All For Gardening
If you replace a rotting wood retaining wall that has a carpenter ant problem with a new wooden retaining wall with proper drainage will the carpenter ants just as easily return and excavate a new nest there?
In Landscaping

If you replace a rotting wood retaining wall that has a carpenter ant problem with a new wooden retaining wall with proper drainage will the carpenter ants just as easily return and excavate a new nest there?


I finally found someone who does wood retaining walls after reaching out to my HOA. In my previous post I wanted to replace my subsection with stone but now I can look at replacing my wooden section with a new reinforced section with proper drainage and deadmen. We currently have a bad carpenter ant problem all over our backyard due to a nest in the rotting wood, if the rotting wood is fully removed and replaced will the carpenter ants return and excavate the new pressure treated wood? Picture for reference of current wall, damage is mostly at the bottom of the posts where the wood is spongy

by Jakeww21

3 Comments

  1. Joe_B_Likes_Tacos

    No, carpenter ants do not eat non-rotted wood; they tunnel through wood to create nests and galleries, but they prefer already softened, decaying, or moist wood. They excavate this wood because it is easier to chew through and they don’t digest cellulose,like termites.

    Once your new wood gets old enough to be rotten, you can count on them coming back. I would look into building a wall out of concrete blocks.

  2. Gerald_Butler_Fan

    Short answer no, they won’t return as easily, but one way or another these wood retaining walls don’t have good longevity as other options do. Whether the carpenter ants do return (can hold them off with treating the wood, once installed can only treat the visible wood).

    Any way you could go with a concrete wall / rock / block wall instead? Besides carpenter ants, wood walls are subject to weathering and even rot from weather exposure.

Pin