Somethings eatin my white pine

[SAW MILLER]

I'm standing there by my 15,000 b.f. of white pine logs and I thought I heard a squirrel cutting so I get a little closer to the sound . Thats when I realize that the sound is in my pile of logs and I see sawdust piles here and there under the logs.I put my ear to the log and I can actually here bugs or something chewing my logs up!!
    Must be wood borer bees >:(
  Is there something I can spray on to stop them?

[mike_van]

Great big fat white grubs -  Start sawing tomorrow - They really like white pine!  >:(  I don't know a spray that will work, as they are inside the logs now.  A Sawyer Beetle layed eggs in the bark in the early summer, they hatched into little grubs, that grow & grow & grow.  Only prevention I know of [before they're infested] is sawing them, de-barking the logs or keeping them wet [pond, sprinkler, etc]   

[Tom]

More than likely what you are hearing is flat-head or round-head borers.  known as Sawyers, they attack downed and dead trees where they lay eggs in a depression in the bark.  The larvae will feed on the cambium beneath the bark and then turn inward to bore a 3/8 or 1/2 hole about 4-6 inches into the log and terminate it in a "J".  The larvae pupates there and then emerges later as a large beetle with antennae that look to be as large horns curled over its head and back.

The are a common sight around a wood yard.  Insecticides only kill the adults before they can lay the eggs.  

The best thing to do is saw the logs ASAP.  

If you can't get to them right away, remove the bark and get the logs off of the ground.

Still, sawing quickly is necessary.

The larvae will usually all be removed by the slab.

Unlike a Powder post beetle, or the like,  Borers don't continue to eat wood.  They are only after a place to pupate and, though the hole might be unsightly, it usually doesn't harm the strength of the lumber too much.  Many barns are built with borer holes in them.  Once the borer is gone, he is gone...  not to return.

[Dave Shepard]

I remember the first time I heard those little buggers. I think that they were working in tandem as the boring never stopped, but every once in a while a little pile of sawdust would drop out of a hole in the log. I kept picturing a big bug chewing up the wood and another bulldozing it to the hole when he got a full load. :D : Maybe my imagination is a little too overactive.

Dave

[WDH]

Tom,

Do ambrosia beetles (Platypus spp.) infest freshly killed white pine logs like they do the southern yellow pines?

[getoverit]

I had an infestation of those things when I had a large pile of pine in my log yard. When it was still and quiet, you could hear them chewing away from quite a distance!

The adult beetle looks like an elongated stink bug to me with long canelevered antennae that point backwards as Tom suggests. They can invade logs in a hurry and leave their tell-tale holes everywhere. I have no clue how many eggs an adult lays on a log, but it must be a bunch of them!

I'll second what Tom says about them leaving in a hurry when you saw the wood. Seems like it is almost instantly and there is no further infestation once they are gone. Most people are afraid of the lumber with holes though.... I guess they think it is wood borers or termites. I cant see where it caused any structural damage to the lumber, just a visual thing.

Saw them quickly!

[thecfarm]

It's the same way here too.I get them in the limbs when I cut the trees down.The logs I sell to a big sawmill operation.They do make a noise.I've noticed the sawdust coming out of the wood before.Them critters must have some teeeth on them. Almost like potato bugs,they can find the food they like no matter where the source is.

[Joel Eisner]

I had these come out of a timber in the lower level of our house after we closed it in.  They ate through a whole series of pex tubing that had already been pressure tested a few months before.  It caused a nice rain shower on the concrete floor at about 6 spots.  They boared a perfect pencil sized hole into the pex.

[jpgreen]

Just found a nest of subterrainian termites in mine..  :

[metalspinner]

I remember reading somewhere that the modern chainsaw chain was inspired by the mouthparts of these borers.  A fella sitting on a log was observing these things munching away then had  the "big idea."  Was this Mr. Stihl?  can't remember where I had read that. :P

[metalspinner]

Here's the story...

http://www.oregonchain.com/company/history.htm

[Tom]

Do ambrosia beetles (Platypus spp.) infest freshly killed white pine

http://eppserver.ag.utk.edu/pat/wdo/text2.html
http://www.bugwood.org/gfcbook/bbandw.html

"Ambrosia beetles attack most tree species. The beetles target very weakened, dying trees, green logs, and unseasoned lumber. The beetles will only attack trees and logs with high moisture content."

There are 198 species of Scolytidae in North America. Many of these bark Beetles depend on a symbiotic relationship with an ambrosia fungus.  Some Bark beetles will attack a weakened tree, most of the ambrosia beetles attack a moist log of an already killed tree.

What is important to gather is that Ambrosia beetles are not generally blamed for the primary cause of death of a tree.

Platypodidae, containing Ambrosia beetles, indicate no specificity toward most trees and conifers appear to be favored.

My knowledge is ancient and my recent study has been oriented about Internet Articles.  While I'll have to say that I don't know, I think that white pine suffers just as greatly from Platypus as Southern Yellow Pine.   Perhaps there is a grace offered by geography, in that most white pine is found in colder climates, but relatively speaking, I would surmise that they have little specificity.

Having said that, there are articles that claim that the identification of the beetle can be made by fungus it has growing in its tunnels.

P. mutatus, on the other hand, is associated with being the primary killer of trees. To our benefit, they are only found in Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay.  ...so far

[WDH]

In 1979 as I began the first job in my career as a timber appraiser, there was a terrible southern pine beetle epidemic.  The beetles had built up high populations and were killing significant acreage in a moving wave of infestation.  Naturally, many landowners were trying to salvage their timber.

The SPB would attack, and on their coat-tails, the ambrosia bettles followed, carrying the blue stain fungus with them.  As we salvaged, even infected trees with green to yellowish tops, the lumber produced already had blue stain, even hardly before the tree knew it was dead.  You could cruise through the stands and hear the ambrosia beetles chomping away.  It was surreal. 

[Tom]

I remember those years, following your description.  The Ocala National Forest was dying as if a pox had been applied to the land.  Second hand, I  heard that there was a new bark beetle that was attacking from the crown, down.  The only forest saving technique known was to cut the dead trees and those within a 100 yards of the infestation.  It was blamed on drought stressing the trees.  I don't know about the "new" beetle, but this drought certainly opens us up to more insect devastation.

Some folks think it is only the drought that stresses the trees.  The lack of water may be handled by the trees and then the sudden onslaught of rain will stress them.  I sure wish we knew more about what we know.   I also wish that the media would consider a constant reporting of forestry health, without being inflammatory.   The public needs to be aware. Education creates interest.  Interest allows good management.

[WDH]

I think that Ips are the culprits that attack the tree up in the crown.  They can be bad too, but not as virulent as the SPB (southern pine beetle).  Back when it was so bad, the Ips killed in spots, and the SPB killed in acres .  On younger plantations, we used to push up trees in a border like you said around the infestation with a bulldozer to try and stop them.

For sure, the media could do more to educate people, but they tend to sensationalize things.

[SwampDonkey]

In my area I notice the flat headed borers, such as the buprestidae family, attach hardwood and the round headed borers like the sawyer beetle attack softwoods.

On clearcuts or any log yard with softwood logs around any length of time, the sawyer beetle larvae are busy chewing away. And the nasty adult buggers can bite to.  Although, they are not aggressive like a deer fly or anything. If you stand near a spruce log pile at a landing, even a fresh one, you can see the adult sawyers honing in on the pile.  :