Wooden products are susceptible to attack by insects, the most common and dangerous of which are furniture grinders; the name “shasheli” has taken root among the people. Beetles live in warm rooms, in wood of almost any species. If you find holes in old wooden furniture in which small insects are swarming, most likely it is a furniture grinder, and we will tell you how to get rid of it in this article.
How do you know if furniture has been damaged by a grinder?
The furniture grinder is a dark brown bug no more than five millimeters long.
If the necessary measures are not taken in time, the pests will spread throughout the apartment and damage all the furniture. Beetles reproduce by laying eggs. The female lays eggs in the smallest crevices and cracks, connecting grooves or pits. The larvae appear after 7-14 days, and so they spoil the tree, gnawing out a network of winding passages in it.
Yellow pollen remains in the habitats of the larvae. By these signs, you can notice that the furniture is damaged, and it’s time to take action. If this moment is missed, after a year or two the larvae pupate, soon turning into adults. However, while the beetle is in the larval stage, it manages to spoil the tree almost completely, the imago gnaws its way to the surface and flies out. The holes will be small, only a few millimeters, but there are several beetles, so the furniture on the outside will have traces of holes, but on the inside it will be practically empty.
However, the presence of holes is not yet an indicator that grinders live in your antique chest of drawers; perhaps they left the furniture a long time ago. Focus on fine, fresh dust near the holes.
How to get rid of a furniture grinder?
The method of dealing with grinders depends on the extent to which the furniture is affected.
If several holes are visible on the wood, and the rest of the surface is not damaged, inject petroleum jelly into these holes using a regular syringe or pipette, but the top of the damage must be carefully covered with paraffin or wax. Repeat the procedure after 14 days. After a month, inspect the furniture, if there are no new flight holes, there is no yellow pollen, the product has been successfully removed from the grinders.
Useful video about getting rid of the grinder
In case of significant damage, treatment with Vaseline oil will not help; you will need insecticidal preparations, for example “Drevotox” or “Prima” spray. The product should be applied to the damaged area, and then all the smallest holes should be covered with wax. This is necessary to ensure that the gas does not escape from the inside of the wood. Carry out all work using chemicals wearing safety glasses, aprons and rubber gloves. During treatment, you should not eat any food or smoke. Upon completion of work, you must take a shower.
In summer, carry out the treatment with open windows or in the fresh air. In winter, after spraying insecticide on the wood, it is best to go for a walk. Prolonged contact with insecticides can cause poisoning.
An ancient method of ridding wood of pests is freezing. In winter, place the furniture in a cold but dry room for a couple of months. When using this method, it is important to monitor how humid the room is, otherwise the furniture may become damaged.
General characteristics of furniture pest
The adult furniture parasite is a small dark brown bug. The length of its body is within 4-5 mm. The beetle belongs to the order of Coleoptera insects. It is harmless from the point of view of danger to human health. Pests are found everywhere, the most common among them are the following species: the beetle grinder, the furniture grinder and the house longhorned beetle. In everyday life they are called wood borers, wood gnawers and wood eaters.
Furniture grinders reproduce by laying eggs. Females drop them into the smallest cracks, recesses, grooves found in wooden products. After 7-14 days, voracious larvae emerge from the eggs, which are capable of sharpening wood, gnawing out a whole network of winding passages and labyrinths in it. If there are a lot of them, then the furniture or wooden floor in the house can turn into dust in almost one season.
Furniture grinder larvae
Important! In places where larvae accumulate, yellow-brown flour is present, which is an indicator that the wood is damaged.
Their development lasts from twelve months to several years. After the formation of the pupa, about three weeks must pass for the development cycle to complete with the appearance of the beetle. It chews through the remaining surface of the tree and climbs out. The diameter of the hole reaches several millimeters, but there is more than one pest and the entire wood mass is damaged. The furniture grinder in the photos posted on the site will help you get to know the dangerous pest of all wooden structures more closely.
Where does it come from?
Many owners of wooden furniture are surprised to wonder where parasites come from, because it is not easy to get into the house, and the purchased furniture was perfectly clean and smooth. It is worth noting that beetles are active only at night, because they are shy insects and can hardly be seen during the day.
It is very difficult to catch a furniture grinder: as soon as the individual senses danger, it turns over on its back and lifts its paws. This is how the parasite pretends to be dead.
