The Forestry Forum

Folks, I have a definite problem.  Moved a wood pile of 2x8's rough cut pine out of my machine shed (bought it dry so did not sticker it) and stacked it in my machine shed that has a concrete floor.  Went to use some of them a few weeks ago and found it eaten up by termites!!

So I cleaned it all out, burnt the board pile, sprayed the concrete, laid plastic down and on top of the plastic put 4x4's to stack some walnut from a lean to in.  Well, got into the walnut last night about half way down and TERMITES again.  This is on dirt floor under a lean to roof.  They got half of my stash.  I have maple stickered beside the walnut and haven't gotten to it yet. 

I am looking for suggestions/help in avoiding losing more of the wood I have stacked and stickered around my farm in buildings.  I don't really want to spray the wood as I turn a lot of projects and don't want to inhale the sprayed dust. 

Could we start with a good pic or two of the critter eating your wood?  and pics of the damage..

Sorry to hear you are losing wood...

All is not lost.  Your termites should be the subterranean species which build mud tunnels and must have moisture to survive.  Get it up off of the ground/concrete and provide adequate ventilation.  Lay the affected boards on sawhorses out in the sun and they will soon die.

Sounds like the building needs a termite treatment. You should be able to follow the mud castings back to where the nest is.

If there is no evidence of dirt, then you probably have aerial termites. That is bad, since they don't need anything to keep going. Aerial termites are larger than subterranean by like double. The colonies have galleries in the wood that look like little rooms. Also, little pellets of poop can be found all over the place.

Once you figure out which termites you have you can work on the proper treatment. Borate is low tox and effective against lots of termites. ;D