Wood Borers

Wood Borers Management Services

POWDER POST BEETLES also known as Woodborers. Unlike termite it is equally important pest, which destroys wood. The main sign of infestation is yellowish powder falling from furniture, which is an excreta of organism. Larvae bore the wood and live for years feeding on the wood-creating network of internal tunnels throughout the timber and can quickly reduce it to dust.

Powder post beetles mainly belong to following four important families of order Coleoptera. 1) Lyctidae 2) Bostrichidae 3) Anobiidae 4) Cerambycidae

Common species observed in India

The adult beetles are small, ranging from 2-7 mm in length, light brown to almost black in color. Life span of powder post beetles varies from 1 to 5 years, depending on the quality of the wood they infest, fluctuation in temperature, moisture content of the wood & species of beetle. The larvae eat hard dry wood, tunnel through timbers in successive generations until the interior is completely reduced to fine powder and the surface shell is perforated by many small shot holes. Generation after generations of the insects may develop in the dry wood with little external evidence until yellowish powder is seen.

Mode of Treatment

An oil base solution is injected in the holes created as result of damage caused by powder post beetles. The entire infested portion is then sprayed and the holes are then plugged with wood wax.