# Bugs in my firewood?



## sb47 (Aug 4, 2011)

Hello everyone, newbie here with a question.
I have started selling firewood on the side to help with the income.
I have been using wood for heat exclusively for the past 6 years and I love it.
I have about 20 cords stocked up so far and I’m running into a potential problem with bugs getting my wood. After the wood sits for a few months I get holes all in the wood and saw dust all over the place. I know I have found those grub looking worms in the wood when I split it. Some are very small and some are as large as my thumb.
Are these the same bugs drilling holes in my wood?
What are these bugs and can I spray for them with something?

Can someone please help me?

Thanks Dennis


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## 4seasons (Aug 4, 2011)

Sounds like you have hickory. Just about the best firewood you can get but the bugs like it too. Don't worry they wont eat much, just make a mess with all the dust they leave. The pop real good in the fire too. I never worry about bugs in my wood, but the I don't sell a lot either. Spraying sounds like extra trouble and money for something that isn't a big problem. If I am right about hickory keep it for yourself and sell oak to your customers. The customers will be happy with oak and you get the best wood for yourself.


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## sb47 (Aug 4, 2011)

There in all my wood, from the oak to the mesquite. Mostly in the mesquite and pecan but I have them in my red oak and water oak as well but not as bad. Some of the holes are small and some are 1/4” in size. There’s a bunch of them to, and I noticed that they tend to start from the bottom up. I have all my wood stacked on pallets and off the ground but most of it is stacked under some live oak trees. I am moving it out into the open where it can season faster. It’s been so hot and dry this year it’s drying fast. 
I wonder if being under the trees has something to do with it.
And yes some people are complaining about the holes.


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## CTYank (Aug 4, 2011)

Keep the wood as dry as possible- covered loosely on top, so the rains don't get a chance to re-wet it. Doesn't take lots of effort to get the water to drain away from the stack.


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## blacklocst (Aug 4, 2011)

How long does the wood lay on the ground after you split it? the sooner you get it stack & covered the less bugs you'll have. I try to split about a pickup load and stack it right after.


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## J.W Younger (Aug 4, 2011)

When its cut has a lot to do with the bug larvae but when it comes to em eatin the hickory its just what they do.
Them bumble bee lookin bugs are what do the round 3/8ths holes, but they ain't the only thing nawin at my hickory.


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## avalancher (Aug 4, 2011)

sb47 said:


> There in all my wood, from the oak to the mesquite. Mostly in the mesquite and pecan but I have them in my red oak and water oak as well but not as bad. Some of the holes are small and some are 1/4” in size. There’s a bunch of them to, and I noticed that they tend to start from the bottom up. I have all my wood stacked on pallets and off the ground but most of it is stacked under some live oak trees. I am moving it out into the open where it can season faster. It’s been so hot and dry this year it’s drying fast.
> I wonder if being under the trees has something to do with it.
> And yes some people are complaining about the holes.



Customers are complaining about the holes,the bugs, or the sawdust?Big difference.If you are delivering the wood with bugs in the wood, then expect some complaints if the bugs are visible. When loading your truck, grab two pieces of wood, one in each hand, and knock them together and heave em in the truck.Knocks the loose bugs and their sawdust from the wood and customers stay happy.
If they are complaining about the holes themselves, tell them the truth."Folks, you are buying firewood.Firewood has holes in it.It has splinters, bark, barkdust, moss, you name it.If you want lumber, then trot on down to Lowes and get you some 2X4s and cut em up."

For most species, firewood is firewood for a reason.For one reason or another, that chunk of wood was not good enough to be cut, planed, sanded, and kiln dried and made into lumber.


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## sb47 (Aug 4, 2011)

Ok let me paint a better picture so maybe ya’ll can help me nail it down.

The mesquite was cut last summer, and it was thrown onto a trailer within 20-30 minuets after I cut it. Then the next day I split the wood as I unloaded it and through it in a pile on the ground until I got most if not all of it split. It laid on the ground no more then a day or two before I stacked it on a pallet and covered it with a tarp. It has stayed covered the whole time.

The pecan came from a large tree that was in my yard and I had to take it down for safety reasons. It was cut and split within a week and stacked on a pallet and covered.

The oak I get comes from a tree company that brings it to me for free when they cut good oak trees down in people’s yard. They only bring me good healthy wood that was living before it was cut. I don’t except any dead or rotted wood unless there is just very little of it in the load. 

