With the expanding local and world wide demand for tropical timbers, there is increased interest in the suitability of lesser–used timber species as alternatives for the forest based industries in order to ensure sustainable forest management. In the forests of Ghana, there are quite a number of timber species that are lesser known and have not been adequately used due to the absence of information on their properties. