Wood, as well as products made from it, has a serious natural enemy - the wood-boring beetle. This pest causes serious damage not only to green spaces, but can easily turn a wooden floor into dust, as well as walls if they are made of wood, furniture, etc. In short, everything that is of wooden origin becomes unusable over time. These insects can appear in the house at any time. At the same time, there are species that feed not only on wood, but also on products made from flour, tobacco, and wallpaper glue. In other words, these pests are not particularly picky about food sources and eat any objects that contain cellulose.
The article talks about how to determine the presence of these pests in the house and how to fight them.
Grinder beetles: what are they?
There are many species of wood-boring beetles in nature, but only a few species can be found at home. These include:
- furniture;
- brownie;
- combed;
- bread
An ordinary furniture woodboring beetle with a body length of 2 to 5 mm, under favorable conditions, is capable of breeding several generations of new offspring in just one year. The insect can be identified by its dark brown color and stripes of dots on the surface of the elytra. Insect larvae reach 6 mm in length. They develop from eggs laid by the female in the most inaccessible dark areas of the furniture. The holes left by the beetle do not exceed 1-2 mm in diameter.
The house tree beetle is identified by its black-brown color with golden dots on its back. The insect reaches 3 mm in length at maturity. The beetle larvae are twice its size. Just like the furniture woodborer, the female house beetle lays eggs in the crevices of mostly coniferous furniture in places with high humidity levels.
The comb grinder reaches 5 mm in length. It feeds mainly on deciduous trees, develops inside the tree, from where it destroys it almost completely, after which it leaves the tree to search for a new source of food.
The bread borer beetle (the photo below will help you not to be mistaken) prefers dry food products and does not disdain food of plant origin.
Separately, it is worth highlighting beetles that are representatives of other families, for example, longhorned beetles and bark beetles. The larvae of the former reach 35 mm in size and gnaw through the surface of wood as close to the surface as possible.
In the photo - a bread grinder
Prevention of woodworm occurrence
Preventive measures against the borer beetle are an essential element of protection. These include:
- clearing a tree of bark;
- visual inspection of the material;
- drying wood in special chambers in the sun.
Treatment of structures with insecticides (such as “Senezh”, “Pinotex”), special impregnations, stains, opening with varnish is an essential element of wood protection.
Borer beetles are dangerous pests. They spend most of their biological cycle inside a wooden structure, so they are difficult to immediately detect. Despite the insidiousness of the pest, there are many effective means to overcome the pest.
What are the signs to detect a beetle?
It is not so difficult to discover that a furniture grinder has settled in the house and has managed to hatch larvae in the very depths of the furniture. There are a number of signs by which it is easy to determine the location of the pest. These include:
- monotonous tapping inside the furniture in short series with repetitions, clearly audible and with a unique rhythm;
- holes on furniture with a small diameter;
- traces of insect activity on furniture.
A heavily damaged surface with bugs flying out of it from time to time will indicate a high degree of damage. The absence of holes in the surface of a tree cannot guarantee the absence of pests. The level of infection can be determined at the first sounds emanating from the furniture.
Types of damage on a wooden surface
Quite often, pest infestation occurs at the cutting stage, when initially low-quality material is used. The epicenter of infection is the bark, from which insects penetrate the wood. When it loses nutrients, it becomes unattractive to pests.
The main types of damage are holes and passages that insects make in wood. In addition, all beetles that eat furniture leave behind wood flour. Sometimes infection is accompanied by rot.
What harm does a grinder do?
Definitely wood bugs in an apartment (the photo will help determine the type of pest) - this is unpleasant, but how dangerous is it for humans? In fact, insects do not pose a serious threat to people, but they cause discomfort primarily through activated activity after dark.
In addition, beetles seriously damage wood, so rooms with an abundance of wooden furniture and natural floors automatically fall into the risk zone. The appearance of uninvited “guests” in the house will lead to serious damage to products and a violation of the integrity of the interior, as a result.
The danger of insects to wood
The main dangers posed by insects:
- Reduced strength, negative impact on the mechanical properties of wood.
- Reducing the lifespan of an item.
- Deterioration in the aesthetics of products.
- The noise made by the larvae makes it difficult to sleep at night.
- Deterioration of furniture characteristics (thermal conductivity, load resistance, humidity).