It is known that grinders live in almost any home, but they are especially fond of wooden dwellings. The risk that a furniture grinder has settled in your home is much higher if the house is built entirely of wood. With the onset of spring warmth, the female beetle begins to lay eggs, from which larvae hatch, significantly spoiling the life of the owners of the house.
The larvae immediately begin to feed on wood - furniture. They chew holes and make long passages, moving randomly. With their appearance, they cause enormous damage to the property of the apartment. The life cycle of one individual larva is from 1 to 3 years. At the same time, in winter they fall into suspended animation, so that in summer they will return to active movement again.
If the room is well heated, then the larva continues to live in winter: temperature changes are detrimental to it. With stable humidity levels, individuals continue to devour furniture in large quantities. During the development process, the larvae become pupae, which will later become adult beetles aimed only at reproduction.
Furniture beetles do not infest in the following places:
- painted wood;
- lacquered furniture;
- in a clean and dry room;
- pieces of furniture affected by other parasites.
To check whether the furniture can be restored, you need to take a screwdriver and lightly pierce the area in an inconspicuous place: if the wood turns out to be dense and hard, the furniture can be saved by treating it with special compounds.
Signs of a pest in an apartment
It is almost impossible to notice a small “rodent” in an apartment or house, not to mention the larvae that inhabit the woody area. There are irrefutable signs by which you can unmistakably determine the presence of furniture parasites:
- Quiet tapping inside the furniture, reminiscent of the sound of a clock running. The beetle produces it during the breeding season. It is created thanks to a special shield located in the chest area of the grinder. The insect hits the walls of the passage made, causing such a peculiar noise. Sonic booms, ranging from six to ten, are interspersed with short pauses.
- Specific small holes on wooden surfaces, indicating the presence of a furniture sharpener.
Traces of a furniture grinder
The presence of at least one of these signs should alert the owners of the room and force them to carefully inspect all wooden accessories. Despite the absence of direct harm to human health, night tapping can interfere with proper rest. This is explained by the fact that the larvae are most active at this time of day. Pests wear away wood, so they prefer wooden buildings or apartments that have furniture made of this material. The “tireless work” of bark beetles can turn wood into dust, which will cause great damage to the household.
Prevention of woodworm occurrence
Preventive measures against the borer beetle are an essential element of protection. These include:
- clearing a tree of bark;
- visual inspection of the material;
- drying wood in special chambers in the sun.
Treatment of structures with insecticides (such as “Senezh”, “Pinotex”), special impregnations, stains, opening with varnish is an essential element of wood protection.
Borer beetles are dangerous pests. They spend most of their biological cycle inside a wooden structure, so they are difficult to immediately detect. Despite the insidiousness of the pest, there are many effective means to overcome the pest.
Pest control methods
If problems arise on how to get rid of the furniture borer, then it should be noted that this process is quite labor-intensive and does not guarantee complete disposal of bark beetles. But despite this, the fight against beetles must be carried out using safe folk recipes or special chemicals.
Among the recipes invented by people, the following effective techniques can be distinguished:
- Petrolatum. A simple, safe, but long-lasting way to destroy a furniture grinder. The product is injected into the identified holes in the wood using a syringe or pipette. After this, they are filled with wax or paraffin.
- A mixture of turpentine and kerosene. The ingredients are mixed in a 3:1 ratio and the resulting composition, using a brush, is applied to all wooden surfaces. Sometimes naphthalene is added to this solution.
Folk remedies from a furniture sharpener
- Temperature effects. You can deal with wood destroyers by heating or freezing the products.
- Salt. A highly concentrated solution is used to treat surfaces affected by the beetle - furniture and walls that are not exposed to precipitation. An effective method allows you to completely destroy the grinder.
- use of protective impregnations for wood;
- treatment of furniture with insecticidal or hormone-containing preparations;
- mechanical removal of infected areas of wood;
- protection of home and furniture using phosphine-based fumigators;
- the use of special traps.
Maybe there will be a person who will be interested in watching the grinder beetle that starts in the furniture. But most people decide to get rid of such neighbors. After all, this insect can cause enormous damage to wood and products made from it. After its stay, the wood turns into dust in just a few months. How to recognize this particular beetle? What types of grinders are there? And, most importantly, how to destroy pests.
