01-04-2011, 06:41 PM
Some explanation of the woodworm life cycle might be of interest and relevant to understanding what happens to old radio cabinets. Worm holes aren't so much evidence of the presence of woodworm, rather the holes are evidence that woodworm wre there, but have been and gone. They're exit holes - not entry holes. While woodworm treatment of a woody cabinet will do no harm, it probably won’t do much good either – the larvae that caused the damage will have pupated into beetles and have long gone, but in the unlikely event that there are still any larvae within, at least the wood of a radio cabinet is thin, so the liquid will get to them.
The wood-worming beetle’s lifecycle, (the most common of the four wood-worming beetles in the UK being the furniture beetle), goes like this:
The pregnant female starts the lifecycle by laying her eggs directly into the timber through cracks and existing holes. (To protect the eggs they aren’t left on the surface of the timber). The female beetle lives for only 10 - 14 days - her male counterpart - whose only role in life is to mate with as many females as possible, and doesn’t even eat - lives for only 3 -4 days! The beetles themselves cause little or no damage to timber.
After a few weeks the eggs hatch downwards into the timber and produce larvae - this is the worm stage of the lifecycle, and the larvae carry on in this phase for anything from 2 to 5 years, munching their way up and down inside the timber, but this goes on unseen as they don’t emerge, having no reason to. It’s during this long phase of their lives that the structural damage is done, which is of course far more serious in load bearing structural timbers such as roof and floor beams, than in radio cabinets. (The fine wood dust that they produce is known as frass’).
Towards the end of the woodworm beetle lifecycle, the larvae pupate from the larval stage into an adult beetle. The adult beetle then eats its way through the surface of timber producing the round exit holes that we see as evidence of the infestation which has taken place unseen over many years. Once the beetles emerge from the timber, in their brief life of just a few days, they meet, mate, lay their eggs inside the nearest piece of wood to continue the life cycle. Then they die. Good!
Why do worming beetles - or rather their larvae - attack old radios?
From a beetle's point of view - why not?
The radios are often stored in lofts for years, where beetles may infest roof and floor timbers, able to get on with their lives unnoticed. It’s unlikely that they’d burrow into the outside of a wooden cabinet, as they’re not keen on varnishes or paint finishes, but there will be plenty of openings for ventilation etc in the back, (if it has a back!), for the beetle to get into and burrow into the bare wood to lay its eggs. A radio - a roof beam - it's all wood to a beetle!
Hope that's of interest.
David
The wood-worming beetle’s lifecycle, (the most common of the four wood-worming beetles in the UK being the furniture beetle), goes like this:
The pregnant female starts the lifecycle by laying her eggs directly into the timber through cracks and existing holes. (To protect the eggs they aren’t left on the surface of the timber). The female beetle lives for only 10 - 14 days - her male counterpart - whose only role in life is to mate with as many females as possible, and doesn’t even eat - lives for only 3 -4 days! The beetles themselves cause little or no damage to timber.
After a few weeks the eggs hatch downwards into the timber and produce larvae - this is the worm stage of the lifecycle, and the larvae carry on in this phase for anything from 2 to 5 years, munching their way up and down inside the timber, but this goes on unseen as they don’t emerge, having no reason to. It’s during this long phase of their lives that the structural damage is done, which is of course far more serious in load bearing structural timbers such as roof and floor beams, than in radio cabinets. (The fine wood dust that they produce is known as frass’).
Towards the end of the woodworm beetle lifecycle, the larvae pupate from the larval stage into an adult beetle. The adult beetle then eats its way through the surface of timber producing the round exit holes that we see as evidence of the infestation which has taken place unseen over many years. Once the beetles emerge from the timber, in their brief life of just a few days, they meet, mate, lay their eggs inside the nearest piece of wood to continue the life cycle. Then they die. Good!
Why do worming beetles - or rather their larvae - attack old radios?
From a beetle's point of view - why not?
The radios are often stored in lofts for years, where beetles may infest roof and floor timbers, able to get on with their lives unnoticed. It’s unlikely that they’d burrow into the outside of a wooden cabinet, as they’re not keen on varnishes or paint finishes, but there will be plenty of openings for ventilation etc in the back, (if it has a back!), for the beetle to get into and burrow into the bare wood to lay its eggs. A radio - a roof beam - it's all wood to a beetle!
Hope that's of interest.
David
