Looking for the life story of White Pine grubs - Anyone?

[mike_van]

Can anyone fill me in on the pine grubs in logs? Like,  what lays the eggs, what the grubs turn into or where they go after they've bored up your logs? 

[Texas Ranger]

There are a bunch of different borers that hit trees, these might be them.



The young adult beetles pass the winter in pupal chambers about 1/4 to 1/2 inch below the surface of the wood.  Emergence occurs ealry in the spring during late February and early March (dates vary), at about the time pawpaws blooom.  The newly emerged beetles feed on the pine needles for about a month before mating and ovipositing.  The females deposit their eggs in checks, cracks, or crevices of dry exposed wood.  The eggs hatch in  a few days, and the larvae immediately bore into the wood.  the time required to complete a generation is 3 or  more years.

[tcsmpsi]

Noisy little buggers, they are. 

Gotta stay somewhat friendly with them though, lest they commence to an uprising.

OK.  Ok.  I was just taking a little short break and having a cup. 

Going back to the paperwork, now.

[Radar67]

Here is a picture of one I found recently.



Stew

[mike_van]

More of a log grub than in living trees. I've had them before, pine logs in the summertime.  These were all nice,  i've got 15 or so left, I peeled the bark off, [pretty loose]  just under it were a few different types of grubs where there were none  a month ago.  Some in "nests", a few had started into the log.  What I was wondering was  where they all hatched from?

[SwampDonkey]

The sawyer beetle is another nasty bugger, and he can bite to. He is what they call a round headed borer.

White pine sawyer beetle PDF Document.

There are also ambrosia, which are tiny, that make galleries to grow fungi they eat. Then there are bark beetles that make galleries just under the bark.

Then there are carpenter ants and bees that doen't eat wood, they just make galleries for their nest.

You can do a google search on them and find tons of info off USFS and University sites.

[mike_van]

Good link Swampdonkey - Thank you - I've never seen the beetle, only the grubs. 

[SwampDonkey]

Mike if you sit on a pile of logs with bark still attached and the pile has been sittin there for several weeks you'll see the buggers coming and going around the pile. Mostly what I see are jet black ones and they have long antenae. You can here munch munch in the wood pile. Them suckers got big mandibles.

[jkj]

I was looking at a pile of pine last evening and I could hear the borers at work under the bark!  Every foot or three up each log, ...scritch..scritch..., ...scritch..scritch.... ...scritch..scritch.., regular, just like clockwork.  I guess I'd better saw them soon.

JKJ

[johnjbc]

Those look like what is eating my Hickory  >:(. They eat some pine but seem to like the Hickory better. There are pictures of them in reply 21 of this post
https://forestryforum.com/board/index.php?topic=5358.20

[Chris Burchfield]

I have an Uncle in Baton Rouge who started and operated two big mills. I asked him about the pine beetle. He said you need to saw the logs within 10 days of fellin or keep em under a water cannon till your ready. I asked about poison, he said I could, then thought better of it with the thought of saw dust flying.

[Stephen1]

From what I have read they will reproduce as long as they find new bark or fresh pine tress to grow in. I  have a bunch of logs I got cheap to make benches out of as they were full of borers. I peeled all the bark and burned it, sawed some and had to blast the grubs out of the tunnels with compressed air. The logs I left over winter seems to have froze the grubs and no trouble this spring. Anything I have sawn this spring has no new activity but I have blasted a few dead grubs out of the wood. People like the benches because of the stressed look with the holes and tunnels thru it.  I only keep the clean wood for my own.

[Swede]

I sawed wet softwood logs from the storm Jan. -05 some weeks ago. The air was full of black flying bugs soon as I started the sawmill. Many of them flew inside my clothes and bite me. Others landed in my hair and started to work downwards.

Perhaps I need to talk to a doctor about it.  :

Swede

[UNCLEBUCK]

I guess from what I have seen I have left bark on for months and sometimes taken the bark off asap .  I like worm lines in cabin logs etc..

I hope someday everyone trys the product I believe in called "organiclear" spray it on in a pump up garden sprayer . Poke it in one hole and watch it squirt out 10 feet down the log in cabin logs. It will really put your mind at ease when you got pine logs for cabin building .  For sawing I guess your under a timeline anyways to get done so I suppose that 10 days rule would be a good thing so you dont end up with a bigger sawdust pile .

I think Jeff catches bass with pine beetles ?  8)

[SwampDonkey]

 :D :D :D

I think some of you guys like playing eject the bugs with air compressors and spray nozzles. ;D :D

It ain't funny, but for some reason I get a chuckle out of it. 

[HARLEYRIDER]

Ok, so will these grubs die once the bark is peeled?  they seem pretty fragile. Will a borate solution kill them?
Like stephen said, i like how the log looks with  the tunnels ....once you powerwash the grub poo off. But I'd like to be shure that they're dead

[mike_van]

harleyrider, from what i've seen, no they don't. When I peeled the logs I had left, right under the bark were dozens of them, peeling kept them from boring in. Some had already started to chew in, they had a grub shaped "nest" just into the wood. If left there, they would have kept eating in.  I just sprayed these nests with bee & hornet spray, killed 'em fast. The ones that fell of the log with all the bark, I don't know where they go. Their safe "home" is gone, they've lost the protection they had. As I peeled the logs, I moved them from the bark pile.  You won't find them on the face of the log in the direct sun, nor the face down. They like somewhere in between.

[HARLEYRIDER]

 Mike, I'm near you in the hills, and these little  buggers are bugging me. They are into hemlock as well. Does diazinon work with  these grubs? I'd like to spray the whole area with something. from now on, logs are getting peeled the day after felling.

[mike_van]

Any thing like diazinon will kill them, but i've found you have to spray the grub. Just spraying the bark after they're under it won't do it.  So, I guess it's saw 'em before summer, de-bark, or keep them so wet the beetle can't lay the eggs.  Grubs - probably in the mole family, just as big a pain in the butt.  >:(

[tcsmpsi]

Next milling session I have, I will try to get some pics of their different stages of development.  Kinda impressive, but, nontheless the little buggers are indeed a detriment to the wood.

I have a LOT of them.  This bunch down here, come out with looooooong antennas and are hiney ugly.  Got one intact, in the stage before they are fully developed and emerging.  Those antenna are coiled up impressively on each side.

It would take full immersion or 24/7 power blasting to keep them wet enough to keep the little darlin's from perpetuating.

I'm reckoning that we aren't the only ones experiencing an exceptionally good year for them. ;)

[SwampDonkey]

In response to the previous post: Sounds like round headed borers, in the sawyer beetle family.

[mike_van]

I finally got to see some sawyer beetles - Today, splitting up some of last years white pine slabs to feed the evaporator, the barks falling off them.  There were dozens of them, all nested up, probably getting ready to take off & lay eggs on some good pine logs - I kinda ruined their day  - How many BTU's in a sawyer beetle?  :D

[Dave Shepard]

Is it a contest? I say 1 btu. :D


Dave

[submarinesailor]

1 BTU = 1 beetle thermal unit

[Dave Shepard]

I had just taken a swig of my soda when I read that. Almost spit it all over the screen. :D


Dave