Black Ants

[aprophet2]

Hey all - new guy here. I'm wondering if any of you treat your cord wood for ants / other bugs. I just brought in a load of wood that has a few hollow, very buggy logs in there. This is in my backyard and I'm already loaded with ants this summer. I'm having trouble keeping them out of the house with all the poison & baits at my disposal. I've never sprayed my firewood directly ( just perimeter around woodsheds, etc post processing). I'm looking for opinions on spraying 7 or something similar directly onto the wood. It will be outside for another 6-12 months but I'll be handling it etc, then ultimately burning it in my home around my family. Safe or not? Thanks

 

[Ash_403]

I've never had a problem with black ants (or other bugs) in my firewood.
I cut/split/stack (most always sound, decent hardwood). Wood is stacked, off the ground, on treated 2x4 racks that I screwed together. I leave the firewood uncovered for at least 6 months. Top cover it after that. The stacked wood stays dry, for the most part. No bugs get into it.
That particular wood sits about 2 years before I burn it.

 

[buzz sawyer]

Let me guess - Cherry or Maple?
As long as you are not going to cook over it (hot dogs, s'mores, etc.) or inhale the smoke, I don't think there would be a problem. You might call the mfg.
Wash your hands after handling before and after it dries.
Sevin usually works for me.

 

[Mad Professor]

Spray perimeter of the pile with permethrin.

Works on house foundations too

 

[aprophet2]

Let me guess - Cherry or Maple?
As long as you are not going to cook over it (hot dogs, s'mores, etc.) or inhale the smoke, I don't think there would be a problem. You might call the mfg.
Wash your hands after handling before and after it dries.
Sevin usually works for me.

Actually all my carpenter ant infested (firewood) logs are red oak. I tend to cut a lot of standing dead wood. I have problems with them in the white pines growing on my property too. I just dropped a giant pine this spring that was badly infested - I had no idea. The chickens went crazy on that stump for days!

 

[LogSawyer74]

Before I built a wood shed, I used to stack my firewood outside on a pallets. I had a few ricks that were full of the large black carpenter ants. I covered everything in thick (like 4 mil I think) black visqueen and wrapped it up pretty good. Here in Oklahoma, it's regularly 100 outside during July and August. I checked under the visqueen a few times on a really hot 100 degree day and it was like 150 under there. Got rid of the carpenter ant problem really quick.

 

[Jhenderson]

Splitting the wood denies the ants a home. They’ll vacate as soon as their tunnels are opened up. There are already far more insects on your property than you know. The few in your wood will disperse As soon as your wood is split.

 

[svk]

It’s a big year for ants.

Get the big bag of outdoor granules. Do a ring of all of your buildings and your woodpile. Make sure you read the directions as some of the products need to be hit with a little water to activate.

If you see any flare ups or have a piece of wood that’s infested hit it with spray. They normally vacate once wood is split but sometimes they don’t.

 

[husqvarna257]

Once the wood is starting to dry they leave. Like Jhenderson said when it gets split they are gone. I split lots of maple a few years ago when the were dropping old trees near the road that were dying . I had black ant plague going on, huge piles of them all over the split wood. I never saw any of them in the dry wood. I never saw them in the ground near the splitter after an hour or so. Figured they had a huge ant war that killed all of them.

 

[al-k]

You need more chickens. LOL

 

[LogSawyer74]

I’ve cut quite a few Oak trees around my place that look perfectly healthy. But once I have the tree down, you can see a pretty good sized hollowed out black tunnel that goes right thru the middle of the tree. Amazes me how well the tree adapts

 

[U&A]

You store the wood in the house?

How are the Antz getting in there?


If so consider keeping the wood outside but coverd until it can go directly in the stove.

Our wood sometimes is full of bugs or ants but we have one of those Big plastic patio boxes that we put wood in by the front door outside on the deck.

then we will bring about half a load in an hour or so before it’s time to burn it just to warm it up a tad. Then fill in the rest with stuff that’s cold from outside.

No bugs in the house.

Wood pile stays far from the house so no worries of bugs by the house.


Sent while firmly grasping my redline lubed RAM [emoji231]

 

[U&A]

We also have TONS of garter snakes around because of the swamp land.

When they start appearing it’s funny how all of the bugs in the wood pile almost completely disappear.

Yum yum
Eat them up mr snake.

When possible mother nature has a way to take care of herself


Sent while firmly grasping my redline lubed RAM [emoji231]