Preventive measures
The best way to fix a problem is to eliminate its causes. The appearance of a grinder is a very dangerous signal. He talks not only about the threat to house structures and buildings, but also about the possibility of damage to garden plants. Therefore, it is necessary to cut off all ways of insects entering the area.
Most often they come from lumber brought from an infected sawmill or trading base. To protect against the grinder, you should inspect the material, paying special attention to defective areas of the boards (presence of bark, dead parts). If affected boards or timber are found, it is recommended to refuse the purchase and look elsewhere.
Experts say that completely eliminating the borer is extremely difficult, if possible at all. Therefore, the processing procedure should be repeated periodically. If possible, affected structural elements should be replaced with new, clean parts. This will prevent the spread of insects and damage to garden plants.
It is recommended to immediately carry out a thorough inspection, examine the most critical areas and carry out treatment. If you have no experience, the best solution would be to contact a specialized company or SES. The participation of specialists will help solve the problem in the most effective way.
What types of grinders are there?
Today science knows a huge number of these insects that live in nature. The “domestic” beetle species includes several varieties. These are:
Furniture beetles include insects that have a body 2-5 mm long. In suitable conditions, it can breed several generations of young individuals within one calendar year. Its dark brown color will help you understand that it is he. In addition, it has stripes consisting of dots located on the elytra. In insect larvae can reach a size of 6 mm. They appear from eggs laid by the female insect. Often the female lays eggs in the most inaccessible places in wooden furniture. In this case, holes appear on the surface, the diameter of which is several millimeters.
How to recognize that a “parasite” lives in furniture
Signs of infection:
- Rusting sounds coming from furniture.
- The appearance of wood flour.
- Traces of passages on the surface.
Often, pest infestation occurs simultaneously with the appearance of fungus. Rotten, half-rotten wood is attractive to fungal colonies. Beetles often bring spores with them. That is why getting rid of problems must be comprehensive.
Means for destruction
Today there are a significant number of different compounds on sale that help fight this pest. These are such as “Tree healer”, “Anti-bug”, “Belinka Belotsid”, etc. Their advantage is that the products penetrate the tree quite deeply and their effectiveness does not decrease for several years. This helps not only remove the bugs, but also prevents their reappearance. Before buying any composition placed in a can, you should carefully read the instructions prepared by the manufacturer.
It is important that there is a note stating that the product helps get rid of flying insects. Since only they will help kill not only the pest larvae, but also the adults. This drug remains in the ambient air for some time. Therefore, the room in which furniture is processed should be closed and not opened for the required amount of time. Also, for the greatest safety, it is necessary to close the gas valve. You should also remove matches and objects that ignite easily from the room.
Habitat and lifestyle
Grinder on a tree.
Borer beetles are found almost everywhere. Insects are widespread in the following areas:
- Kazakhstan;
- Ukraine;
- Siberia;
- european part of Russia.
These beetles very often settle near humans. Adults devote their lives exclusively to reproduction. They do not search for food and live off the nutrients accumulated during the larval stage.
Home remedies for pest control
To do this, you will need substances such as tar, naphthalene, and black carbolic acid. All this must be taken in equal proportions. If the bug has settled on not very valuable pieces of garden furniture, then it can be treated with hot drying oil. But this method is not suitable if the objects should not lose their original appearance. For such furniture, regular painting is suitable. This will remove unwanted guests from her. Also, items can be treated with flax oil and kerosene.
There is also a recipe: First, the surface should be treated with Vaseline oil. And the holes that remain after the pests have inhabited them need to be filled with the following composition: 3 parts turpentine, 1 part kerosene. Afterwards they need to be sealed with wax or paraffin.
The danger of insects to wood
The main dangers posed by insects:
- Reduced strength, negative impact on the mechanical properties of wood.
- Reducing the lifespan of an item.
- Deterioration in the aesthetics of products.
- The noise made by the larvae makes it difficult to sleep at night.
- Deterioration of furniture characteristics (thermal conductivity, load resistance, humidity).
The most effective way to control pests is prevention; it is better to prevent the appearance of beetles that eat furniture than to fight them.
Types of damage on a wooden surface
Quite often, pest infestation occurs at the cutting stage, when initially low-quality material is used. The epicenter of infection is the bark, from which insects penetrate the wood. When it loses nutrients, it becomes unattractive to pests.
The main types of damage are holes and passages that insects make in wood. In addition, all beetles that eat furniture leave behind wood flour. Sometimes infection is accompanied by rot.
