Carpenter ants??? - Tiki Carving

8T 8FT Tiki Tiki Socialite Kansas City, MO Joined: Nov 30, 2003 Posts: 1411	8T 8FT Tiki Posted posted on Fri, Feb 6, 2004 2:03 PM I understand your concern because I had to fight them during a tiki restoration last fall. I could not tell how bad an infestation it was, but I figured that even if I had only seen a few of them, 2 ants will eventually lead to thousands so I decided to act a little radically. It was a tank sprayer and plenty of wood preservative applied and allowed to soak in real good that killed them. If you have a good source for more palm logs, I would say just get rid of that one and replace it with another. You probably should apply something like the yeast to the area where you store the logs to reduce the survivors or they will come back. Palm is easier for them to tunnel through than a lot of other woods so they will go where the diggin is easy. I remember as a kid, my father felled a large mimosa tree and it had millions of those nasty devils inside. We had to get a can of gas and burn the !^()&% out of them! EVERYONE WHO HAS WOODEN TIKIS OUTSIDE: Don't forget to protect them from the bugs. If you have them sitting directly on bare ground and have applied no preservatives to them, they are sitting ducks. If you believe in a no-chemicals approach, that's your choice but if you can't keep the tikis indoors, you need to seriously consider: Am I doing what I need to protect my beloved Tiki?

I understand your concern because I had to fight them during a tiki restoration last fall. I could not tell how bad an infestation it was, but I figured that even if I had only seen a few of them, 2 ants will eventually lead to thousands so I decided to act a little radically. It was a tank sprayer and plenty of wood preservative applied and allowed to soak in real good that killed them.
If you have a good source for more palm logs, I would say just get rid of that one and replace it with another. You probably should apply something like the yeast to the area where you store the logs to reduce the survivors or they will come back. Palm is easier for them to tunnel through than a lot of other woods so they will go where the diggin is easy. I remember as a kid, my father felled a large mimosa tree and it had millions of those nasty devils inside. We had to get a can of gas and burn the !^()&%
out of them!
EVERYONE WHO HAS WOODEN TIKIS OUTSIDE: Don't forget to protect them from the bugs. If you have them sitting directly on bare ground and have applied no preservatives to them, they are sitting ducks. If you believe in a no-chemicals approach, that's your choice but if you can't keep the tikis indoors, you need to seriously consider: Am I doing what I need to protect my beloved Tiki?

Post #74879 by 8FT Tiki on Fri, Feb 6, 2004 2:03 PM