Help with firewood pests.

[doctorb]

The wood I am now burning now in my OWB is a combination of red oak, cherry and maple, all of which has been split and stacked inside my shed for 2 years.  My shed has 4 sections which hold between 3-4 cords each.  That way, I can keep track of what wood was put up when, using it section by section when appropriate.

What I have noticed with this particular section of wood is that there are a lot of dust piles on the wood.  I notice them when I am loading the wood from the stack into my wheelbarrow.  It's a very fine sawdust, I presume, in piles that range from the size of a quarter to a little bigger than a ping pong ball in diameter.  I have not seen any insects, but I have not used any magnification to look for them, nor do I see any areas of destruction or boring into the wood.  So my questions are:
1. What type of critter do I have?
2. Will they attack the shed itself, or just the split firewood?
3. Do I have to eradicate them before refilling that section of the shed (i.e. pesticide..)?
4. Should I do anything to keep them from other areas of the shed, protecting the fuel already stacked there?

I tend to refill these sections of my shed as soon as they are emptied to optimize the drying process, often with green wood but sometimes with wood that's been stacked outside for a period of time.  Any help would be appreciated.

[Sonofman]

Doc, look and see if you see any holes bored in the wood, about the size of a lead from a large pencil. I have the same piles of fine dust, it comes from these. They seem to bore only on the bark side of a piece of wood. They have not touched the 2x12 kiln dried lumber that the firewood is stacked on, even though I know they moved from one pile to another almost 2 years after I first noticed them. They infested other stacks when I moved some wood from the infested stack to an uninfested stack. They have not migrated from an infested stack to another uninfested stack that are only about 6 inches apart, but not touching anywhere. They also have not infested the treated posts that are supporting the roof of my woodshed, but none of my infested wood is touching any of these posts.

It seems they spread by contact only and bore only into the bark side of the firewood only, but are not stopped by time or drying of the wood. I will finish burning the last of my infested wood this week or next and hope this will end my infestation. My wood is Oak and Hickory only.

This of course supposes you have the same bug I do.

[r.man]

Sonofman if I had bugs in my woodshed that could bother treated wood I think I would burn down the whole shed. The ultimate in heat treating. I wonder if the bugs are dormant in the winter. I keep running into masses of ants in the trees I am processing this year. Makes sense since these logs have been culled from the saw logs.

[Corley5]

Sounds like powder post beetles  ;D  As long as they're not eating your shed don't worry about it.  Otherwise practice good housekeeping.  Keep all the bark and debris swept up.  SulfaBor works to control them on lumber.

[doctorb]

As always, the FF has addressed this issue before.  Now that what's infecting my wood has been identified....

https://forestryforum.com/board/index.php?topic=27188.0#top

Thanks guys.

The obvious solution is to burn every stick of my wood, but the pile next to it is all oak and was put up pretty green this past October.  Don't know how ready it will be for next season.

[beenthere]

Those little bugs don't eat much. I don't worry about them, and burn 'em when the wood is dry.  8)

[JuniperBoss]

I've got them too. It's not a big deal, as far as I know. I doubt that they attack live trees either. They get into firewood always. Bugs just like wood, especially dry wood :laugh:.

[Sonofman]

r.man, the winters do not get cold enough here to qualify, I do not think they go dormant much here, but you are right, if they would mess with treated wood, I think it would be time to call the fire department and let them have some practice.

Doc, I do not think it is much of a problem, keep the oak that is infested away from the rest till it dries and you can burn it. The lumber that my original infested wood was stacked on was commercially done kiln dried rough sawn lumber. The firewood sat on it with the beetles for at least 5 years, and there is no sign that the beetles attacked the lumber the wood was sitting on. The beetles were active, cause they infested another stack when some of the wood was moved to that stack, but only move with direct contact.