Gents, I was just out by my Holz Hausen of magnificent Shagbark Hickory, and I could literally hear hundreds of tiny jaws chewing away! One of the Hickories I dropped this past winter had a pretty good carpenter ant infestation, and I'm pretty confident that's what I'm hearing. I'm thinking about mixing 50/50 vinegar and water into my sprayer and giving it a good douche this weekend...any experience with that? I know it kills most ants nicely, but I've never used it on the mighty carpenter. Thoughts? Also: will it stink up the wood permanently?
I put those outdoor ant bait things here and there in my wood stacks. The idea is that individual ants take the poison back to the nest and kill em all. So far,so good.
Being 4-5 years out I started to get worried about bugs/ants,etc. My one top covered pile of chunks and uglies I noticed some ants. I pulled a piece of loose bark off and low and behold there were a bunch and some eggs. I mixed up a 50/50 solution of borax and water in a sprayer and hit the pile and perimeter. Still saw ants days after. I then proceeded to just throw some borax in the nooks and crannies of the pile and around the perimeter. Bingo! I see some here and there around my stacks. Nothing major but I still don't like it. I went out and bought spectracide carpenter ant and termite concentrate and will mix some up when I get done with my log load and hit all my stacks (just around the bottom and perimeter) and nuke them all. I had a big red maple in my load that the trunk portion was hollow and had some in it and when I split the rounds they dispersed onto the ground and are crawling around the bottom of some of my stacks now. I'm OCD so I have to fry them! My property is surrounded by pines and ants are just here but when I split a round and a bunch hit the ground I always think they're gonna take residence in my stacks and it constantly is on my mind and worries me. After a nuke job it just gives me piece of mind. I just think the spectracide is more effective than the borax. Where I live we just naturally have a lot of ants,bugs,etc. I even have a pest control company come 3 times a year and do a perimeter spray around my house and shed. Again, OCD!
Interesting...so what do you think could be munching away at this hard as nails wood? Something loves it, that's for sure.
If you here them munching, it could be carpenter bees The female carpenter bee bores a channel or main corridor in wood from 6 " to as long as 4 feet to lay their eggs in "galleries". Carpenter Bees | Entomology Bumble bees look similar but are different
I actually do have some of those nesting in the nearby fence posts, but haven't seen any sign of them in the hickory. I have what look like small yellow and black wasps that hang around in the stacks of ash.
Save the vinegar for your bbq sauce. This will work nicely. Wisdom TC Flowable Insecticide, 1 qt. - For Life Out Here
Hickory borer is a yellow/black striped beetle. Carpenter bees do make an audible munching sound. They like dry wood. Carpenter ants need moist or rotten wood, and they usually pack up and leave once it's split and off the ground drying.
I was seeing a bunch of ants ,in, around unsplit rounds , sprinkled this on , in, and around the wood , ants gone Ortho 10 lb. Bug-B-Gon Max Insect Killer for Lawns-0167042 - The Home Depot I use this around the perimeter of house too
That ortho home defense is the exact same active ingredient as I posted above except it's premixed and outrageously priced. If you can measure 1 ounce of concentrate and 1 gallon of water, buy the concentrate I posted above and save yourself about $12 per gallon you apply HDRock blacktail Rangerbait
