# Baking Bugs



## Tennessee Tim (Dec 15, 2010)

Got some free cherry logs couple weeks ago....has some critters in them. It had laid in a pile for a year and stayed damp enough to get termites and bugs in the sap wood. I decided prior to unloading and infesting sawmill lot I'd experiment with natural heat. I wrapped in black plastic and hopefully take advantage of the sun. Put my weather station in and sealed up (weather station battery failed and lost any info :thumbdown. changing batteries today for temp updates. If temps don't get hot enough I'll fumigate then unload. Need wagon, have 1000' + RO given to me plus a "tree too big for local mills" that I haven't seen yet but free. If it's the one I seen last spring from storm damage it's 48" base clear RO also.

The Lord's really been Blessing me Greatly lately with good gifts:thumbsup::yes::smile::icon_smile:.

Have a Blessed day in Jesus's Awesome Love,
Tim


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## ETWW (Mar 27, 2011)

That pic reminds me of Barney Rubble's car from the Flintstone cartoons. :smile:

I'm doubtful that you will achieve enough heat to sterilize the log. The wood needs to reach 133 degrees to kill any bugs and to get it that high throughout, the air temp inside the plastic would need to be around 150 - 160 degrees for several hours.

The recorded weather data should tell the story, though. Good luck with it.


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## tc65 (Jan 9, 2012)

Just a thought for future reference. A few years ago I was cooperating in some field research using plastic to solarize soil and kill pathogens. We would cover large areas in a field with plastic and monitor pathogen levels before and after as well as monitor crop production after solarization. 

Anyway, we always used clear plastic to achieve the highest temps. With any plastic covering you get condensation but with clear plastic, the sun's rays pass through the plastic and the moisture condensed on the inside which magnifies the rays and temperature (think magnifying glass to fry ants on sidewalk). I don't recall the temperatures we were able to achieve but we were able to lessen the pathogens in the soil.

Another thought, is that with your lumber elevated on the wagon, you won't generate as much heat as you would if it were stacked on the ground or a concrete pad which would hold some of the heat generated during the day. With it elevated, your temperature will always be lowered as ambient air passes around your load.

If you are willing to experiment (and the fact you have a weather station) you might try stacking some of the lumber on the ground, covering with clear plastic and seeing what the differences are.


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## Mizer (Mar 11, 2010)

Since you all-ready have it sealed up how about fumigating it? I do not now anything about the process other than it seems like you would have to seal it up like you all-ready have. If you could hook a hose up from my 16 year old sons room for a day or two nothing would be left alive for sure.


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## Tennessee Tim (Dec 15, 2010)

YEAH.....IT'S an experiment and the temps aren't looking good since the battery change. To my surprise and as TRC stated the black is hot to touch but nothing much inside. Black bottom clear top might magnify the sun into the "envelope". This experiment is coming to an end soon with fumigation due to I NEED THE WAGON :laughing::laughing::laughing: to gather more nice logs :thumbsup::thumbsup: (Praise the Lord).

Got to finish emptying kiln to reload. Daren's plan works great.....4,000 bf is a lot to store and go through. Way does all great ideas....SAWMILL...... grow into buying and building more??????.........loader....drying sheds....kiln.....seperating shed.....storage facility......bigger saw.....warehouse....

Have a Blessed day in Jesus's Awesome Love ,
Tim


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## SteveEl (Sep 7, 2010)

Tennessee Tim said:


> more??????.........loader....drying sheds....kiln.....seperating shed.....storage facility......bigger saw.....warehouse....


... timber management plans for your nearly tax free commercial hardwood forest in Michigan ....


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## Tennessee Tim (Dec 15, 2010)

Thanks Steve, I'll see what Tennessee's got to offer:thumbsup:.

Wanted the natural/heat process but EPA approved fumigation was the answer today. DONE. Now I can move on.

Have a Blessed evening In Jesus's Awesome Love,
Tim


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## SteveEl (Sep 7, 2010)

Something to experiment with next time, if you have the right connections.... This guy on CarTalks Stump-the-Chumps last year told how he got rid of bugs in his car through his friendship with the owner of the local dairy distributor. The dairy warehouse had a super cold freezer section... big enough for trucks and loading. The guy just parked his car in the sub zero temps and the bugs were toast.

Beats me how the freezing might make/expand cracks and checks in the logs, but the sudden temp drop (without them getting the chance to gradually adjust) ought to toast most bugs.

Maybe you could barter parking privileges for doing a project or two for the dairyman?


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## Tennessee Tim (Dec 15, 2010)

WEEELLLLL......:laughing::laughing::laughing:......I'm counting it all joy in the Lord......so much for the EPA :gunsmilie:approved fumigation. Did kill some bugs but not as deep as I wanted. I just stripped all the bark this evening and stacked seperate from other wood and off the ground due to some termites, I beleive the no bark and no ground contact with the sun they'll be history.

Have a Blessed evening in the Lord,
Tim


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## aardvark (Sep 29, 2011)

Gotta get it to 160 degrees for a peroid of time to kill bugs, OR chemical kill.
Sun temps in Tennessee won't do it. 
Under a black tarp as shown with a thermometer, you should have been able to check temp. It needs to be at that temp for a time to cook the succa's. I don't know the time necessary.
That temp is also good for kiln drying but the moisture needs taken out in the process.


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## Tennessee Tim (Dec 15, 2010)

Aardvark,

TRC had some good answers that I noticed the black asorbed the heat but that was all.....NO heat transfer to the interior. I got them in the end....I peeled the bark...piled it....and BURNED THEM. Yea I know it doesn't eliminate all but the logs on a steel wagon frame in the sun AIN'T going to stay damp enough for survival :laughing::no:.

How do you control them around your mill????

Have a Blessed day In Jesus's Awesome Love,
Tim


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## Tennessee Tim (Dec 15, 2010)

*Roasted*

Roasted them bugs....Yeah I'm stingy....I didn't share them termites with anyone:thumbsup::no::blink::thumbdown:...LOL.

Peeled the bark and burnt it up.

Have a Blessed day in Jesus's Awesome Love,
Tim


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