Pest Resistant Wood Pile

[musicmanj]

Hi Everyone,

I've been getting fairly mild bugs in my wood rack (spiders, pincher bugs), but I just recently finished up all the wood. I have a rare opportunity to make this rack be as bug resistant as possible. Essentially it is a rack made with 2x4s, about 6 feet wide by 4 feet tall. I'm considering putting down some cinder blocks and setting the rack on them. Maybe putting a layer of plastic under the cinder blocks to create a ground barrier?

I know there's no perfect solution, but wanted to see if anyone has any recommendations. I spent quite a bit of time killing off a lot of the buggers on my last cook. If there are somethings I can do before replenishing the wood in the rack, I'm happy to give it a try.

Thanks in advance!



Jason

 

[gcs]

I'm afraid there's little that you can do, especially with wood stored outside.
Too many inviting holes and crevices. If you put plastic down, you'll get bugs under that too and maybe mice.

 

[WilliamKY]

I have a woodpile and it's off the ground. Concrete pavers under the 2x4's. I buy Eliminator from Walmart. It's a cheap insecticide in granular form. I believe it's $8 for a 10lb bag. A bag lasts me all year. I apply every few months all around the woodpile right before a rain. I have dogs so I try to time it right before a good rain so it dissolves. Other than a few spiders who drop from above I haven't had any issues with bugs, especially termites.

 

[pjtexas1]

My wood pile is on a slab, made out of cinder blocks and 2x4's. It's got a lot of space between it and the ground. It's still full of critters. Probably because I'm the first house next to the woods. I never tried insecticide as I was afraid it would get on the wood. I'll have to try that.

Sent from my SM-G996U using Tapatalk

 

[Callahan-que]

The bugs aren't what concerns me, it's the snakes.

 

[ncmoose]

I like to hear 'em pop in the fire.

 

[KevGuy]

The bugs aren't what concerns me, it's the snakes.

Which types of snakes?

 

[Lahawk1]

I have an 18x21 free standing carport that I use for firewood/cooking wood storage. We have a rat snake that lives in the shed also. This time of year I see him often. He is about 4 to 5 feet long. I don't mess with him as we live in a rural area and mice can be a problem if you kill your rat snakes.

 

[Callahan-que]

Which types of snakes?

Poisonous ones.

 

[cholloway]

There are no poisonous snakes... only venomous and non-venomous. :roll::wink::biggrin1:

 

[Fooball]

I have a woodpile and it's off the ground. Concrete pavers under the 2x4's. I buy Eliminator from Walmart. It's a cheap insecticide in granular form. I believe it's $8 for a 10lb bag. A bag lasts me all year. I apply every few months all around the woodpile right before a rain. I have dogs so I try to time it right before a good rain so it dissolves. Other than a few spiders who drop from above I haven't had any issues with bugs, especially termites.

This^^

I keep my splits on the wood rack under my offset which is on a concrete patio. Down here in Florida we have small lizards everywhere.

I see one or two occasionally darting around in my wood but don't worry about them because they eat any bugs that may try to make the place a home.

They scurry out of the way as soon as you approach, so no threat of smoked lizard adding flavor to my cook.

 

[cdhbrad]

Here are a couple of photos of the Woodshed I built when I got my Shirley 24x36. I get bugs, ants, roaches, lizards, and blacksnakes in it.......and a Possum lives underneath.

Not much you can do to keep an outdoor wood pile free of all those little critters and, if I lived in an area where poisonous/venomous snakes were a concern......I'd just be REALLY careful before I put my hand on a split to fill the two plastic milk crates I use to get wood to my smoker.

One thing that I do is fill 2 of those milk crates with splits and put them on a wire shelf in my garage.......always dry, "relatively" free of critters, and about what I use in a long cook.

 

[Fooball]

Here are a couple of photos of the Woodshed I built when I got my Shirley 24x36.

That's really nice. Good work. :thumb:

 

[cdhbrad]

That's really nice. Good work. :thumb:

Thanks, I had fun building it. It holds just about a Cord of splits. Being on a natural Bayou just off the Manatee River, I built everything with PT Lumber, mainly 2x6 or decking, except the floor which was leftover Trex from a new dock we put in during 2019, SS screws, and a metal roof. It keeps the wood surprisingly dry even with our FL Thunderstorms.

Must be pretty nice underneath......my wife scared a Possum out from under it a couple of weeks ago and I routinely see blacksnakes getting under there too.

 

[robertm]

Great now I'm a skeered to go out to my woodpile. :shock:

 

[Jmgunn]

Here are a couple of photos of the Woodshed I built when I got my Shirley 24x36. I get bugs, ants, roaches, lizards, and blacksnakes in it.......and a Possum lives underneath.

Not much you can do to keep an outdoor wood pile free of all those little critters and, if I lived in an area where poisonous/venomous snakes were a concern......I'd just be REALLY careful before I put my hand on a split to fill the two plastic milk crates I use to get wood to my smoker.

One thing that I do is fill 2 of those milk crates with splits and put them on a wire shelf in my garage.......always dry, "relatively" free of critters, and about what I use in a long cook.

Absolutely love this. Took. Screenshot and will be making a similar one. Here is what I have now.

 

[Nuco59]

I don't like spiders and snakes - or other creepy crawlies. Not skeered- just don't like 'em.

 

[snadamo]

Just throw em in with the logs...extra protein! :spider:

 

[Lynn Dollar]

The only ones that concern me are carpenter ants. About this time of year, on calm warm days, queens will leave the nest, fly away, and find a suitable location to start a new colony. No matter how far your woodpile is from your house, the queens can easily start a new colony in your house.

I know this. Cuz it happened to me. And I watched the queens fly away from the colony in my house. They were in the eave of the roof and that particular day all the ants were crawling outside of the house. They were everywhere.

I eradicated them with Taurus SC. Its a bait style insecticide used by exterminators. I called the state agency here that regulates exterminators to verify that. I sprayed the eaves of my house. Then went all around the walls at ground level, up to about 2 foot. One application and I never saw another ant.

On my woodpile, its elevated on cinder blocks and 2X4's. I sprayed the rack and the ground under the rack. I got rid of the ants in my woodpile.

Since then, I spray every 6 months just for prevention.

Taurus SC is expensive, I think its about $60 for 20 oz bottle that will last a long time, probably go bad before I use all of it . But worth it.

Active ingredient is Fipronil 9% . There's some other products that use Fipronil, like Combat, but its only 1%.

I also get cerambycids in my woodpile, but they're harmless. Their larvae bores holes in the wood, which really just helps season the wood. And they won't attack the house because they don't like finished, treated, or painted wood.

 

[Lynn Dollar]

cerambycid larvae and adult