Excuse me if this is a dumb questions, but... Powder Post Beatles or other wood borne bugs won't come out of the wood and get into framing or anything like that, right? I wouldn't think so as I would imagine I would have heard about such an issue. I am just double checking because some of my wood I am burning right now is a bit powdery. Thanks.
No matter how fresh the hickory I cut, split and stack, it eventually gets infested with the powder post Beatles. I stack my firewood about six feet high and they seem to like the stuff from the bottom of my pallets to half way up. From what I've read, they don't bother other wood materials (framing lumber) and they leave all my other firewood alone such as red&white oak, ash, and maple. I do tell my customers they should try to burn up all the hickory by the end of the heating season. I knock the pieces together when loading to get the dust off so they don't look bad when delivered. A benefit is that they help the wood season faster with their holes they produce.
If they have nothing better to eat close, they will eat dry wood. We have barns and they attack the beams that are even overhead and have no water near them. We spray beams with Borax when we see the dust but it's an ongoing thing. They will eat most any type of wood, including hardwoods.
I've only seen them in red maple (not much of a selection of wood here) and it's like there's one infestation and they move on. There never seems to be a second generation, so maybe they wood gets too dry for them. Basements may be humid enough for them but I am pretty sure upstairs is far too dry for most bugs and they die.
They only like sapwood for whatever reason here. I have some hickory in the middle of a big stack that I'm curious to see if they went after. The splits were processed this time of year. I've got halved rounds waiting for splitter that laid in the woods last summer as logs and they ate the crap out of them, but only the sapwood...the borings stop at the heartwood.
I've had powder post beetles in some woods, but hickory borers are what get into the hickory, they are black and yellow striped. I tried some moth balls in my stacks and they aren't as bad but still around.
Yep, they don't seem to dig any deeper than an inch or so. I keep all my hickory top covered because the dust turns into a pancake batter if it gets wet. Between loading my wheelbarrow, tossing it into the truck, back into the wheelbarrow and stacking; all the dust comes off when stacked at the customers house.
I had to clap a bunch of honey locust splits this year. They really chewed it up. Actually saw them in action a few years ago when a friend was clearing for his house. Probably 50 of the beetles on day old honey locust tops we were pulling out for firewood. Had never seen more than one of them at a time until then. The wood has to be giving off some scent that draws them as what I saw was in no way incidental. The tree was healthy and standing 24 hours prior.
We have had them get into tool handles before and if that happens, you do have to replace said handles. Generally when you see all that dust the beetles are gone.
True powder post beetles don't stop. I'm wandering if you have another type. This is from a local barn. It was built pre 1900 but not much before as it has sawn 12 inch beams. Roof is watertight and posts are on concrete foundations. They don't need much water at all to survive like termites do. This pic is of an overhead beam in the middle of a 20 ft span. They will keep going if not treated and turn structural wood into junk. I've had the best luck using borax and soaking the outsides as much as possible with a backpack sprayer. If they touch/eat that, it will kill them eventually. Borax is what is used in products such as Terro brand ant killer and most other brands as well. About a 5% mix. Look on the ingredents label. They lace sugar water with it and it's carried to the nest and then wipes out the whole colony.
I had those same things get into all of my hickory that the power company cut on our property last year. Looks exactly like your pics. Didn't get into any of the cherry or spruce. Haven't gotten into any of the hickory still standing....at least that I can see.
