I've got Powderpost beetles, they really like the Honeylocust and Hickory. I was wondering if I should spray the infected areas with some type of insecticide, I have some borate based Penashield that is natural and low toxicity. Would it cause any harm to the wood stove or pipes? Is this a good idea, bad idea, or nothing to be concerned about?
I hate them in the stacks as much as you do and have learned to accept them. I personally wouldnt put any chemical on my firewood. If i encounter ants when splitting ill use my little blowtorch if its close by.
I've never worried about those beetles or any others in the firewood. Also I don't want any spray on the wood we intend to burn. As for bugs, it seems no matter what some bugs live in the woodpiles. That is the reason we only take what is needed to fill the stove. I do remember the old days when we would keep extra wood in the house but it seemed we always had some problems with some type of bugs. That is why we stopped that practice.
The general consensus is look away and move on to other chores. I figure one good thing that may come from them, they may help the moisture escape and season the wood a little faster with the tunnels they create. The glass is half full!
Have always kept a can of ant spray near the splitter so I can zap em once in a while. Any residue of the spray is long gone by the 3-5 years it's outside drying. Can't get em all, but I like to think I slow em down a little...
I like to think of it as perforations that speed up the drying process. Got em in my hickory stacks. I like the bugs that help with oak bark separation too. Dislike the ants that attack and bite me when I’m splitting and handling. I don’t spray. If you can smell it, you’re breathing it and it’s in your blood.
It's my understanding that the borate product is only good as a surface treatment and stops the powderpost beetles from laying eggs, If they are already in the wood it is a waste of time/ not effective. The moisture in the air is enough for the firewood to absorb and make attractive to powderpost beetles so even kiln dried wood is susceptable if left laying around. The borate product(s) are supposedly not listed as hazardous wastes so might be safe to burn except for if you have a catalyst. I get powderpost beetles on swamp maple stacks. Usually just the top few rows ( higher moisture content ? ) . I don't think they're very active in the cold so I just don't leave maple with visible shot holes laying around inside for more than a day. Inside is probably too dry for them anyway but I don't mind being a little cautious. There is a beetle that can infest home furniture but I don't think they are the same powderpost beetles that like firewood ( or freshly downed trees that are easy/successful to lay eggs on.)
I installed log siding outside on a room addition and sprayed each board with Penashield before installing. They claim it penetrates wood, and protects against these type of pests. Out of curiosity, I called the manufacturer just to see what they say about using it on firewood. I figured it would be an off the wall question for them, and sure enough, the technician had to made sure of what I was asking. LOL Anyway, he said he did not see any reason why it could not be used for this purpose, he said to spray it lightly and it would have a “low load level”. Not saying I'm going to do it, but I think it could safely be used for this purpose if someone wanted to. Here's some info from the manufacturer web site. PenaShield is a water soluble wood treatment containing a proprietary ingredient that enables it to penetrate quickly and thoroughly into wood. PenaShield kills and prevents wood rot, decay fungi, termites, carpenter ants, and wood destroying beetles (see label for complete list). The active ingredient in PenaShield is a borate mineral salt, which means it does not break down over time like synthetic chemicals, and delivers long-term residual benefit to help to protect treated wood for years. PenaShield will last for the life of the wood indoors. Outside, PenaShield will last as long as an applied water repellent is maintained. If the outdoor wood is not sealed or painted, additional PenaShield applications will be needed every 1-5 years. PenaShield emits no VOCs (volatile organic compounds).
The ants we see when splitting the wood are long gone in no time. No chemicals on the wood. There’s enough poison out there already, no need for it to be used unnecessarily.
The good part about splitting when it is cold is those crawlers are dormant. I once tempted a flock of turkeys with some bird seed. Drew a path right to where I was splitting because I had found a whole bunch of those danged things. They cleaned them up fast. Of course then for a couple days I had to discourage the turkeys from coming around all the time looking for another hand out.
The bug man was just here at my place yesterday. I texted him and ask if he would spray around my wood pile (I was on a conference call inside at the time). I walk out a little later to check on him and see that he didn't spray around the wood stacks but had sprayed the wood itself (like soaked the sides of my stacks) . I was kicking myself for not specifying what I meant by "spray around the stacks." hopefully the chemicals will dissipate before I'm burning inside this winter.
I never spray my stacks outside. Sometimes we spray after it’s moved into the basement if there are enough signs of bugs. Wife hates spiders and insects in general. It’s an unfinished area so a fogger is all it takes.
We get these in the honey locust here. Hickory borer beetles. If I see activity in the woodpiles, I spray them with Liquid Sevin. They move on once the wood is dry. I'm with WW above for the most part. Usually I only spray a little with indoor bug spray once I bring the wood into the basement, only then if I see a lot of activity. Typically the wood is dry enough at that point and up off the ground in the woodshed that about the only critters I find is chipmunk nests / nuts and a few spiders.
We have a pest control service show up every three months at our house to spray. The technicians comment was that they almost exclusively use products that breakdown into safe byproducts in about 3-6 months. Many of the old school sprays were nerve agents and lasted a long time. If you doused your wood pile then burned it 6 months later you were essentially creating a nerve gas in the smoke. My pest service alternates between very low toxicity lethal sprays that break down quickly and passive repellents and baits that are carried back to nests. I don't have a problem with the powder post beetles but do not want any ants or termites in my firewood! The Tech uses bait and repellents around the stacks and wood shed. He says that his customers vary in the extremes from only allowing use of "Green Products" that are only of limited effectiveness to those Old School people who want him to "Nuke Everything Till it Glows". I fall somewhere in between.
I just experienced another reason to hate powderpost beetles, I park my sxs under a metal carport and in between wood stacks infested with the beetles, and last week we had 70 mph straight winds come through the area. All that fine saw dust and water was blown all over and in every crevice of my sxs it could find. What a mess. LOL But we were lucky, our internet was down for 4 days, but they had 90 mph straight line winds just east of us. Thousands of trees blown down, roofs blown off, electrical poles snapped in half, and RV's blown around with campers in them. Amazingly, no one was hurt! The bright side is the availability of more firewood, but I'm set for about 5 years on that.
