The Forestry Forum

General Forestry => Sawmills and Milling => Topic started by: jrkimroxie on May 14, 2011, 11:46:05 PM

Title: Help identify this Beetle/Grub ???
Post by: jrkimroxie on May 14, 2011, 11:46:05 PM
 When sawing 6"x12"SYP cants for my log home I found these critters, any ideas how to kill or prevent them  ???

(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/21539/3493/DSCN0496%7E0.JPG)

(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/21539/3493/DSCN0495.JPG)

(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/21539/3493/DSCN0497.JPG)
Title: Re: Help identify this Beetle/Grub ???
Post by: ljmathias on May 15, 2011, 05:47:19 AM
I know them just as pine beetles and I've got a whole herd of them chewing away at some pines I had to clear from the spot I'm building a house for my daughter on- planned on peeling these skinny logs for poles and furniture but got caught up in the actual building and let them set too long.  They don't eat much, usually, just make tunnels, lay eggs and turn into beetles to carry on the family line, so to speak.  I burn them when I catch them, though- better to not have the hungry offspring looking at the rest of my pines with that devouring eye...  >:(

Lj
Title: Re: Help identify this Beetle/Grub ???
Post by: sprucebunny on May 15, 2011, 07:03:32 AM
I found some of those the other day in freshly sawn ( but not freshly felled ) balsam. Creepy.

Decided that I didn't really want to take them or the wood home to make little roof trusses 'cause I didn't know how long they would be crawling out and maybe dropping on my head. Eeeewwwww. I'll save that wood for another project.
Title: Re: Help identify this Beetle/Grub ???
Post by: bandmiller2 on May 15, 2011, 07:24:27 AM
We call them pine borers,if you can get rid of the pine bark on a log their not that big a problem.Had a bunch of pine chunks I was going to cut into shingles those DanG borers made such a racket knawing, I could hear them from my bedroom.If you must hold pine for a wile before cutting strip the bark as soon as it loosens. Frank C.
Title: Re: Help identify this Beetle/Grub ???
Post by: 357blacksmith on May 16, 2011, 06:51:24 PM
They make good fish bait!  Just knock the bark off...I've seen them get pretty big.
Title: Re: Help identify this Beetle/Grub ???
Post by: Tom on May 16, 2011, 09:10:33 PM
Round-headed and Flat-head borers like that don't attack dried lumber and are not associated with reoccurring damage.  They will take advantage of a felled tree.  The eggs are laid on the bark and the larvae grow under the bark until they are large enough to begin pupating.  Then they burrow into the log, usually about 4 to 6 inches and pupate in the bottom of a "J" shaped tunnel that usually has a round opening.  When they turn into an adult beetle they come back out, removing the frass and making the opening more oval shaped, and look for another downed tree, not a 2x4 like a powderpost beetle would do.

While inside of the tunnel, the opening is plugged with Frass.  Frass is the excrement of the larvae and strips of fiber that almost look like toothpicks that the larvae uses to plug the hole.

Here is an article that you might find interesting. http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/mg007
Title: Re: Help identify this Beetle/Grub ???
Post by: bandmiller2 on May 16, 2011, 09:12:24 PM
Probibly those survival guys on TV would eat them. Frank C.
Title: Re: Help identify this Beetle/Grub ???
Post by: catskillpond on May 17, 2011, 10:36:57 AM
We callem boar worms very common up here sometimes on a quite day you can hear them chewing on an old log GREAT for Crappies.