Power post beetles in firewood

[Ole Anderson]

Got a bunch of oak from my son, seasoned about 2 years outside. Now when i grab a load of firewood, I see tons of powder. Without speculating, does anyone have a bad experience with them spreading?

[John K Jordan]

Got a bunch of oak from my son, seasoned about 2 years outside. Now when i grab a load of firewood, I see tons of powder. Without speculating, does anyone have a bad experience with them spreading?

The first step is to identify which kind of beetles. Without this another person's experience may not apply to your situation. Second, determine what conditions your beetles like: dry hardwoods, exotics, damp wood, softwoods, etc.

https://entomology.ca.uky.edu/ef616

JKJ

[Ken Platt]

Great question. I always see powder in my firewood piles, they tend to be outside for a couple of years, just under tarps. I still use that firewood, but always worry. However, I have never seen any sign of problems from it. I store that firewood in the garage for using; I bring in several months worth at a time, so some of it is sitting in the garage for 2-3 months. I've never seen live insects in the firewood, just the powder.

I hope others chime in with their experience.

Ken

[Ole Anderson]

The first step is to identify which kind of beetles. Without this another person's experience may not apply to your situation. Second, determine what conditions your beetles like: dry hardwoods, exotics, damp wood, softwoods, etc.

https://entomology.ca.uky.edu/ef616

JKJ Thanks John, interesting article. Don't think I have actually ever seen the beetle, just the fresh powder. And being fine powder, I would suspect the Lyctid which only go after hardwoods and bamboo.

[John K Jordan]

Thanks John, interesting article. Don't think I have actually ever seen the beetle, just the fresh powder. And being fine powder, I would suspect the Lyctid which only go after hardwoods and bamboo.

I forgot to mention - if you are leaving the firewood outside or in a relative cold place then just bring in enough to burn, I believe the insects will stay dormant and won't come out to mate and lay more eggs on your furniture and joists. The only time I've actually seen the insects is in warm weather or on once case, when I brought infested pieces into a warm shop, cut them into turning blanks, then and kept them in a plastic tub with a lid. After a few days there were a bunch of PPBs in the bottom of the tub. I saved them but haven't had time to ID them yet.

I'm keeping the blanks outside till summer when I'll put them in the sun under glass to get the temperature up enough to kill anything in the wood. Things turned from holey wood can look great.

Someone gave me some walnut squares once that evidently had PPBs inside. I know that since while near my lathe I heard a "scritch, scritch" sound from the shelf behind me and watched as a beetle chewed it's way out of the end of one. I move the squares out of the shop.

JKJ