# saw dust in my woodpile (bugs)



## time warp (Jul 19, 2009)

Stacking more wood today & I notice alot of my wood has saw dust piles on them. Upon further inspection it loooks like holes maybe an 1/8 in. in dia. has been burroughed into the wood. What is this & should I be doing something about it???


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## glen13645 (Jul 19, 2009)

*carpenter ants*

I am having the same problem.they seem to be in my stacks of honey locus. have been trying different ant baits with little success.


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## YoungTreeGuy (Jul 19, 2009)

glen13645 said:


> I am having the same problem.they seem to be in my stacks of honey locus. have been trying different ant baits with little success.



Also having the same problem with honey locust. Their fine till we cut them down. But not from ants. Some kind of white grub


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## hywayman13 (Jul 19, 2009)

sounds like wood bees or carpenter bees(look like Bumble bee) big black and yellow...wont hurt your wood pile ...I've got them after my shed got it lookin like a peg board..I am at war with them and startin to win..They drill perfectly round holes


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## Haywire Haywood (Jul 20, 2009)

Bee's holes will be 3/8 or 1/2"... you've probably got powder post beetles... http://images.google.com/images?q=p...&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&ct=title&resnum=4


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## kstill361 (Jul 20, 2009)

More than likely the locust borer, from what I know, they wont get into your homes framing.

http://preview.tinyurl.com/locustborer


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## avalancher (Jul 20, 2009)

hywayman13 said:


> sounds like wood bees or carpenter bees(look like Bumble bee) big black and yellow...wont hurt your wood pile ...I've got them after my shed got it lookin like a peg board..I am at war with them and startin to win..They drill perfectly round holes




Anyone know of a good way to stop these rascals?I have been dealing with them the past two years, they love to drill holes in the gable ends and the facia boards behind the gutters.I have tried every product in the world to stop them,but nothing works.A monthly thing for me to run around the house with a ladder,kill the ones that I find, fill the holes and touch up the paint.
Anything work to prevent em?


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## Wood Doctor (Jul 20, 2009)

time warp said:


> Stacking more wood today & I notice alot of my wood has saw dust piles on them. Upon further inspection it loooks like holes maybe an 1/8 in. in dia. has been burroughed into the wood. What is this & should I be doing something about it???


I have the same sawdust piles forming here and there. Another common pest is the powder post beatle. It eats about any wood species trying to dry and leaves behind fine sawdust.





Carpenter ants are perhaps more common, but it takes a while for them to establish a colony.


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## England14 (Jul 20, 2009)

So how do you get rid of :censored: powder post beatles?


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## stihlaficionado (Jul 20, 2009)

avalancher said:


> Anyone know of a good way to stop these rascals?I have been dealing with them the past two years, they love to drill holes in the gable ends and the facia boards behind the gutters.I have tried every product in the world to stop them,but nothing works.A monthly thing for me to run around the house with a ladder,kill the ones that I find, fill the holes and touch up the paint.
> Anything work to prevent em?



I'm a painting contractor & have come across this in several homes here in East Central Illinois:All with cedar siding. Most affected areas are fascia boards & eaves. A client of mine contacted the Univer. of Illinois Ag extension service & spoke to an entomologist specializing in carpenter bees.
Evidently, the rough exterior of cedar allows the bees to hang on & for some reason the bees are attracted by stains(latex or oil-based). 

The guy suggested Sevin-5 powder: spray into holes, seal w/caulk. Then prime & paint. NO STAINS.

Mark


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## crowbuster (Jul 20, 2009)

I have killed over 40 carpenter bees this spring with a shotshell load I make for my single action 44 and t/c 45 colt, may not be the most efficient way but has to be the funnest by far, they will bring an old barn down in no time.

C.B.


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## Haywire Haywood (Jul 20, 2009)

I think someone said they gave their grandkids badminton rackets and offered a bounty of 25c each.

Ian


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## stihlaficionado (Jul 20, 2009)

Haywire Haywood said:


> I think someone said they gave their grandkids badminton rackets and offered a bounty of 25c each.
> 
> Ian



I have been on ladders, 20- 25 foot and have had them dive-bomb me as I was applying the Sevin 5...aggressive


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## Haywire Haywood (Jul 20, 2009)

Of course you wouldn't put your grand kids on 25 foot ladders, but the ones I've swatted at weren't that mean... just destructive little buggers.

Ian


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## time warp (Jul 20, 2009)

It definately looks like powder beatles from your pics. I have about a two year supply of wood now so how much damage do you figure these little guys are going to do ???


