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Termites

Started by Dixiebonsai, August 12, 2015, 10:25:22 PM

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Dixiebonsai

 Im seeing termites around some wood in my woodpile,which is quite a ways from the house, thank goodness.Also in some logs I recently skidded out of the woods.I cut a lot of deadfalls up, not crazy about cuttin live trees.
  How do you folks deal with these pesky creatures? Please dont say Orkin, I burn wood to supplement my heat and air bills, Orkin would destroy that idea.I would be losing money.
  They go down in the ground in winter, right? They wont be in firewood when its 10 degrees outside, right? Just dont want to bring them in the house.My wife likes to put a few sticks on the hearth on cold nights so she doesnt have to open the door and go out to get a piece.I try and make sure she has pieces that are very clean, debarked to do that with.If its warmer or wood looks questionable it goes straight in the fireplace.Fire is even better than Orkin.

clww

Welcome to the Forestry Forum. :)
Best thing to do to help prevent them is to get your wood stacked off the ground, I'd recommend at least a foot. This also helps it season. Stack after it has been split. They prefer wood that is still whole, as in not cut or split. Around here at The Beach, if I put any wood on the ground and come back in two weeks, I promise there will be termites. If there's no direct contact between wood and ground, they must travel through mud tunnels they construct, so be on the lookout for these, too.
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SLawyer Dave

The big issue is what variety/species of termite you are dealing with.  If they are subterranean termites, coming from the ground and making their "mud tubes", then you really have no problem with "carrying" them into your home.  Subterranean termites are very moisture dependent, that is why they build those tubes to seal off their active areas from the temps and dryness of the air above ground.  They can not live, reproduce or spread from wood that you carry into your home.  Now I am not saying that they will die within minutes or even hours, but they will be isolated and unable to survive as soon as you break their access to their nest. 

I agree that stacking your wood off the ground will both help season it and protect it from subterranean termites, but again, the termites will burn up just fine in the fire, and won't be able to spread to your housing structure in that way.  So not really something you need to worry much about.

The species of termites you need to be careful of are drywood termites.  They live their entire life cycle within wood.  So they can live, reproduce and spread by having the wood they infest, brought into contact or association with non-infested wood.  There are two distinct "easy" ways to tell the two apart.  As discussed above, subterranean termites build the "mud tubes" to seal off their active areas.  The "mud" is actually a combination of dirt, their feces, and moisture.  You will ALWAYS find this "mud" in a subterranean infestation.  For drywood termites, you will always find lots of very fine "saw dust" coming out of their dump holes.  This is actually their feces.   There are also several different varieties of beetles that will also cause such dry saw dust, but you will not find them in large colonies like drywood termites. 

Drywood termites are restricted to areas that do not experience hard freezes.  Generally the only way you get drywood termites in an area that freezes, is if they are carried there in wood from a warmer climate.  If they get into the interior of your house, and you keep your house heated, so that they are not killed off by hard freezes, then they can still cause significant damage.  So if there is any chance that you are dealing with drywood termites, call Terminix, or Orkin, or another of the large pest control companies.  They will generally do a free inspection, so you can identify exactly what you are dealing with.  I'm not saying you should necessarily only hire a big company like that to treat anything, (always get competing bids), but getting a free inspection is always a good start to know if you really have an issue.   If there are drywood termites in your firewood, don't bring them any where near your house, (or any other structures you value).  Have a bonfire termite roast instead at your first opportunity.

Dixiebonsai

 Thank you CLWW and Slawyer for your replys. I have thought CLWW that it would be a great idea to get some of those new plastic pallets, that you see in recent years, to put down before I start stacking.Here in Tennessee we look back to the old ways more, they tell me in the old days, they cut cedar trees and put them against the ground because they dont rot and bugs hate them.This would provide the air gap too.
Slawyer I appreciate you taking the time to tell me more about these pesky creatures, examining further what you said , I found this webpage,http://www.termites101.org/termite-basics/termites-by-region Not sure if its 100& accurate, but if I hold my cursor over my home state I see only subterranean.Which goes along with what you said about freezing.We get cold blasts coming out of Canada in January where it drops to the single digits even 0 sometimes.Hate it though, wish Canada would keep their weather up there.LOL.I notice that your state,CA., has both.
I have some wicked pesticide my friend who owns a nursery down in Florida gave me.Its called Talstar.I sprayed it in my pole barn for spiders,brown recluse, and weeks later their still dying.Wonder what spraying a wood pile would do?Dont want to kill us.

SLawyer Dave

I pulled up the MSDS on Talstar to take a look at it, (just google Talstar if you want to look yourself).  It is a Pyrethroid pesticide, which means that it is a man-made chemical that is designed to mimic the effects of Pyrethrum which is a naturally occurring pesticide that is produced by a number of flowers, most notably chrysanthemums.

It is considered to be of a "low" toxicity to mammals, and on the low end of being an "irritant" to humans.  So it is a very good choice for many pest control applications.  That said, I would still not recommend spraying wood that you are intending to burn in your home.  As the MSDS states, it is active for up to 3 mos after application.  Even with a "low" toxicity and irritant action, burning it in a confined space such as in your home just is not a good idea.  Such use is also "illegal" as the label does not provide for that type of application. 

Like I said before, other than the subterranean termites degrading your firewood by eating it, they are not going to cause you any problems in your home.  Further, "spraying" your firewood would not stop or even hinder the subterranean termites, since they won't be exposed to it.  You treat for subterranean termites by trenching and soaking the ground to create a chemical/pesticide barrier within the top few inches of the soil.  That stops the termites from getting to the wood.  Once the termites have established their tunnels into the wood, topical applications of pesticide will not help, as the termites are sealed up all nice and safe inside the wood.  So don't waste the pesticide.

Raider Bill

Living in Florida we have termites everywhere all year. Get some termidor concentrate [about $50 for a 16 oz bottle. Mix 1.5 oz per gallon and inject it into the ground around your wood pile. It kills the nest.
Don't spray it in your house.
It also works great on ants.
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Magicman

Welcome to the Forestry Forum, Dixiebonsai.  I regularly saw logs with termites.


 
Just sweep them off, saw the log, and follow the recommendations above.   :)
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