# How to control ants in the wood pile?



## fields_mj (Jun 26, 2012)

Hey guys, looking for some suggestions. I'm finally to the point where I'm 2~3 years ahead on my cutting. I'm in the middle of putting some gravel down to stack wood on. I've got 2 tons down now, and I plan on getting 2 more tons on the way home to finish leveling it out. That will give me about 3" of gravel, 6' wide x 30+ feet wide. I've got about 4 cords to stack on it (plus room to stack what I cut from here on out). I've got another 6 stacked elsewhere on the property. I've noticed that I get a fair amount of red ants in it, and I'm looking for some suggestions of something that I could put down, or spray on to help get rid of them. I haul it into the house/basement about 1/3 ~ 1/2 cord at a time as I need it in the winter, and I'd like to minimize how many of those little buggers I bring into the house. 

Thanks,
Mark


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## Steve2910 (Jun 26, 2012)

Never had an ant problem in my woodpile... Have had ants in a log, but they vacate after the wood is split.


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## 7sleeper (Jun 26, 2012)

When moving wood I just knock two pieces together and they are clean again. So I never cared much about ants, although I do admit that I don't bring in that amount of wood.

7


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## Boomhower (Jun 26, 2012)

Bayer advanced fire ant killer works great.


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## Dan_IN_MN (Jun 26, 2012)

Oh.,...you're trying to keep them out of your wood pile!

Here I thought you were trying to figure out how to get them to cut and stack wood! :hmm3grin2orange:

Not too much of a problem here in the North.


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## Mad Professor (Jun 27, 2012)

Mix up a slurry of boric acid and sugar, put it in an old tuna fish can in the woodpile. The ants will eat it bring it home and kill the nest(s).


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## 1969cj-5 (Jun 27, 2012)

Seven Dust.


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## fields_mj (Jun 27, 2012)

manyhobies said:


> Oh.,...you're trying to keep them out of your wood pile!
> 
> Here I thought you were trying to figure out how to get them to cut and stack wood! :hmm3grin2orange:
> 
> Not too much of a problem here in the North.



Well, that wasn't my plan, but if you have a way to get them to do that, I'm all ears! LOL


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## greendohn (Jun 27, 2012)

I've had good results using liquid "seven" in my sprayer. I recently bought a bottle of "Bayer" brand I've mixed up.
I mix it per instructions,,and then some, and spray copious amounts of it all over the place.
I also spray a 2-3 ft. perimeter around the wood.
I would repeat every now and then if your wood is out doors.


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## Somesawguy (Jun 27, 2012)

Mad Professor said:


> Mix up a slurry of boric acid and sugar, put it in an old tuna fish can in the woodpile. The ants will eat it bring it home and kill the nest(s).



This has worked wonders for me.


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## Blazin (Jun 27, 2012)

Ant Problem? Terro = Ant Control Solutions


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## D&B Mack (Jun 27, 2012)

I use terro (ant paint) and sevin (powder) as preventative measures. However, I have found the best way to keep them out period is to keep plenty of air in between rounds. If you are stacking don't stack numerous rows tight to one another. If you have it in a pile, you will have to move the pile around (mix it up). It takes ants a while to set up shop. If you have rounds with ants already in them, typically they will vacate once the rounds are split.


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## Dale (Jun 27, 2012)

I don't have an ant problem and the reason, I believe, is because I have a horrible Snake problem. Have seen 13, yes 13, sunning on the top of my pile at one time. :msp_angry: Wanna trade problems ? :msp_sneaky:


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## fields_mj (Jun 27, 2012)

Dale said:


> I don't have an ant problem and the reason, I believe, is because I have a horrible Snake problem. Have seen 13, yes 13, sunning on the top of my pile at one time. :msp_angry: Wanna trade problems ? :msp_sneaky:



No thanks! I normally see one or two black snakes a year up close to the house. I try to relocate them without killing them cause they do such a good job of keeping the mice away. 13 is too many though. Only seen one little green snake (about 12" long) on the deck this year. Not sure where the black snakes have gone off to. 

I'm going to try the boric acid and sugar. The firewood that I will be stacking here has been left in rounds for longer storage. Basically, if I could lift it into the truck, I left it that way. Most of these ants are just under the bark, so once the bark falls off, the problem may take care of itself. The acid and sugar sounds like a pretty easy way to deal with them though. 

