Woodworm?

[Treemon]

Really worried about our stack. We felled alot of hardwood approx 18 months ago its a sycamore/ ash/oak/ elm mix and its been sat seasoning since we felled it in a prime location with the wind blowing through it. When it was delivered the elm which has dutch elm disease was stacked on top of part of the stack, the wood underneath it now has loads of what appear to be active woodworm in it. Question is is it woodworm or dutch elm beetle (it has only gone in bark deep) and how will this affect future sales. We are in the process of seperating affected area from rest of stack, its such a shame as its top grade firewood - what would you do?

[Tony Croft aka hamadryad]

wouldnt worry if its firewood.

[samtheman365]

Just burn the buggers out!!!...lol

[Treemon]

wouldnt worry if its firewood.

 

What would you think if someone tiped a load of it on your drive - would we be liable if it got introduced in to someones home "Wheres theres blame theres a claim" and all that bollocks

[gensetsteve]

I read somewhere that woodworm only migrate for a few weeks in the summer in the perfect enviroment. If you gave someone a woodworm problem it would be 2 years before it became apparent.

[Alycidon]

Leaving logs in a basket beside the fire in the spring is a bad bad idea for this reason, at the end of the day quite a lot of wood has woodworm holes in it, this is where the woodworm have come out of the log and gone looking for new wood to lay their eggs on.

 

Most dead wood that you process will be infected with woodworm when it was standing.

 

A

[NoRush]

you will find that ash always gets woodworm in the bark if stored for a long period. Split it and sell it any questions about dryness tell them it must be dry the woodworms are eating it

[Rob D]

When you see woodworm holes in wood it is not woodworm but the adult beetles coming out (to mate and lay eggs)!

 

The life cycle is 2 to 3 years so it is very likely that we all deliver lots of firewood with lots of woodworm in and never know it.

 

I've seen the buggers in September in and out of their galleries (old exit holes) laying eggs.

 

They like damp, rough sawn conditions for the adult beetles to mate on and lay their eggs so the little worms can then burrow in. They don't like smooth, treated or dry wood which is why they're not really a problem in modern centrally heated houses.

 

I tend to look at it these days that if you have a piece of timber in a house that has the right conditions for woodworm - it'll have them in there!

[ThrustSSC]

(it has only gone in bark deep)

 

Sounds like bark beetle to me. Woodworm has something like a 5 year cycle between infestation and emergence, so unless it's been standing dead for a while, any infestation will have been burned long before it's ready for the beetles to fly.

 

The best guide is: "holes in the bark only are bark beetle; holes in the wood are woodworm".