Bark Beetles....how the F*ck do I get rid of them!

Hi all,

I have a tiki in my front yard (one of three) and it is infested with those damn flying beetles that saw/drill holes right into the wood. When I knock on the tiki, it sounds hollow. Thinking about just trashing it, but even with all the holes, it still looks pretty cool. My husband wants to saw it in half just to see what the bugs have done. Any suggestions???

OH NO! I have friends who live in Arrowhead and the forest there has been devistated by the little buggers (the bark bettles not my friends) The only solution the Department of Forestry has offered is to cut the trees down. I have been told it's because of the mild winters there hasn't been enough hard freezes to help keep the population of these insects down. Good luck!

I noticed my coconut palm tiki had those a coupla years ago. I saturated every area that I noticed holes (usually surrounded by a little mound of dust) with Natural Plant Extract RAID I picked up at my local Home Depot. I then wpapped it in plastic for 24 hours and ...voila, no more beetles. If you have a thing about insecticide, I've been told placing your tiki in a big freezer for a few days will also snuff out the little pests.

Same problem here. They like a particular tiki, not too green and just the right age and density of wood. Little bastards. The other day I waited patiently and very still as one flew around me, then, when he stopped to look at me, I WHACKED him good with a piece of wood. (He wanted wood so I gave it to him). But most of the time I pour Jasco Wood Preservative (tip from Bosko himself) down the hole with a funnel. Controls all kinds of problems with wood, (including rot and termites). I seal the hole with Liquid Nail when they crawl up and die. As they keep coming, I keep killing. There season will end soon, I hope. Next year I'll do it all over again.

Hi, I have had some of these drill into my palms. They make deep round holes and I have just waited until the guy goes in there, spray it with Raid or Home Defense. That has worked very well. I was told on a palm site that I had Carpenter Bees. They are solitary and burrow deep into the wood. They also attack dead wood more than the beetles (the bees burrow into the dead parts of my palms near the head) The beetles burrow just under the bark and live in large groups.
Here's an informative site...look at the carpenter bee, there's a picture of the wood he burrowed into for your husband so he won't have to cut open the tiki.
http://www.utoronto.ca/forest/termite/pest1.htm

I suppose that the nuclear option is a bit of overkill?

Thank you all for the tips! We sprayed the crap out of the tiki and poof....they are gone! YEA!!!!!!