Powder Post Beetles

I had the same problem, and used this method:

I had a can of expensive bug spray on hand, got it from Gallows Bay. I forgot the name, but it had a red and gold label on it. It came with a nozzle, and I sprayed it into the affected areas. It's been 8 months. No more powder dust.

greetings and good afternoon.....

when infestations of "things" get too bad.....do they still drape the whole houses and fog them?
the termites used to be a big problem when i lived there....
they loved wood furniture.
i was advised to always buy rattan or some sort of metal (ie-kitchen tables....) because the termites would not eat rattan.
i never had a problem with them or the beetles but know people that have.
sometimes you would drive around the island at certain times of the year and would see many fully tented homes.
mahogany birds....never had a problem.
lizards....co-habitated with them.
noseeums.....no problem after the first month unless on the beach at night without a fire
centipedes......for some reason they loved me......
rats....had a couple but i beat them to death....
mongoose.....always around the yard in the morning for a bit....
once had an iguana on the porch for a full day peering in the gates.....i almost became friends with him til he licked his tongue at me thru the door and licked the screen with his tail.......lawd i screamed.
hope you get the beetle problem solved soon.

guidance

try boric acid powder, at the garden shop at Gallows Bay

Aren't there safety concerns with boric acid powder? Like not just for the beetles who should not be safe, but for pets? Do check the label before you use it.

I have the same thing in a piece of furniture. I was told by exterminator that you can either bring it in or........wrap the piece in a heavy duty piece of plastic (like a piece of plastic dropcloth) tape it up tightly and set off a bomb that you get from the exterminator for the bore bugs.

Also some stuff you can get at Gallows Bay Hardware. Yes it come with nozle. We tried nozzle and also put the stuff in a can and brushed it on. Took several times but finally it worked. Have to get the spray into the bore holes.

Can i ask where you got the piece of furniture that has the bore bugs????

The main piece with the bore bugs (hadn't heard them called that... cute name for a hard to kill critter)... was from an indonisian importer in Georgia. The other piece was from a clearance sale at Twila Wilson Designs. It didn't show any signs of the bugs for several months after buI got it but now is rampant... they must have hatched. To be fair, since it was a clearance item I didn't even take it back to them to ask if they would correct it.

I did have problems in the past with a piece I bought from a downtown store and they stood by their product, had it gassed for me and brought it back. I've seen no recurrring problems in that piece but it has only been about 8 months. We shall see.

I'll be in Gallows Bay tomorrow checking out the spray nozzle products with red labels!

Limetime, the product name came back to me...BENGAL. I bought it for the ants in the light sockets, and it kept them away for 8 months too!

I have been trying to find BENGAL for months. Anyone know where I can find it on STT? I bought it about a year ago and it is great but none of the stores I normally shop in admit to ever having sold it.
Pamela

Pamela, Gallows Bay is an ACE Hardware affiliate...try that on STT?

Thanks. I don't normally shop at Ace (not a fix it up kind of girl) but will try them. I used in my "scary room" for roaches and the number of roaches coming out of that room was amazing! Thanks again.

Pamela

BENGAL products are AWESOME !!!!
they REALLY WORK......

bless

I have heard that alot of pieces of mahogany have bore bugs in them. I think you have to be careful cause they can go into other pieces.

We had some in a new door and before long other pieces of furn. close to that door also showed bug signs. I got my piece that has them at the brass key. I didnt know for along time what it was. thought just some funny dust, so to late to take piece back.

Plastic warp and bengal it. that is what i am going to do.

Ours came from Brass Key too. Different though, in that the infestation was in the sea-grass type furniture, like rattan but a coarser grass weave, and the entire set had them...only in the "grass" and not the rattan frames. Destroyed the furniture. So I guess they can come in any type of material. Have also heard of folks having problems with the boxes of kitchen cabinets, from a couple cabinet sources

yes beachy i know of people who had to get all new cabinets. the bore bugs ate all the cabinets until they were almost falling off wall.

to bad we have to pay big bucks for our furniture and we get an extra bonus........bugs

When I first moved here I brought a product with me to spray the yard for fleas and I used it on my dresser which got the powder post beetles after we moved here. It worked great. I took everything out of the dresser took it outside and sprayed it. I don't remember the name of the product but I will try and find out.