The most effective way to control pests is prevention; it is better to prevent the appearance of beetles that eat furniture than to fight them.
Folk methods of dealing with grinders - which ones to choose?
At the initial stage of damage to wooden products by insects, you can try to solve the problem using natural remedies and methods. Naturally, it will only be possible to get rid of pests if their appearance is detected before several new generations are born, and the condition of the tree reaches a level where practically nothing can be corrected.
The simplest folk remedies to combat grinders are:
- Table salt solution. It is used to treat contaminated surfaces. The effect can only be achieved indoors.
- An aqueous solution of sodium fluoride or fluoride with a concentration of no more than 2.5%. The composition is prepared simply, use at the rate of 200 ml per m2. A regular paint brush, roller or spray gun is suitable for processing.
- A mixture of naphthalene, resin and black carbolic acid. The components are mixed in equal quantities and the wood is treated with a brush.
- Hot olive. The surface is treated with the compound only when the appearance of the wood no longer matters, and the emphasis is placed on its durability and integrity.
- A solution of turpentine and kerosene (3:1). The mixture is poured into the holes made by pests in the surface of the tree, after lubricating it with Vaseline.
- Kerosene with linseed and motor oils. Wood is processed using brushes and rollers.
When studying folk remedies and methods, you need to remember that bugs appear in furniture for a reason. They are attracted to dampness, which means it is easier to avoid infection by keeping furniture and wooden objects in dry rooms with an optimal microclimate and regular ventilation.
Where does it come from?
Many owners of wooden furniture are surprised to wonder where parasites come from, because it is not easy to get into the house, and the purchased furniture was perfectly clean and smooth. It is worth noting that beetles are active only at night, because they are shy insects and can hardly be seen during the day.
It is very difficult to catch a furniture grinder: as soon as the individual senses danger, it turns over on its back and lifts its paws. This is how the parasite pretends to be dead.
It is known that grinders live in almost any home, but they are especially fond of wooden dwellings. The risk that a furniture grinder has settled in your home is much higher if the house is built entirely of wood. With the onset of spring warmth, the female beetle begins to lay eggs, from which larvae hatch, significantly spoiling the life of the owners of the house.
The larvae immediately begin to feed on wood - furniture. They chew holes and make long passages, moving randomly. With their appearance, they cause enormous damage to the property of the apartment. The life cycle of one individual larva is from 1 to 3 years. At the same time, in winter they fall into suspended animation, so that in summer they will return to active movement again.
If the room is well heated, then the larva continues to live in winter: temperature changes are detrimental to it. With stable humidity levels, individuals continue to devour furniture in large quantities. During the development process, the larvae become pupae, which will later become adult beetles aimed only at reproduction.
Furniture beetles do not infest in the following places:
- painted wood;
- lacquered furniture;
- in a clean and dry room;
- pieces of furniture affected by other parasites.
To check whether the furniture can be restored, you need to take a screwdriver and lightly pierce the area in an inconspicuous place: if the wood turns out to be dense and hard, the furniture can be saved by treating it with special compounds.
How to fight a beetle with insecticides - proven means
If the woodworm has been “harvesting” in the house for a long time and successfully, folk remedies are unlikely to give the expected effect. The solution to the problem at the right level will be proven insecticides. These include drugs in the form of liquid, powder and gel. The latter are not so effective, but products in liquid form really give the desired result due to their ability to penetrate deep into the surface of the tree to drive pests out.
When choosing insecticidal preparations as a control measure, you need to know about some of the features of their use.
Firstly, it is most convenient to apply liquid products to wood using a spray bottle. This is necessary so that the drug penetrates into every, even the most inconspicuous, crack on the surface of the wood. Due to the effect of complete penetration, some insects will die immediately, and the rest will be forced to leave the shelter.
Secondly, you need to remember that insecticides are harmful in most cases to people and pets. This means that if beetles eat wood at home, then surface treatment should be carried out only after all household members and pets have been removed from the house for the duration of the drug.
Thirdly, to achieve the desired result, processing must be thorough. In hard-to-reach places where it is difficult to penetrate without external intervention, it is permissible to drill small holes, which, after exterminating the insects, can simply be sealed with wax or special glue for wood with shavings.