The oak is brought in huge pieces from 12” to 60” in diameter and I cut it to length and pile it up close to my splitter. Then I split a cord or so or until the pile is to big and then I stack it on a pallet in a single stack and let it cure for a month or so then I move it to an open area and stack it on pallets in a double row and cover it with a tarp to keep the rain off.
From the time I receive the wood till I get it split and stacked is about a week. So it doesn’t sit on the ground very long. 

Some pieces only have a few holes in it but there some pieces in my mesquite pile that is full of holes.
It’s not carpenter bees or termites. It must be one or two of these beetles. 

I found this:
Insects in Firewood - How to Manage Insects in Firewood - Invasive Insects in Firewood
Insects in Firewood - How to Manage Insects in Firewood - Invasive Insects in Firewood 

Thanks for the help!


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## dingeryote (Aug 4, 2011)

sb47 said:


> Hello everyone, newbie here with a question.
> I have started selling firewood on the side to help with the income.
> I have been using wood for heat exclusively for the past 6 years and I love it.
> I have about 20 cords stocked up so far and I’m running into a potential problem with bugs getting my wood. After the wood sits for a few months I get holes all in the wood and saw dust all over the place. I know I have found those grub looking worms in the wood when I split it. Some are very small and some are as large as my thumb.
> ...



For an overall GP Bug nuke, that has a large margin of safety for people and critters, it's hard to beat Tempo if the bugs are spreading to nearby buildings and becoming a PITA.
http://www.gemplers.com/docs/manual/192043MANUAL.pdf

Problem is, with 20 cord, you'll be reapplying in a couple weeks for a different Bug, and then another.

If the bug is causing a real problem nuke 'em now, but take stock of what is actually bieng lost or not if you don't.
It's firewood. Bugs will move in no matter what you do.

Stay Safe!
Dingeryote


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## Hedgerow (Aug 4, 2011)

Most likely you have these... They love most woods, but most of all, Locust, Hickory, Hackberry, Mullberry and their treat De'joure'???PECAN!!! they can fly, so there's nothing you can do to keep them out of the wood pile. Though some have tried spraying a salt solution on the wood pile before seasoning and before the bugs get rocking. Sorry brother... Living in Houston, you're gonna have bugs. I'm sure there's a spray you can use, but I don't know what the drawbacks of burning bug spray in a fireplace might be, so I would shy away from it till you had some solid info about it... Stupid bugs....:msp_mad:


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## JimmyT (Aug 4, 2011)

Last winter I had 2 cords of white oak and 2 cords of red oak side by side and both were covered with a tarp. The powder post beetles were turning the billets into a fine sawdust so fast I didn't think that I was going to have a chance to burn it. They never touched the red oak.


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## Iron man (Aug 4, 2011)

Bugs are weird.I usually let my bullets sit around sometimes almost a year before I get around to splitting them.If they end up bark side on the ground little black ants start eating the bark.If they end up cut side down termites are found.When I split them the bugs mostly scatter off and don't cause a problem.The infestations or nest get burned in the pit.


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## sb47 (Aug 5, 2011)

Personally I don’t care or worry about the bugs or the sawdust. But customers do complain, mostly the ones using it for smoking wood. Funny how they will saturate one stack and leave another alone.

Anyway thanks for the help everyone. 

Take care!
Dennis


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## SPDRMNKY (Aug 6, 2011)

I call em' wood-borers, though that's not correct I'm sure...this year they're in my hedge and hackberry...last year they were just in the hackberry...they burn just fine  by the time I get to the back of the rows (in March) there's about 1/4" of dust on most of the pieces

perhaps this is a marketing opportunity for you...you might be the only guy in town who's selling...

*NATURALLY AERATED ENVIRONMENTALLY SUSTAINABLE CARBON NEUTRAL ORGANIC SEASONED FIREWOOD!!!*

obviously allowing the bugs to eat some of the wood lessens your carbon footprint, the sawdust they make is an ethically sustainable mulch product, the tunnels aid in drying out the wood (and so keep creosote down), and not killing the little vermin with pesticides makes your firewood organic

you little environmental champion you...:msp_thumbup:

cheers!

ps-1% of gross if you use this marketing plan :hmm3grin2orange:


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