Thanks,
Mark


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## ShaneLogs (Jun 27, 2012)

NUKE EM! :hmm3grin2orange:


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## fields_mj (Jun 27, 2012)

ShaneLogs said:


> NUKE EM! :hmm3grin2orange:



Too far to reach with an extension cord to get the microwave out there...


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## ShaneLogs (Jun 27, 2012)

fields_mj said:


> Too far to reach with an extension cord to get the microwave out there...



Hahaha! Just put a bunch of ant killer powder in there then put a black tarp and wrap it up tight on the wood so it bakes them out! :msp_sneaky:


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## BrokenToys (Jun 27, 2012)

1969cj-5 said:


> Seven Dust.


<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/SMx2dFjXpJ0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
They get rid of ants? Time to crank it up and get rid of the neighbors too !!


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## tenthplanet (Sep 18, 2012)

Carpenter ants have a main colony and set up satellite colonies. The main colony may be in the woodpile or elsewhere. Why take a chance with your home? Haul off the wood pile. If there is evidence of termites, drench the soil with termiticide. If it's just carpenter ants, treat the soil with an ant bait which will be carried into the colony and possibly to satellite colonies where it will kill ants. 

Repair of damaged wood without treating for carpenter ants will not eliminate the carpenter ants from structures. The colony may be located in a wall void or in the attic. Finding and destroying nests is best. Carpenter ants are most active at night. If you have ants inside the home, you can put a dab of honey on a piece of paper. After they eat the honey, follow them back to the nest. They may disappear behind baseboard or cabinets or door or window frame. If inside a wall void, drill holes and puff in boric acid powder. You may follow the ants to a nest outdoors. Inspect around foundation at night for carpenter ant activity. You can use the honey trick to follow them to the nest. 

A regular perimeter residual insecticide treatment of foundation and surrounding area tends to keep most insects at bay. If carpenter ant nests are not located and destroyed, the ants will continue to be a problem.

Read more: Carpenter Ant Control, Carpenter Ant Killer, Carpenter Ant Products


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## mellow (Sep 18, 2012)

Good thread, I have ant's in my woodpile as well. My problem is I have a catalytic stove so putting any chemicals on the wood itself is a no go. The wood has to be moved to its final destination closer to the house in a few weeks so I am going to try and spray a barrier around the racks and try the sugar/acid in a bowl trick.

Got a bunch of this in my stacks: View attachment 253335


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## TonyK (Sep 18, 2012)

Mad Professor said:


> Mix up a slurry of boric acid and sugar, put it in an old tuna fish can in the woodpile. The ants will eat it bring it home and kill the nest(s).



+2 I use honey and boric acid for ants and it works great. As for snakes I actually catch them and put then in the woodpile to control the mice. We don't have any poisonous snakes around here so in they go. When I relocate a pile I keep a bucket with a lid and when the wood moves so do the snakes.


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## John R (Sep 19, 2012)

The ants that are in my wood pile go dormant in the winter, I revive them by throwing the ant infested wood in the OWB, the heat makes them think it's summer again.


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## mountainmandan (Sep 20, 2012)

While I do not like ants in my home, I would try less invasive methods first to see if you can avoid the pesticides. Most of your problem should be taken care of by having the wood split and dry. When wood is dry insects cannot eat the wood, or it is much more difficult, and they tend to move along. 

For example, a hickory I cut last winter was being chewed up badly by some unidentified insect. I dug into that stack a couple of weeks ago to load up for a delivery, and said to myself, " I remember this tree." So I looked carefully over each piece, and it shown no signs of recent activity by bugs. 

I think the wood dried out and it got too hard to chew. 

I do have the most impressive fence lizard population I have ever seen. They are fat and happy when I bring home some hollow oak full of carpenter ants. Once the wood is split and dried for a few months, I cannot find ants in the pile. The only place is if I leave a round that is hollow in contact with the ground. 

Before using super chemicals, ask yourself if the tradeoff of unknown long term affects to people in your house and downstream from your runoff are worth the annoyance that the ants bring. No one can answer that for you, that is a personal risk assessment. 

Dan


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## fields_mj (Sep 20, 2012)

mountainmandan said:


> While I do not like ants in my home, I would try less invasive methods first to see if you can avoid the pesticides. Most of your problem should be taken care of by having the wood split and dry. When wood is dry insects cannot eat the wood, or it is much more difficult, and they tend to move along.
> 
> For example, a hickory I cut last winter was being chewed up badly by some unidentified insect. I dug into that stack a couple of weeks ago to load up for a delivery, and said to myself, " I remember this tree." So I looked carefully over each piece, and it shown no signs of recent activity by bugs.
> 
> ...




