Lots of maggots under the barkwill they infest the wood shed? Do I have to debark all that Oak? Max says bring em on they are good hope they won't make him sick.
Do they look like this? They are borer grubs. They eat dead wood. You don't have to debark, although I do if it comes off easily. They will die as your splits dry, but you'll get some fine sawdust powder in your stacks.
Yes, don't worry about those; if the bark is loose, knock the bark off along with the grubs and call it good. Wait until you split open a piece and large black ants crawl out
There are several kinds. Those with the big heads are mostly inside the first inch of white wood. Also lots of bugs in the stink bug family. Some of the bark is loose and came off but a lot stayed on. Some of this oak is still fairly wet around 21 to 23 but some is 19 in the middle down to 16 towards the outside (all according to my moisture meter). 19 to 16 should be burnable this year right?
Don't worry about them at all. I been seeing those grubs for forty years. They go away or get knocked off. By the time you dry and go to burn the wood they are long gone. No worries, Black ants are another story. I split with a can of regular ant spray next to me, if they spill out I zap em.
I'm usually working my wood 20 feet from the house and I don't want them invading. When I moved in many years ago, a whole outside wall was full of them and they ate the studs down to nothing and half of the floor joists. I've been very wary of them since.
I've seen them here before but not lately. I've sprayed heavily against termites, hope that will help.
Midwinter do these guys attack living trees? We are loosing a lot of oaks to some kind of borer and have lost most of our beautiful old and very large Pines. They get reduced to sawdust while they are standing.
Termites, we found them in our home I've seen them on tv before, but now that I saw them in person- well childrens cartoon on here this afternoon as the main subject,
Mmmm, that is something to consider. A spray bottle of water and bleach doesn't do them any good either.
My understanding is that the oak borers we find in dead wood only eat wet dead wood. But there are so many other kinds, and in a warm climate like yours, there must be a ton! There is a bug thread, and Rumpy knows a lot about different bugs. Name of bug thread below, just search it. I waited twenty years for this!"
They will also take of any ticks that are lurking around; chickens are great for taking care of pests.
Yes, chickens are great, i grew up with them. Unfortunately i would just supply Max with extra snacks. He doesn't share my view of live and let live. If it's edible it should be eaten. waste not want not, is his philosophy. I think he lived on hunting only before he showed up here. When he brought me a dead rabbit and i wasn't thrilled i really hurt his feelings. It's a shame chickens would be so useful here.
Gosh, thanks Midwinter! I’ve never been paged to a thread before. I’ma need some photos, please. As already mentioned, the flatheads that bore wood are no concern. Just stack them up like firewood. But, if the galleries (tunnels) are in the bark too, and look a little different, then you may have something else. I’ll take any pictures you got, larvae, beetles, stink bugs, wasps, fungus, you name it! I’m just always hoping to see something interesting or new.
In our many, many moons of burning firewood, we've never been concerned with bugs and worms and snakes. But then, we also don't stack wood next to the house and for the most part we don't even bring wood into the house until it goes right into the stove.
I also stack away from the house in general but will stack wood on the porch is there is a winter storm coming. I don't bring in wood to a wood box because there might be critters that could wake up once they get in the warm house. I know that some suggest warming the wood before throwing it in the stove but I don't general bring in extra wood.
Once the cold weather arrives there is no harm in keeping some wood on the porch. Only very occasionally do we bring some wood into the house but that is in the cold of winter when I'm not too hot on the idea of stepping onto the cold porch to grab a couple pieces of wood. I'm turning into a softie, I guess. But the wood we bring in during those times is at night before we hit the sack and it is usually barkless. That is, splits only.
