Maggot *******

[bluedog225]

Been struggling against some type of beetle in my shop. I’ve got about a quarter of the place sprayed with boracare. Have the rest sitting there waiting for me to finish.

Need to move some stuff and tape off some windows before I do the rest so I don’t get the dye on things.

Was breaking up some pine scrap for the fireplace this morning and the piece exploded into dust. I’ve never seen one of the actual bugs I’m fighting against. But I found this little maggot.

I stuck him in a bottle and I’m trying to figure out whether I should preserve him an alcohol or see if he grows and turns into a beetle so I can know exactly what I’m working against. It matters in terms of the dilution of boracare.

Surprisingly destructive.

 

[PCustoms]

Powder post beetle?

If something was eating my shop or home and I was "struggling against" it I might call in the pros for a bit.

 

[Dagny]

not a powder post beetle. They are nearly invisible.

 

[Dagny]

Tempo or ultra sc

 

[bluedog225]

It’s probably five or seven years ago I found the original piece of wood they came from. It was a short 6 inch piece of scrap used for blocking. I treated that whole wall and thought I’d gotten them.

Then literally years later I had another patch of dust all over my stuff. And I found a dozen holes up in the floor joist above it. So I treated that whole wall.

These things can lay dormant for years and years before they come out.

i’ll spend 500 bucks for 1000 bucks or whatever it takes to soak the place and highly concentrated boracare. Low toxicity and recommended for a wide range of this type beetle. Whatever it is. Though I’m not adverse to bringing out the stronger stuff.

makes me hesitant to bring in any new wood to the shop without setting it on a rack outside and drenching it with borates.

 

[WillyBoy]

I found a couple of those years ago, in a piece of wood. I was ripping a long length and just barely opened the cavity that it was in. It appeared to be completely sealed in. I couldn't find any entry hole, so I don't know how it got in there.
Someone identified it but now I don't remember what it was.

 

[Sturgeon]

Looks awful familiar, early fall last year purchased a bunch of larch and pine that was all rough sawed. Winter came, moved it inside and finally used some of the blue pine. Well low and behold after planing, sawing, sanding and oiling wood here came that same thing in your picture the mountain pine beetle larva. I'm down to a couple of pc's but half to think about if I buy anymore. I guess we can think the tree huggers.

 

[captaindiode]

I would contact your extension agent from your state agricultural university or a pest control professional. Your infestation may require fumigation as the only sure way to eliminate the battle larvae. Not sure which state you are in, but most counties have a extension agent assigned. You could also try the State Forester for advice.

 

[nadogail]

One of my Professors used Maggot as a term of endearment.

He taught Adult Vocational Education classes for Southern Illinois University.

 

[BillK]

I didnt think that Borax would kill existing infestations, only prevent new ones ? If your pests are already in the wood I think you will need a different treatment.

 

[bluedog225]

I’ve read up pretty extensively. To include the ag extension agent’s literature.

Here’s the deal as far as I can tell.

-They are slow. Usually not a crises.
-There are a lot of species of wood destroying beetles. Some tougher than others. No hard and fast rules on how they operate.
-They can lay dormant for 1-20 years. Jeeze.
-Removal is best option (not an option here)
-Timbor and Boracare work. Essentially borate salts. Boracare is borate and old fashioned ethylene glycol. It soaks in deeper/better.
-They eat it on the way in or on they way out and die. But if you miss a spot, they don’t eat it.
-They don’t like to go through paint or varnish on the way in. But they can use old exit holes.
-Starch declines as wood ages and they won’t lay if starch isn’t high enough.
-They don’t do well with low moisture content in wood. Therefore air conditioned space helps.
-Fumigation is wildly expensive and the good chemical that kills them is no longer available.
-Heat kills them. 125-140 eff. This may be an option. I could get a big propane heater in there on a day when the ambient is 110 and bring it on up for 12 hours. Not sure if this is going to be kind to the structure or windows.

I’m soaking the place in about 10 gallons of Boracare. The plywood, timberstrand, pine, and advantech soak it up.

The LVL is varnished in some way and it beads. This may be an issue because I have some beetle holes in the LVL (photo below). In theory, they don’t like the glue lines. But in theory, they shouldn’t have gone into the LVL in the first place. So they may have gone in and died. Or they could be having a party. Not sure what to do about this. Lots of structural LVL.

Later, when my solar setup is complete, I can air condition/dehumidify the place full time. That could/should help.

Overall, a real pain in the rear. I saw the one punky piece of wood where I got them originally. Just a scrap piece of blocking. I treated it. And saw no activity for 2-3 years. They there was dust and more holes. So they were back.

The piece in the photo above was a cut off from a stair stringer. It was added later and the cutoff sat on a wire shelf for a couple of years. It may be a different beetle. Or the same batch.

I’ve only recently added garage doors to the place. That should help with the moisture content of the wood.

Thanks all.

