They are sneaky little critters. The adult beetles will lay eggs on the ends of a stick. That is where there the wood is
rough. The eggs hatch and the larvae eat their way along the inside. Presumably when they get to the far end they turn
around and go back. Thing is, they can be munching away for years without you ever knowing. Then, when they are ready,
they will eat their way to the surface and turn into a pupa. A few days later they turn into adults and fly off to mate and
lay more eggs on some other bit of nice wood.
If you see holes that means that particular worm has exited. But there may be others. There might be another year's batch
that will hatch next year.
You can tell if the stick is infected by cutting it. The tunnels (filled in with worm crap) will be visible as small pale spots.
Sometimes you can cut around the chewed bits. But the best course of action is to burn the lot asap.
You can get woodworm treatments, but these only help protect the wood from the beetles laying eggs. Once infected the
only reliable way to nuke the critters is to put the moulding in a freezer for a few weeks. Got a big freezer?
