Borers in Walnut

[Bruce Gray]

I have about 600 board feet of walnut that has been air drying (outdoors under cover) for several years, and I want to bring it into the wood storage room in my shop. However, I have noticed some evidence of borers in a few of the boards that have sapwood in them. I see some small holes, and little piles of sawdust on the lower board. I can sort out the few boards that are obviously infested, but there is no way that I can be positive that I have them all.

If I bring the wood inside, will the borers infest other wood in my shop, or the building itself for that matter ? Should I treat all of the walnut as a precaution ? With what ? Any advice is appreciated.

Bruce

[Don Baer]

If I bring the wood inside, will the borers infest other wood in my shop, or the building itself for that matter ? Should I treat all of the walnut as a precaution ? With what ? Any advice is appreciated.

Bruce

Yes you stand a chance of infecting the rest of your wood. I have never tried it but others have said if you encase the wood in some black trash bags and let the inside temps get to above 140 degrees (Not to hard here in AZ) it weill kill em.

[Kyle Kraft]

Sounds like the powder post beetle. From what I understand they like wet lumber, especially sapwood. Boric acid will kill them.

[Chuck Wintle]

Is there any way you can dip the boards in a solution that will kill the borers? Or possibly spray the entire lot with something.

[Steve Clardy]

Tarp it over and put an electric heater in there and get the temp up to 130. Keep it there for a couple of days.
Then the boric acid treatment.
Spray bottle or a 2 gallon weed sprayer. Mix a quart of boric acid with two gallons of water and spray away.