The Forestry Forum

I have the opportunity to purchase some nice Ponderosa Pines in the next couple of weeks (about 35 logs).  I will not be able to mill them until the end of summer.  How do I keep them free from powder post beetle and carpenter ants before I can get them on the mill?  I live in Northwest Montana.

I had about 15 Ponderosa  logs cut late spring 2019. I sat mine up on utility poles so air could circulate around and through them. I just sawed the last 3 a few weeks ago.  Two were fairly blue stained on the out side,  but ok after a couple inches....so they had two summers out side. No bugs to speak of. If you could cover them with some sort of temporary  roof to deflect the moisture that would help (or under a shed for that matter) but it needs to be able to breath and not trap the moisture. Tarps are probably  not a good idea. I don't think powder post beetles like ponderosa pine. I've seen them mostly in Locust and Walnut here.  Ants  I don't know...Montana is pretty dry so I think you will be ok  if you get them off the ground. Anchorseal or paint the ends of the logs with latex paint.  What is the lumber for?

You could spray and soak them thoroughly with disodium octaborate tetrahydrate.  That will prevent any insect infestation.  However, you must have a cover or roof over the logs or rain will wash away the borate. 

Last year I had a rack of cherry logs and powder post beetles started working on them. I went to Dollar General and purchased several boxes of moth balls and poured them all over the logs. Worked well as they lasted through many rains.

The pine borers out here I'm in NE Oregon live just inside the bark on ponderosa. If your really worried you can debark them and they should be fine. Being a soft wood I would not worry about painting the ends. I would stage them off the ground. I mill mostly Western Larch and it does just fine sitting around for months even creeping on years off the ground. Although it doesn't degrade as quickly as pine