Woodworm Treatment
December 1st, 2009 Posted in Wood Damaging Pests
The woodworm is the name of the larval stage of many species of wood burrowing beetles. The beetle is most notorious during this phase of their life cycle, mostly because of their unstoppable hunger for wood. Burrowing into trees, fences, sheds, homes, or any other wood structures, the woodworm can cause much havoc in their wake.
The damage they cause is similar to that of a termite and just like the termite there are many ways to deal with them as pests. This article will focus on the woodworm larval stage of the ambrosia beetle.
Want to learn a little more?
Woodworm Life Cycle
The ambrosia beetle is active all year. They go from egg to larva, then from pupa to adult. Once Asian ambrosia beetles mate, they lay their eggs in tunnels and holes the female beetle digs for their young.
The caverns they dig are anywhere from 2 to 30 cm and connect together in one large web of caverns and holes filled with young. Within these caverns the woodworm emerges, further eating away at the tree or wood structures innards. The adults are normally most active during spring time.
When they reach full maturity females can fly, while males cannot. Females fly to areas where there are other males to mate with and where they can start to dig new nest for their larva.
Woodworm Habitat
During the transition from egg to woodworm, the ambrosia beetle lives entirely inside a tree or wood structure. They grow inside tunnels and caverns the mother beetle digs for them.
Since the woodworm requires a wood structure to grow in, they are most common in forests or residential neighborhoods. Adult female ambrosia beetles tend to flock to the where adult males are thriving and that is in forests with lots of foliage and wood to feast on. They are mostly found throughout the eastern United States.
Woodworm Diet
Well, obviously the woodworm feasts on wood from birth. Wood is necessary to help it grow from larva to pupa thus, the reason why they are surrounded by wood from birth. They also eat ambrosia fungus.
The adult beetle places this ambrosia fungus in the tunnels and caverns for the woodworms to eat. This fungus, alongside the tunnel and cave making in the wood, is what completely kills the tree the woodworm is born in. This is the main reason the woodworm is considered such a nuisance to many property owners.
Woodworm Treatment
One important aspect of woodworm treatment is to ensure that no infested wood makes it to your home because the infestation will quickly expand beyond your control. The best way to deal with the woodworm is by using EcoSMART’s organic pesticides.
Made with natural chemicals, all EcoSMART products are environmentally friendly. Thus, treating trees and sheds with the organic pesticides is completely safe. The best time to apply these pesticides is in the spring between March and May.
This is when the woodworm is most near to the surface of the wood. Repeat treatment for another year, until all signs of the woodworm disappear. Safe for your family, pets, and the environment, EcoSMART is the only effective way to deal with woodworm infestations.
4 Comments | The First 1,000 to Comment (Starting 12/21/2009) Will Become EcoSMART Product Testers!
By SharonAnne on Feb 15, 2010
I wonder if this is what’s desroying our cultivated pine trees? There is something that burrows into the tips, and makes it’s way down into the branch leaving a sawdust type material, eventually killing the branches.
Even though we’ve cut the affected tips off, they come back yearly.
By Bruce Mathews on Mar 19, 2010
I have bought products that came from China and Africa. They both contain the tunnels of the wood infestation of these beetles, and in a few instances I noticed small amounts of wood powder. I have tried the regular method of enclosing the articles in plastic with bug spray for many months and it did nothing to stop this problem. I threw out the bench and have found a solution for my African mask collection. Now I need a preventive method that really works. I need to protect the areas that could have been contaminated.
By Beryl Miller on Sep 9, 2010
I have what may be a pine beetle infestation that has killed two pine trees on my property. An Arborist is recommending spraying the healthy trees wtih Lindane. I am scared to do this because of its toxicity. Is there a safer alternative?
By Rachel on May 9, 2011
Is this treatment available in the UK? Thanks.