What do you all do, if anything about carpenter ants in your wood pile?
sent from a field
sent from a field
Carpenter ants
- Thread starter CaseyForrest
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mu2bdriver
ArboristSite Guru
Is there much rot in that wood? The center piss yellow area. I've only had that problem with nasty pieces of rotted or pitted wood that I shouldn't have stacked and all I've ever done was throw the offending piece of wood out and the ants never migrated to any other pieces.
Yes, they are living in the center that is rotted. There isn't much rot, I just don't want them migrating to the rest of the wood.
Or is that even an issue?
sent from a field
Or is that even an issue?
sent from a field
Makes good firewood but they can easily infest wooden buildings and be a REAL serious pest and do serious damage.
HuskStihl
Chairin'em for the sound
Usually not. Carpenter ants (antis carpentericus) don't eat wood, they just nest/tunnel in rotten wood. Pitch the bad and they'll prolly vacate.
remduck1
ArboristSite Operative
Cyonara 9.7 insecticide.
mu2bdriver
ArboristSite Guru
What HS said. I've never had any issues with them after chucking the junk wood.
If they came in with the wood I spray the infested areas. If it is local ants moving into the woodpile I put down dust where they are coming in.
They came in with the wood and don't seem to want to spread. Ill probably keep a bottle of insecticide nearby and spot treat as needed.
Erik B
ArboristSite Guru
Once the pieces of wood that housed the ants dries, they seem to disappear. They don't like dry wood.
I don't know, I've had ant infested ash dry for multiple years and they are still in the wood when you bring it in.
Full Chisel
Slingin' Stihls and runnin' Huskies
I cut a black locust earlier this summer that was hollow and housed thousands of HUGE carpenter ants and eggs. They were just pouring out of the grain end when cut. When I split it they seemed to move out. Other than the very center the rest of the wood was solid.
I just had hundreds of them in some one year old large Poplar rounds I had up on pine logs at the side of my property.
I got to splitting them to sell for campfire wood this year and lots of large carpenter ants made homes inside three large 26" rounds.
No need for insecticides, just pull the rounds out and split them up or try to split all of the pieces and get them dry.
They will only inhabit damp or wet wood and love the wood that's on the ground.(sometimes a dryer home is found, but usually wetter wood is preferred)
Oh, and by the way, those ones in the pic are tiny. Mine were huge at almost 2" long. Lots of eggs and young larvae in there too.
I got to splitting them to sell for campfire wood this year and lots of large carpenter ants made homes inside three large 26" rounds.
No need for insecticides, just pull the rounds out and split them up or try to split all of the pieces and get them dry.
They will only inhabit damp or wet wood and love the wood that's on the ground.(sometimes a dryer home is found, but usually wetter wood is preferred)
Oh, and by the way, those ones in the pic are tiny. Mine were huge at almost 2" long. Lots of eggs and young larvae in there too.
When I split the wood they come scrambling out. They are thirsty so they get a glug of chainsaw mix. The ones that try to crawl away get crushed. The wood that gets stacked is usually insect free.
fiasco
ArboristSite Operative
After replacing most of the (poorly waterproofed) rim joist on my house, any firewood that has ants in is an excuse for an immediate campfire. Get the fire going and throw the infested logs on the pile! Muahhahahahaha.
Fred Wright
Addicted to ArboristSite
We've had good luck with Sevin dust; it takes a couple days to wipe out carpenter ant nests. Sevin will work indefinitely as long as it doesn't get wet. Boric acid will kill 'em, too.
The ants in your splits likely have a satellite colony. There's no queen but they continue to occupy the space anyway. They will leave when the wood dries. I've placed ant infested splits on the stacks with the rest for years. They disappear when their home dries out.
The ants in your splits likely have a satellite colony. There's no queen but they continue to occupy the space anyway. They will leave when the wood dries. I've placed ant infested splits on the stacks with the rest for years. They disappear when their home dries out.
I did see and kill the queen. Figured the rest would wander aimlessly and die of hunger.
One can hope.
sent from a field
One can hope.
sent from a field
GrassGuerilla
Olympic Piss-reving wanna be.
Do you spray seasonally? I'm using Bifen IT around the perimeter of the house and buildings. Get it through domyownpestcontrol.com
I initially bought it for mosquito control. It really knocked down the Mosquitos well and in reading the other insects it works for decided to give it a shot. Very cost effective, and we got our patio back.
I initially bought it for mosquito control. It really knocked down the Mosquitos well and in reading the other insects it works for decided to give it a shot. Very cost effective, and we got our patio back.
I use wisdom tc which is a 7.9% bifenthrin concentrate. Knocks everything down but I use it for mosquitos. To expensive to knock down the errant ant so I'll keep a can of rtu aerosol spray with the splitter.
sent from a field
sent from a field
GrassGuerilla
Olympic Piss-reving wanna be.
Point (that I failed to make) was that I done worry in the slightest about them. If the buggers decide to try to invade the house, shed or barn, they're gonna die.
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