WOW...$900 is crazy. We are having the same problem and called one of the local exterminating companies (Oliver's) to get a quote. I'll let you know if it is any cheaper.

I think all they do is tent the piece and spray. You can do it yourself i am sure.
wonder what happens if piece is not treated? do they just eat it away so that one day the cabinet come crashing down??? hummmmmmmm!!!!

They will eat the cabinets until the wood is paper thin and Yes they will come crashing down.

oh no!!!!! i better move the tv out fast or spray get that thing tented. bore bugs be gone

OK... thanks for all the tips. I bought the bengal product (there were several available but it specifically said powder post so I felt better)... (the term out product looked good too).... I mixed up 2 gallons of the spray and soaked the first piece today. Way stinky stuff. This is not a bomb... its a liquid. So... I just used the yard spray canister. I'm going to let the piece dry in the sun now and then let it air out for a day or two then start using it again. The first sign I see of powder again... I'm going to repeat this whole process. The Bengal product cost me less than $25.00 for what makes two gallons. I tried to get the liquid into all the little visible holes. There is no guarantee this will work but the furniture piece is still very solid and I can afford to do this two or three times for that price... so I think it is the better solution for me. I think I also might wrap it in plastic and set off one of the aerosol bombs too. Just as an added precaution.

By the way... I went online and researched these bugs a bit. The online info says that they don't attack finished pieces, only can enter through raw wood... so, another thing I'm going to do is put a fresh coat of varnish of these pieces. The bugs inside will eventually bore their way out (leaving the powder) and if you treat and seal the whole right away... supposedly... they will eventually all be gone.

I've lived in the Caribbean most of my life and this is the first time I've had to deal with these bugs. I really don't like them and I could easily see how someone that dusted regularly could never know they were there since the powder is so fine at first. Only buy looking closely (get out the reading glasses) can you see the little pin holes that indicate that it is powder post! Buggers!

Thanks again.

my only sugggestion might be to check the length of the lifecycle of the bugs on the internet. if the bugs only live a short while, you might want to re-treat w/in a week or so to try to get them in the various stages of development. But this might not apply as they may (I seem to recall), spend a long time as eggs.

i had olivers come out and treat my seagrass furniture for powder post beetles. it cost me 350. they encase in big plastic bag and put in the poison gas, and i think they keep it enclosed for 2 or 3 days. this was a bedroom set including dresser and mirror. what christopher from olivers told me was that the concentration of gas they use for powder post is something like 10 times as high as that needed for termites, and that they are hard to kill. so far so good, and it has been over a year.
it might be worth calling twilas and asking if there is a warranty on bugs. they may have had them gassed recently, you never know. because these kind of bugs are a problem in the indonesian imported stuff.
keep us posted with your results, as your way is alot cheaper.

my only sugggestion might be to check the length of the lifecycle of the bugs on the internet. if the bugs only live a short while, you might want to re-treat w/in a week or so to try to get them in the various stages of development. But this might not apply as they may (I seem to recall), spend a long time as eggs.

when ones said borer beetles it threw me...

i lived in a log cabin at one time.....i had borer bees (beetles).....they bore the holes so they can make a home inside the wood and lay their eggs.....so one must be extremely pro active in getting rid of these things......my landlord finally had to pay boo-coo dollars to get rid of them as a couple had bored completely through 2 of the logs of the cabin....thank goodness they did not get any of my furniture....good luck in getting rid of them. when it is quiet, if they have actually nested, you can hear them buzzing about inside the wood....

bless

I'm guessing these aren't the same thing as wood lice?