Known remedies against which the furniture beetle cannot resist in most cases, even if the infestation has become widespread, are:
- "Empire-20";
- "Anti-bug";
- "Tree healer";
- "Belinka Belotsid".
Each of the listed products acts for a long time, is actively absorbed into the surface of the tree, literally destroying beetles and preventing their appearance in the future. Before using the drug, it is important to carefully study the instructions. Only that drug is considered useful if there is a note on its packaging that it can be used against flying insects. Only such agents can be used against adults and their larvae.
Do antiseptics work? If insects eat wood at home or in storage areas, then antiseptics, if chosen correctly, can actually act not only as a means of prevention, but also as an active drug. For example, Mark 4 product gives an effect at the initial stage of tree damage. The solution is injected into the holes left by the pest using a miniature oil can or syringe.
If the pest has managed to breed and the surface is more seriously damaged, in addition to douching, the surface is completely treated for reliability, capturing the edges by 500-700 mm. The tree is treated several times every 2-3 days until only traces of its vigorous activity remain on the surface of the pest.
General characteristics of furniture pest
The adult furniture parasite is a small dark brown bug. The length of its body is within 4-5 mm. The beetle belongs to the order of Coleoptera insects. It is harmless from the point of view of danger to human health.
Pests are found everywhere, the most common among them are the following species: the beetle grinder, the furniture grinder and the house longhorned beetle. In everyday life they are called wood borers, wood gnawers and wood eaters. Furniture grinders reproduce by laying eggs. Females drop them into the smallest cracks, recesses, grooves found in wooden products.
After 7-14 days, voracious larvae emerge from the eggs, which are capable of sharpening wood, gnawing out a whole network of winding passages and labyrinths in it. If there are a lot of them, then the furniture or wooden floor in the house can turn into dust in almost one season.
In places where larvae accumulate, yellow-brown flour is present, which is an indicator that the wood is damaged. From the eggs that the female lays, after two weeks, short white larvae hatch, which bite into the wood and make winding passages in it, most often along the layers of wood.
Larval development lasts from 6 months to 2 years. Shortly before pupation, the larva approaches the surface of the tree, leaving only a thin wall, no more than 1 mm thick, ungnawed, and pupates in the wood.
The beetle emerging from the pupa gnaws through the thin partition left by the larva before pupation and flies out, making the so-called flight hole - a hole 1.5 - 2 mm in diameter.
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The diameter of the hole reaches several millimeters, but there is more than one pest and the entire wood mass is damaged.
Fumigation - when is it necessary and how is it carried out?
If there are tree beetles in a house or wooden building, and their numbers have increased so much that none of the listed remedies help, you can try to fumigate the area with insect-infested surfaces.
Fumigation is a method of controlling harmful insects using special aerosols or smoke containing fumigants. It would be appropriate to use magnesium or aluminum phosphide.
Before starting the procedure, it is mandatory to remove all pets from the premises, and also free it from family members. Food, dishes, toys, and clothes are carefully covered with film. Windows, doors and vents are tightly closed.
The smoking process will take several weeks on average, but will depend on the room temperature. After completing the procedure, wet cleaning is carried out using a solution of soda ash.
Considering that fumigation is carried out by trained employees of a special service and requires so much time, it makes sense to seek help only if the bugs cannot be exterminated and continue to annoy. It is also important that residents of a house or apartment where woodworms have infested have the opportunity to leave their home for the required period.
Preventive measures
The best way to fix a problem is to eliminate its causes. The appearance of a grinder is a very dangerous signal. He talks not only about the threat to house structures and buildings, but also about the possibility of damage to garden plants. Therefore, it is necessary to cut off all ways of insects entering the area.
Most often they come from lumber brought from an infected sawmill or trading base. To protect against the grinder, you should inspect the material, paying special attention to defective areas of the boards (presence of bark, dead parts). If affected boards or timber are found, it is recommended to refuse the purchase and look elsewhere.
Experts say that completely eliminating the borer is extremely difficult, if possible at all. Therefore, the processing procedure should be repeated periodically. If possible, affected structural elements should be replaced with new, clean parts. This will prevent the spread of insects and damage to garden plants.
It is recommended to immediately carry out a thorough inspection, examine the most critical areas and carry out treatment. If you have no experience, the best solution would be to contact a specialized company or SES. The participation of specialists will help solve the problem in the most effective way.