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## Wood Doctor (Jul 20, 2009)

England14 said:


> So how do you get rid of :censored: powder post beatles?


Melathion will do it if you can find it. However, that stuff stinks so bad for several days that you may think the cure is worse than the disease. Around here the stores can't sell it and only the pros can use it. I bought a gallon of concentrate before it was restricted.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malathion


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## YoungTreeGuy (Jul 20, 2009)

Haywire Haywood said:


> Bee's holes will be 3/8 or 1/2"... you've probably got powder post beetles... http://images.google.com/images?q=p...&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&ct=title&resnum=4



Doesn't look like what we got in our honey locust. It's white grub eating up our honey locust but only when its been cut or damaged and thy have had access to inner layers. I'll post a pic when I got some time around the yard. Not bees... They eat the porch up.


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## Wood Doctor (Jul 20, 2009)

YoungTreeGuy said:


> Doesn't look like what we got in our honey locust. It's white grub eating up our honey locust but only when its been cut or damaged and thy have had access to inner layers. I'll post a pic when I got some time around the yard. Not bees... They eat the porch up.


Locust trees are usually attacked by webworms that form on the outer branches and can get so bad that it makes these trees look like they are surrounded by a cocoon. The worms drop down like Spiderman by the thousands and spead all over the tree's crown. The central Illinois area is notorious for producing millions of webworms that attack all the locust trees. Somehow, the tree usually survives.


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## Kevin in Ohio (Jul 21, 2009)

About 20 years ago we started getting powder post beetles in one of our old barns and they were getting pretty bad. Contacted our local county extension agent and he referred us to a local guy. 

He recommended spraying it ourselves with a backpack sprayer on the effected areas. For the life of me I can't remember if it was soluable boron or borax, but it DID work after 2 applications. Honestly, I think the second application was only needed for the spots we missed. 

Try your county extension agent or maybe search online about it. Exterminators will just want to sell you their services or $$$ product. I apoligize for not knowing which one it is for sure and we used all we got on another barn. I'm guess I'm officially old


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## farm girl (Jul 26, 2009)

I have the same problem with sawdust piles on old pieces of wood. I think it is powder post beetles. I sprayed with Ortho Max two weeks ago. I will spray again this week once we dry out again. I think it helped some but don't totally know.


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## glen13645 (Jul 27, 2009)

YoungTreeGuy said:


> Doesn't look like what we got in our honey locust. It's white grub eating up our honey locust but only when its been cut or damaged and thy have had access to inner layers. I'll post a pic when I got some time around the yard. Not bees... They eat the porch up.


 I have the white grubs to (only in my honey locus).I still think you have carpenter ants.because i also have flying ants on my locust.(carpenter ants??????).


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## Wood Doctor (Jul 27, 2009)

glen13645 said:


> I have the white grubs to (only in my honey locus).I still think you have carpenter ants.because i also have flying ants on my locust.(carpenter ants??????).


Flying ants are winged reproductives of the colony, ready to mate and breed more insects. Even termites have them. It's what keeps them going so they can continue to eat and maintain the species.


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## Split this! (Jul 29, 2009)

I've had the same sawdust piles on the wood in my shed for years too! It doesn't seem to matter what kind of wood either. I haven't tried to get rid of them, they don't seem to eat much, and they seem to burn ok too!! I only keep a days worth of wood in the house, and I haven't seen any problems in the house. I have seen them, their very small, round and black.


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## time warp (Jul 29, 2009)

Yea they're small black & when in flight seem to have a red belly? My wood pile is starting to look like a belt sander went thru it.


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## vwboomer (Jul 30, 2009)

glen13645 said:


> I have the white grubs to (only in my honey locus).I still think you have carpenter ants.because i also have flying ants on my locust.(carpenter ants??????).



I got about a 60' beech this spring that was loaded with white grubs. It was, of course, low density type wood due to rot. I figured they would disappear as people here said these things magically do. 

Looking over my piles today however I noticed a bunch of fine wood powder so maybe they don't all go away. I need all the dry wood I can get (and the piece I tested was about 18%) since my stacking arrangement sucks. The ash I got at the same time is still 25-30%


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## rmh3481 (Jul 30, 2009)

Spray the pile with Diazinon. It works on most everything. Sevin should be ok too.


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## wkpoor (Jul 31, 2009)

> I am having the same problem.they seem to be in my stacks of honey locus. have been trying different ant baits with little success.


Yep me too. More fine power sawdust than you would get from sawing them up. After splitting there is a white grup in there, only in the sap wood, but bigger than the hole in came in from. Mostly in the (terrible) honey locust but a little in other woods too.


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