to last a lifetime. I never saw one in Westchester, NY, have never seen one on this property, and never hope to see one. I think I'd rather see ticks than have roaches running around my home. Spiders (definitely excluding brown recluse) don't bother me and eat lots of bugs, so I never kill them. Roaches I can definitely do without.

 

Yeah I can go out on my front porch in shorts and bare feet too - but it's a little colder! I always put on my slippers first.

 

Thank you.

Not sure about alum. I just get whatever is cheapest at Ace. I'm sure sevin or something similar would do the trick.

 

The roaches you are encountering are wood roaches, not German Cockroaches.
I live in a temperate climate where wood roaches (also known as Palmetto bugs) are active year round. They don't infest your house, they like dark damp areas like wood stacks. Your dry house won't be on the plate.
German cockroaches on the other hand will find their way in on anything from appliances, furniture, boxed goods, used electronics - you name it.

I lived here for 6yrs and never saw a german roach, after gutting the kitchen(never found a roach or remnants) ~ 2months later started to see roaches. My assumption was roaches jumped ship from the used appliances on the delivery truck with my new appliances.
Dusting with diatomaceous earth is the best long term way to eradicate them. Fogging them will just give an idea of how bad the problem is. Sprays are good for initial wipe out of infestation, but causes them to change patterns, DE dusting around cracks and behind electrical receptacles will prove more effective(not instant gratification though)