If you have a fireplace or other wood-burning stove, you may have encountered woodworms in your firewood. Did you know that the term “woodworm” actually encompasses many species of wood-boring beetles? The so-called wormwood is a well-known pest that also lives in firewood and wood piles. The signs of wood borers are small holes in soft thinnings, which is also similar to other wood borers. Additionally, their larvae can be very small or as big as your thumb. The sight of these creatures could cause a moment of panic in an unsuspecting person who doesn't know what they are or why they have taken up residence in their wood. To avoid this and take the necessary steps to prevent an infestation, here is some useful information and tips.
What to do if there are woodworms in firewood?
While an infestation of woodworm or woodlice in your firewood may seem unlikely, prevention is key. Some wood-boring pests that arrive with the natural material have the potential to cause serious structural damage if left unchecked. The last thing you want before or after Christmas is aannoying pest problem. So why not take some smart and practical countermeasures to avoid such insects coming into your home?
Both the burned wood ash and the firewood itself seem to attract wood borers. You may also find that larger loads are more susceptible to wormholes. You can control the level of woodworm infestation, for example by spreading out smaller areas of wood in your garden. Therefore, do not keep huge piles of wood and spread the fuel in different areas. This helps prevent wood borers from infesting nearby firewood. If only youStoring wood for the fireplace, that's not a big problem. However, if you are a carpenter or woodworker, you may want to protect your wood from such worms by treating it with a preventive insect repellent. Here are some other preventive measures you can take:
- Stack firewood outside your home and avoid attracting insects and wood pests to or into your living areas.Store your firewooda few meters from the house structure.
- Cover firewood and do not stack it on the ground. The wet conditions attract wood-eating pests. Therefore, keep your wood pile dry and slightly above the ground to prevent too much moisture from accumulating.
- Eliminate surface pests by inspecting the wood for live insects or holes. Therefore, shake and tap each log to extract as many insects as possible.
- Burn firewood immediately after bringing it indoors to avoid attracting insects to your home.
- Look for signs if you notice woodworms in firewood, including fresh exit holes and tunnels.
When can woodworm infestation occur?
The good news is that these worms are generally harmless. They are actually maggots or insect larvae. There are a variety of different wood borers that burrow into trees, wooden furniture or firewood and lay eggs there. Once the eggs hatch, the larvae grow in the wood until they pupate and mature into adult beetles. Additionally, you may see woodworms in firewood more frequently during the warmer months of May through July. The holes are made by the adult beetle exiting the wood and NOT by the worm boring into it. Therefore, you may be less likely to notice the worms themselves penetrating the wood.
The woodworms turn into beetles and eat their way out of the wood, creating the woodworm holes. Woodworm stays in wood for about 3-5 years before emerging and is a common pest. When the conditions for worm infestation are optimal, it is usually difficult to completely eliminate the insects. However, unlike other wood borers, ants and termites, you can safely bring woodworm-infested wood into your home because the worm does not leave the wood. Accordingly, the little pests can live in both dry and wet wood. However, they prefer softer woods such as spruce, cedar, pine, oak, ash and mahogany. Damp wood is easier for them to chew, and rodent beetles chew through it to lay eggs, resulting in worms. Woodworms come from beetles that attack both soft and hardwoods.
Can woodworms in firewood spread to other wood?
Woodworms spread from tree trunk to tree trunk because they are wood-boring pests. They quickly attack any wood if the conditions are right. Most wood will eventually develop holes from these worms and they are difficult to control. However, you can prevent them by using a preventive solution. Or you can control woodworms with heat. Simply heating the wood to 65 degrees for a few hours will eliminate the insects and any eggs left behind by the adult beetles.
Should infected firewood be treated with chemicals or burned?
Using store-bought brands of chemical pesticides can be dangerous. After you spray or treat the wood with it, burning it can release the harmful compounds into your home. Additionally, from an environmentally friendly perspective, if you need to spray something to keep the bugs away from your firewood, you should only use safe-to-burn DIY pesticides.
It is otherwise generally safe to burn wood that is infested with woodworms, but is not animal friendly. Instead, you can attract the pests by, for example, placing acorns near your firewood. These are even more appetizing to the insects and encourage them to crawl out of their holes. There are no negative consequences from this and you can let the woodworms live somewhere outdoors.
