WOOD BORER INSECTS 

Life Cycle                  

Powder post beetles spend months or years inside the wood in the larval stage. Their presence is only apparent when they emerge from the wood as adults, leaving pin hole openings and piles of powdery frass below. The holes are usually about the size of a round toothpick depending on the species of beetle. If wood conditions are right, female beetles may lay their eggs and rein fest the wood, continuing the cycle for generations. Heavily-infested wood becomes riddled with holes and rooms or basements packed with a dusty frass (wood that has passed through the digestive tract of the beetles)  The adult beetles emerge in the spring, mate and begin laying eggs immediately. Females lay 20 to 60 eggs on bare wood surfaces, or inside previous emergence holes in finished wood. The larvae hatch out in 6 - 10 days and immediately tunnel into the wood. The larval stage will last 2 to 10years. Furniture beetles pupate near the surface of the wood and chew their way out to mate.
 

Control

Eliminating the larval stage tunneling under the wood surface is almost impossible.  Spraying the surface with a residual insecticide at the time of adult emergence may reduce the population.  Adult females will not lay eggs on a varnished or painted surface. Eliminating exposed unfinished wood will prevent reinfestation. 

Target materials

Both hardwood and softwood can be attacked by Powder post beetles, although lyctids only infest hardwoods. Items that can be infested by Powder post beetles include any wooden tools or tool handles, frames, furniture, gun stocks, books, toys, bamboo, flooring, and structural timbers.