 

[ALinCarolina]

If you did all that research then you probably know a lot more than I do. We used to use borates for flea control before the newer products came out around 1995 and is still used for roach tablets. Like you mentioned it works as an oral toxin to the larvae so it would be difficult I think to get it to the larvae deep in the wood. The heat treatment equipment used for bed bug extermination could be an option. See if anyone rents that or see how much it would cost to have a company come treat. It would seem though to take a long time to get the center of a beam to get up to the temperature necessary. If you have any smaller pieces of wood then putting them on a rack in a clothes dryer would work.
In order for a new, separate piece of wood to get infected the larvae would need to mature, pupate, hatch into an adult, breed, and then lay eggs on the new location. Have you seen any adult beetles at any time?

 

[bluedog225]

It’s a country place. Bugs, beetles, flies, bees, wasps, scorpions, etc. i really haven’t paid much attention. But will going forward.

Looking at the pics of beetles on the interwebs, there are a lot of varieties. Not sure I’d recognize one from the other.

I’ve taken in the larvae as a pet and am going to grow him into an adult to see what it looks like. I put him in a plastic water bottle along with the wood he lived in. Then realized he could probably chew his way out. It would be unfortunate to release him into my home. So he’s going into a big glass bottle with a metal screen over the top.

 

[bb29510]

termite guy say diesel fuel works too, spray the outside down

 

[BillK]

I’ve taken in the larvae as a pet and am going to grow him into an adult to see what it looks like.

What were the results ?

 

[bluedog225]

What were the results ?

I put the large scrap of wood in a large glass jar with some water in the bottom. There is some dust were he burrowed back in but no sign of hatching or whatever it does. Should be a perfect environment.

It’s warm, humid, and shady so I hope he is just hanging out and not dead. The extension service says they can hang out for years before emerging.

 

[paredown]

Been struggling against some type of beetle in my shop. I’ve got about a quarter of the place sprayed with boracare. Have the rest sitting there waiting for me to finish.

Need to move some stuff and tape off some windows before I do the rest so I don’t get the dye on things.

Was breaking up some pine scrap for the fireplace this morning and the piece exploded into dust. I’ve never seen one of the actual bugs I’m fighting against. But I found this little maggot.

I stuck him in a bottle and I’m trying to figure out whether I should preserve him an alcohol or see if he grows and turns into a beetle so I can know exactly what I’m working against. It matters in terms of the dilution of boracare.

Surprisingly destructive.

Not sure what this guy is, but I often find them in wood that I'm splitting for firewood--usually from trees that have been taken down because they are dying.
One thing that it made me think--you can understand what the woodpeckers are feeding on. That's a nice chunk of protein!

 

[bluedog225]

And as a bonus, it tastes a little like panda.

 

[jabberwoki]

Mmmm good eats

 

[Tynee]

Any chance that's an Emerald Ash Borer pupa?

 

[rlitman]

...Need to move some stuff and tape off some windows before I do the rest so I don’t get the dye on things...

Boracare is clear. I'm all for adding marker dye to know where you've applied, but you do have the option of applying it without dye. Still need to mask off things that need protection from the crust the Boracare hardens into.

termite guy say diesel fuel works too, spray the outside down

Diesel based fungicide (probably also insecticide) was used on the Notre Dame roof timbers shortly before it burned down. I guess it works, but I'll stick with the water based stuff.

 

[slowtwitch73]

Sawyer beetle larvae

 

[bluedog225]

Any chance that's an Emerald Ash Borer pupa?

Could be. I’ve got no idea. Hoping it turns into a beetle so I can see.

 

[Beauregard]

A neighbor bought an expensive bunk of naturally aged rough-sawn barn wood to panel an accent wall in his basement. He did a great job with the installation, even painting the sheetrock underlayment flat black to hide gaps. When done, it looked rustic, yet high-end.
It took about a year for them to figure out that the barn wood was infested with larvae.
They kept finding little worms on the carpet and the ceiling.
His wife and children were totally freaked.
The barn wood was professionally removed and the house was fumigated.
They still wonder what else the larvae migrated to.
I'm not too fond of bugs.

 

[banjopete]

mountain pine beetle larva

Definitely not MPB, they're about the size of a grain of rice, and they come from larvae of the same size.

 

[slowtwitch73]

Gonna be this more or less:

 

[Beemer]

One of my Professors used Maggot as a term of endearment.

He taught Adult Vocational Education classes for Southern Illinois University.

I thought that was a boot camp term but that's just based on movies..

 

[DGersic]

Any chance that's an Emerald Ash Borer pupa?

Only if the wood is in ash tree. Are there any living ash trees left? We had to cut ours down years ago. There were swarms of the beetles looking for a new home, but they didn’t last long after the trees were gone.

 

[andyvh1959]

I had two huge Ash trees on my lot in Green Bay WI. Both looled good up until about two years ago. Then dead, and the woodpeckers went at them. Amazing how much bark a woodpecker can remove. Had one tree taken down last September. The one bhind my shop, probably come down next year. One in front right off the driveway cost me $1600 to have taken down.

Over the past five years the west side of Green Bay has been ravaged by the Emereld Ash Borer.