Steve - Certain wood boring beetles are confined to the sapwood of hardwoods (because of the sugar content) and others to the sapwood of softwoods. The real powderpost beetles (Lyctidae) prefer woods high in sugar content; hence they often infest bamboo and of course hardwoods. The Old and New House Borers prefer the sapwood of softwoods. The nutrient value for the beetles is highest in the sapwood.
I am not certain of the type of sugar found in these materials naturally. Someone else will have to answer that question. Does a sugar maple have sucrose or some other form of sugar? What's the sugar in bamboo? Tom Parker -----Original Message----- From: Pine, Steve <[email protected]> To: [email protected] Sent: Thu, May 20, 2010 12:17 pm Subject: RE: [pestlist] Sucrose and wood I attended a presentation recently that brought up a question that I couldn’t answer so I’m bringing it to the group. In a conservation treatment of waterlogged wood a process of consolidation was utilized where a thinned concentration of sucrose in water would be added to the wood structure as a bulking agent that would also impart more strength to support the weakened wood structure and retain the object’s shape. It has been in use since the mid 80’s when Jim Parrent developed the process. At that time it was his opinion that the added sucrose would not increase the likelihood of infestation. I can visualize the connection between the starches wood borers digest and the chemical relationship to simple sugars but wasn’t clear on how to justify that the borers wouldn’t be attracted to the sucrose. My guess is that there are enzymes and nutritional regulators that preclude the borers from processing sucrose. Can someone explain why or that my assumption is wrong? Thanks for the help. Steve Steven L. Pine Decorative Arts Conservator The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston P.O. Box 6826 Houston, TX 77265 [email protected]
