Boxelder ….. bugs and trees. Do they have any relationship other than the name? Do the trees support the bugs. Do the bugs eat or inhabit or procreate in the trees. One of my neighbors apparently really dislikes the bugs and thinks he has 2 Boxelder trees that he is tempted to get rid of in an effort to reduce the bug population. I think they are elm trees. Pretty sure I can get the wood if he does something.
Yes the box elder bugs live and deposit eggs in box elder trees. The wood seasions in months and burns like paper. Works for shoulder season.
It’s not just boxelder trees either. The bugs feed on all members of the maple family of which boxelder (ash leave maple or Manatoba maple to our canuck friends) is a member.
This is the first time I’m hearing of the boxelder bugs. Guess I’ll be finding out firsthand in a few years when all the boxelder seeds I threw in the woods next to me start taking off It’s nothing to go gaga over for firewood but I wouldn’t write it off completely either. If you have a need for wood you could cut today and burn in the fall, go for it. I still have some in my stacks for next season.
Boxelder is good for more than just SS wood in a good stove (especially a cat stove or a gasifier) its the majority of what I have been burning this winter and last. I'm sure BE burns like paper in an old school stove though. And yes, the one tree I cut down was covered in BE bugs one day (can't remember if it was spring or fall...seems to me it was fall)
Not familiar with the bugs but if they are bugging the neighbor go cut em down regardless. BE good SS wood and i dont have to tell you about the elm.
You would be correct...love it! I don't care what you are burning, it burns better with a couple sticks of SM included! There is lots of SM around here, but I seem to be on an extended dry spell with it...oh well, getting lots of BE though!
We have the bugs at my house also but I guess they don’t bother me much. We have them at my work also and there’s not much for trees very close exceptin cedars
I guess I’ve been through there multiple times. I should go again because there’s a saw shop near there that has 3 saws I’d like to have
A house I lived in had a couple big Silver Maples and the bugs were on the trees and the house. I sprayed them, but they always returned and multiplied.
I had access to a bunch of boxelder about 10 years ago. I bet I got 5 or 6 cords. No bugs that I can remember. Ok wood but not great. Price was right.
When I bought my first home there were 3 box elder trees in the yard. We had so many bugs it was terrible and they would get in the house. I noticed there was just one of the trees that had bugs so I cut it down. Bingo. No more bugs. The wood is not bad, just not great. Burn it. It may be in the maple family but it does not split like maple.
The bugs are said to only be present on female (seed bearing) trees. I find it’s most similar to silver maple. Maybe a little lacking in the btu department.
How so? It can sure be gnarly/twisty, but so can maple...especially SM. I'd agree with that...SM is probably a lil heavier when dry/ready to burn.
