Powder post beetles

[Joe W]

Help I sold some pine lumber to a friend of mine and now there are powder post beetles coming out of the lumber.I uncoverd some of the stacks of boards that I cut in the past few months and I'm seeing the same bugs coming out of my stacks.What should I do to get rid of these guys?Is there any easy way to get rid these pests?I have about 30'000' of logs yet to saw.Should I be spraying these logs with a pestacide or what?I don't want to be selling bug infested lumber,Kinda not to good for advertising.Help!!!Any of you folks got any ideas?Joe

[Kirk_Allen]

Most farm supply stores have bug spray for PPB.  You mix it with water and spray it with a garden sprayer. 

[Curlywoods]

Kirk,

  I thought that the sprayed mixtures were a "preventative", not effective for infestations.  Does this topical treatment kill the beetles that are inside the wood already?

[Faron]

My understanding is the best treatment is 130 degree heat for six hours.  The lumber needs to get to that temp all the way through.  A space heater in a tightly enclosed space ought to do it.  A guy might construct a tin or tarp enclosure over the stack.   Faron

[Corley5]

For the last few days I've been working on one of my Honey Do Projects which invloves building some shelves for Honey to put some of her Strawberry Shortcake Doll collection : on and for Zach to store some of his stuff and he's got a lot.  I went over to Grandma's and retrieved a red elm 1"4" that I intended to use as part of one the shelf units and it looked fine until I ran it through the planer.  It was then that I noticed the exit holes from the adults and tunnels from the larvae.  Powder post beetles >:(  This board had been in the chicken house for 30 years ???  I cut it up and into the outdoor furnace it went and I scrounged up a piece of ash that fit the bill and also found another piece of ash with some cool figure for a coat hook board.  While searching for these pieces in our old milk house I came across A LOT of PPB damage.  I knew they were in the hay barn and have been forever or at least since Grandpa put a bunch of standing dead elm and maple firewood in there 30 years ago.  There's that number again.  Grandma's still burning wood out of the barn.  When a piece is split the frass will literally run out of it :  The bugs are the main reason the old barn isn't worth saving.  The floor boards are hardwood and the joist are basswood, sugar maple, elm and ironwood poles.  Powder post beetle candy.  There is frass all over everything in the basement what doesn't fall gets caught in the cobwebs.  I don't spend much time there especially on a windy day as the stacked fieldstone and mortar foundation leaves much to be desired also.  As I was looking for a suitable piece of wood I saw frass on some of the boards close to the floor in the milk house but nothing on what I wanted and no signs of exit holes or tunneling after I planned it.  Today I was looking for a piece of 2"X10" white pine for the continuing project and was back in the milk house again.  I found just what I needed a 2"X12" white pine about 6' feet long and it was even planed.  When I picked it up frass ran out of it.  It was full of holes apparently from a different species as these were bigger than the ones in the hardwood lumber in the next pile.  The unplaned piece of pine next to it was the same way.  What a mess.  There is lumber in here that's been here for 30 years.  That number again.  Everything needs to be taken out and it appears that a good portion of the lumber is destined for the our furnaces.  I sure wouldn't want to take it inside to burn it.  I am hoping that I can salvage enough of the white ash to build a hay wagon rack.  The little b#$*!@*s don't appear to have made it all the way through that pile.  There's also some cherry in there that they haven't touched.  Maybe they don't like cherry ???  Here's some links to some sites on PPB control.
     
http://www.msue.msu.edu/msue/imp/mod02/01500546.html

http://ohioline.osu.edu/hyg-fact/2000/2090.html

The third photo on this page is what my piece of red elm looked like after I planed it.  http://www.bugspray.com/catalog/products/page295.html

[Tom]

It might be worth while to build a container or find one made from metal that would allow you to heat the wood to a point that it would kill the rascals.  it sure would be a shame to lose all that lumber.   If you are going to burn a lot of it, at least put it to work saving the rest.

[MemphisLogger]

Joe,

You need to catch one of the critters and positively identify it--your local ag extension will help you out if you need it.

I doubt they are PPB as they only like dry hardwood. But there are many more that do the same damage to all woods when the moisture content is above 20%. Once below that they die or leave for moister pastures.

[Steve]

I fight those critters a lot, especially in Mango. Dept of Ag says to use Ortho-Chlor and while it does a good job on fresh lumber and logs I don't know what if anything it does once they are in the wood. I have had wood fumigated. They can use some pretty strong poisons there. In my experience once the wood is pretty dry they hardly bother it at all. Some woods they prefer over others. They won't touch Koa for example.
I identify them by there pin sized holes and the piles of powder that appear over the face of a board.
I am resawing some great looking Mango right now and I have holes all over a lot of it. And I tried to be real careful when I milled it. They yard where I milled this particular wood has a terrible infestation of them. I think because there is so much lumber/ logs always around.
This was in Hawaii, don't know about the mainland.

steve

[Corley5]

I thought before I went to burning all of it I'd run a few pieces through the planer to see how bad they are.  Minor chewing on a board for a hay wagon rack won't be bad and a few tunnels will help the used oil soak in  ;) ;D.