Thread: Borers in bird's eye red box

Pest control company is the best bet. Some of the chemicals used are particularly toxic and may even need a licence to buy. After spraying the fumes are potent.

soth

You'll need to acquire the correct poison in the form of a gas canister and build your self a tent over the boards, black plastic is good and sand to weight and seal it on the ground.

Leave an edge open to place opened canister in and quickly seal the remaining bit with sand and leave for 24 hrs or however long they say to.

As for what sort of gas

OK,

I'll hit the borers within a tent with the household stuff for spiders etc.

Question is, how do I know if I got them all? I don't want the buggers spreading to all my redgum.

Jeff

If you're going for the household grade, grab one of those flea smoke bombs from the supermarket, that stuff is pretty potent.

Jeff,

Aside from fumigation freezing will work, I can assure you that it will permanently kill the bugs and their eggs. How much moisture is in the boards? The risk of course is cracking.

If you decide to fumigate, the fumigants that will need to be used will be pretty aggresive stuff, it has to be to penetrate the timber. Methyl Bromide (under list to remove from use as it destroys ozone) or Phosphene would be only gases that would do the job without question. There is also the risk of bleaching and discolouration with these chemicals. Both will need to be used by a licensed pest controller who specialises in this kind of fumigation. These are highly toxic chemical that will kill you if you dont know how to use them. Surface sprays or even bug bombs will be ineffective.

Another option is to use CO2 fumigation. Seal the boards in a bag and raise the CO2 level to over 8%, It will take a few months.

I'd further dry and then freeze them,

Sebastiaan

Making a few assumptions and bearing in mind this is general advice and should not be relied upon and further recommending that you seek advice from a local pest management firm.

Assuming Red Box is a hardwood a good starting candidate for your borer is Lyctus Brunneus (powderpost bettle), is the frass (dust) from the holes fine and powder like?

If the timber in it's current state is more than 2-3 years old and it is Lcytus Spp. then no need for treatment as the sapwood is almost certainly already destroyed and further attack is unlikely.

If it is less than a couple of years old then yes you can try treatment however the timber will then need to be fully sealed especially around but not limited to the end grain of the timber and filling emergence holes.

Because no matter how many times you poison and/or kill the borers by whatever means, new attacks will restart until the sapwood is totally destroyed. (unless it is commercially treated cca, losp etc or fully sealed against new eggs being laid generally in the end grain).

Household sprays containing things like bifenthrin, deltamethrin etc topically applied won't provide a long term solution unless applied in a commercial (factory) total treatment situation. (boron based products maybe in some situations, seek professional advice before using).

Hard to tell from your photo's and unlikely but if there is a stain around each exit hole it could be pinhole borer (Ambrosia Bettle) which only attack unseasoned timber so once timber is seasoned no treatment is required other than filling in exit holes to prevent water entry if required.

Again seek further advice from your local pest management firm, take a piece into them as most will willingly help, though ask if they are timber pest qualified.