Most of the ants that I see are not carpenter ants, but red ants that are mostly under the bark. Not a huge deal, but a general anoyance. I do get a few carpenter ants now and then from hollow rounds. When I take them in the house, I make sure they go in the furnace first. My house was built with a load chute to the basement for getting the firewood down there. Only thing the original owner did right. I'll set those pieces aside, then go down and stack what I've just put in the basement, and throw the problem pieces in afterwards, sometimes the next day. From there they pretty much go straight into the wood burner. 

I like the sugar/honey and acid idea. Keeps the nasty stuff where you want it, in the ants. I didn't want to have to spray the woodpile down with anything because A) I don't think its very effective, B) I don't like the idea of handling firwood that's covered with nasty chemicals, and C) I don't like the idea of my wife/kids handling it either. 

Thanks for the replys.


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## haveawoody (Sep 20, 2012)

IMO .. If you have ants you have damp in your woodpile.
Only real solution is to stack it better and get a clear top cover to shed the bulk of rain/snow but allow light through.
Make it dry and they will die or they will go find a better home.

I agree...If you treat the ants with a poision you are treating the wood you burn and handle.
As a sprayed chemical it might be semi safe for humans, but that chemical burning as you pop in another log or just the wood sitting in the living room in a non ventelated area?

Got a picture of your woodpile?


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## fubar2 (Sep 20, 2012)

I like hearing them snap and crackle when they fry. The only suggestion I have is an Anteater.


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## tenthplanet (Apr 24, 2013)

brokentoys said:


> <iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/smx2dfjxpj0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
> they get rid of ants? Time to crank it up and get rid of the neighbors too !!




ahahaha!


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## woodchuck357 (Apr 24, 2013)

Boric acid is cheap, effective, not harmful to pets and kids and easy to use. Mix with peanut butter for carpenter ants, with sweet stuff or grease for the tiny ones, and with potted meat or blended up crickets, grass hoppers for fire ants.

Pressure cook spruce sticks in a saturate solution and pound them into the ground to kill termites.


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## tld400 (Apr 24, 2013)

I dont have ants in the wood pile but I do have a ton of the big black ants in a load of oak I just got. They looked kind of dormant when I split a few rounds. I dont think they realy stay stay in a dry stacked split wood pile. The only thing in my pile is them dam wood roaches but they are supposed to die after a few days in house.


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## ft. churchill (Apr 24, 2013)

I use diatomatious earth powder. It gets into the ants joints and cuts them open. It's non toxic and pet safe. No chemicals either. I've also heard of the boric acid, but I've never used it.


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## chadjacobs (Apr 24, 2013)

Chickens...... My chickens just wait for the splitter to run. They know that there are some tasty bugs for dinner. They also crawl all over my wood piles. They really do a good job of cleaning up.


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## ptjeep (Apr 24, 2013)

2 days after sprinkling seven dust. Dead SOB!


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## nixon (Apr 24, 2013)

I wear my aardvark outfit . Scares the crap out of the little buggers . The downside is that it's warm ,and I have to wear logging suspenders with it . YMMV .


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## bushy79 (Jun 6, 2013)

defo try the diatomaceous earth, get food grade, not pool grade, mix with your fave ant bait, lots already listed. works. always. is safe as and cheap too. oh and jam mixed with it seems to work on the little tiny ones and the huge nasty inch ants too.


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## nathon918 (Jun 6, 2013)

nixon said:


> I wear my aardvark outfit . Scares the crap out of the little buggers . The downside is that it's warm ,and I have to wear logging suspenders with it . YMMV .



where in the hell does/did one (you) get an aardvark outfit?


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## Milkweed Seed (Jun 6, 2013)

You need to drink copious amounts of beer and piss around the stacks. If that fails burn the wood guaranteed to get ride of them....


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## TreeTangler (Jun 6, 2013)

chadjacobs said:


> Chickens...... My chickens just wait for the splitter to run. They know that there are some tasty bugs for dinner. They also crawl all over my wood piles. They really do a good job of cleaning up.



Now that's a great idea. Those things love ants and they don't taste so bad themselves!


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## Milkweed Seed (Jun 6, 2013)

TreeTangler said:


> Now that's a great idea. Those things love ants and they don't taste so bad themselves!


Yeah yeah yeah... Then you got to deal with chicken skat all over the place.


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