Powder Beetles

[Dave Zellers]

Is there any effective treatment for powder beetles?

I have a client with a beautiful 200 year old oak slant top desk with a separate bookcase top with frame and panel doors and the original hand made leaded glass. Sadly, it has been eaten away inside by (I assume, powder beetles). She said she moved it and a pile of dust hit the floor. Then she tapped it with her foot and a bigger pile hit the floor. She said she had already treated it in the past for this but it looks like it didn't get them all. I'm going over there tomorrow to remove it from the house. She has removed the drawers and looked inside and feels like the bottom piece is a total loss, but looking at it from the outside, you wouldn't know.

The question:

Is there any treatment that is absolutely effective? Tomorrow we are going to wrap it in plastic and remove it from her house. I'm wondering if it can be salvaged and rebuild the insides but there is no way it is coming into my shop if there is any risk.

Any powder beetle experts here?

[Bradley Gray]

This may work: BoraCare

[Dimitrios Fradelakis]

Bayer makes VERY effective professional pest control products. Check this one out:

http://pestcontrolsupplies.com/?product=tempo-1-dust

[Danny Hamsley]

Heat. If heated to an internal wood temperature of 135 degrees for 3 hours, that will kill all adults, larvae, and eggs. When I finish drying a load of hardwood lumber in my kiln, I raise the temp to 150 degrees and hold that for 24 hours to sterilize the wood.

[Joe Kieve]

Pretty good article here, http://www2.ca.uky.edu/entomology/entfacts/ef616.asp
May help with answer to your question.

[roger wiegand]

For small objects like a piece of furniture, fumigation with methyl bromide is by far the most effective and least damaging treatment. I've heard that there is a facility in Lowell, MA where they fumigate semi-trailers of pasta and grain products where they will let you put pieces of furniture in the chamber as well, along with the truck to do this in a cost effective way. Methyl bromide is not a DIY option. In other parts of the country exterminators can tent small objects on site and treat them. This is not an option in MA.

[Bill Adamsen]

Heat. If heated to an internal wood temperature of 135 degrees for 3 hours, that will kill all adults, larvae, and eggs. When I finish drying a load of hardwood lumber in my kiln, I raise the temp to 150 degrees and hold that for 24 hours to sterilize the wood.

Never thought of this ... an interesting consideration for evaluating KD versus AD. Danny, do you see any pests that go after the wood in storage post drying?

[Lee Schierer]

If you lived in south Texas you could leave it wrapped up in plastic sitting outside for a couple of days and It would like kill the little buggers. Leaving it outside in New England this time of the year won't help much. I agree with not taking it into your shop. I wonder if one of those flea fogger things inside a large plastic bag would get them.

[Jim Andrew]

I would be tempted to put the table in a small storage building with a space heater, and try to get the heat high enough to kill the bugs. It is hard for chemical to get into the wood to kill the beetles. Personally, I use a metal grain bin to kill the beetles, just put infected boards in there and the summer heat will kill them here in Kansas. Long days in full sunshine make a metal grain bin hot. Especially when it is 100 plus outside.

[Scott T Smith]

The question:

Is there any treatment that is absolutely effective?

Any powder beetle experts here?

Heating the wood until all portions are hotter than 133F for 30 consecutive minutes is 100% effective. Yes you can try Timbor or Boracare, yes you can try ammonia fuming or professional fumigation, but without question heat treatment is 100% effective.

[Scott T Smith]

Never thought of this ... an interesting consideration for evaluating KD versus AD. Danny, do you see any pests that go after the wood in storage post drying?

Pests can infect KD lumber if it is stored in an uncontrolled environment. What most lumber professionals do is to store KD and AD wood in separate buildings, and never mix the two.

[Dave Zellers]

Heating the wood until all portions are hotter than 133F for 30 consecutive minutes is 100% effective. Yes you can try Timbor or Boracare, yes you can try ammonia fuming or professional fumigation, but without question heat treatment is 100% effective.

Oh man. We had to postpone moving this out of her house until today but it just killed me. We left the bottom outside in a light drizzle for disposal. She feels like the top is not affected so we only removed the bottom. Now you (and others) are telling me a proper heat treatment is 100% effective. I may have to go back tomorrow and rescue it.

Here is my new question- if I brought it back to my house and wrapped it in plastic and left it outside, would I be endangering my house and shop that might be 50 feet away until I can heat treat it?

I took a few quick picks today with my phone:

IMG_0097.jpgIMG_0098.jpgIMG_0099.jpgIMG_0100.jpgIMG_0101.jpg

I just am having a hard time thinking that this is headed for the dump. I know I could rebuild the innards if I was confident enough to bring it into my shop and house. Heck, summer is coming, maybe I rebuild it without ever bringing it inside. But I still would have to totally reassure this lovely lady that she could reintroduce it into her house after I was done. This is not at all about money. I would just love to save this piece and reunite it with the top. I wish I had taken better pictures but the mission today was just get the bugs out of her house.

[Scott T Smith]

Oh man. We had to postpone moving this out of her house until today but it just killed me. We left the bottom outside in a light drizzle for disposal. She feels like the top is not affected so we only removed the bottom. Now you (and others) are telling me a proper heat treatment is 100% effective. I may have to go back tomorrow and rescue it.

Here is my new question- if I brought it back to my house and wrapped it in plastic and left it outside, would I be endangering my house and shop that might be 50 feet away until I can heat treat it?

I took a few quick picks today with my phone:

IMG_0097.jpgIMG_0098.jpgIMG_0099.jpgIMG_0100.jpgIMG_0101.jpg

I just am having a hard time thinking that this is headed for the dump. I know I could rebuild the innards if I was confident enough to bring it into my shop and house. Heck, summer is coming, maybe I rebuild it without ever bringing it inside. But I still would have to totally reassure this lovely lady that she could reintroduce it into her house after I was done. This is not at all about money. I would just love to save this piece and reunite it with the top. I wish I had taken better pictures but the mission today was just get the bugs out of her house.

By all means get back there and retrieve it. I would not hesitate to wrap it and store it 50' away from my house. If you send me your e-mail address by PM I'll send you a short writeup on a shop made sterilization chamber that you can build and use to sterilize the piece.

BTW - Danny Hamsley and I are both mill and kiln operators. Our advice in this area is not speculation - it is based upon well documented and proven industry standards.

[Dave Zellers]

Most excellent- thanks.