Mites in the wood pile?

[Bill in Buena Park]

I've noticed that after recently adding a batch of freshly cut bowl blanks to my blank pile, the area has contracted wood mites. This is likely normal with locally harvested wood, but something of a first for me to consider of whether/how to deal with it. I understand they are harmless to humans, but not sure if they'll stay localized to the wet/drying blanks, or move throughout the workshop. I'd appreciate hearing anyone's experiences with this, and if/how they bothered to address, and if successful. Thanks in advance.

[capncarl]

I've always heard that wood mites only ate rotting wood. Power post beetles are another story though. I've seen a lot of wood destroyed by them and see no reason that they would not eat your shop and house. I've probably hauled enough of them into shop to eat it down.
capncarl

[cwsmith]

I'm not exactly sure about "mites", as I haven't gone through the trouble of looking into what those 'little tiny bugs' were... but they were mighty small and somewhat plentiful.

When we moved to Painted Post way back in 1973, we were moving into a company house that had been through the Agnes flood of '72. While the house had been somewhat sanitized and renovated, we did find some problems. Among those was a wooden grate (cold air return) that had these tiny bugs. I took it outside and washed it first with mineral spirits and then a mixture of ammonia and a household disinfectant. That killed them.

Here, I put my shop in the basement which is a semi-finished. The lower half of the walls are strand board. Shortly after buying the house we had some serious flooding in the area and though our house is on higher ground, we did get some surface water in the basement. Though we cleaned everything up well, the high humidity resulted in these same tiny bugs showing up on these basement panels. Again, I wiped down the walls with mineral spirits and then, using a spray bottle, sprayed the walls with a household disinfectant. Then (and I think this is the permanent cure) we bought a dehumidifier. Now, it is general practice to keep the humidity down below 70%. It's much more comfortable in the shop and I have seen no evidence of any further insects.

I'm not into 'turning', so most any stock that I purchase is sheet or board stock, all of which goes to the garage for some period of time. Also out there, I keep freshly-cut logs taken from our tree trimmings. After a year or so, they go to my brother for his wood stove. Whatever, I've seen no wood mites as the garage is dry and any summer humidity appears to be offset by the general solar heat of that period. (The garage can get pretty warm during the summer.) When I bring stock into the basement shop for use, I usually inspect and do the general sanding first. I've not seen any wood insect during that process.

I hope this helps,

CWS

[Bill in Buena Park]

Sounds like moisture control is the key. I don't notice the mites on the dry wood, just the damp wood. I know I can use an insecticide - but would rather not. So maybe I need to consider outside drying of fresh-cut wet wood before moving it into the shop. I just don't like the thought of leaving the wood out for, say, termites to find and infest.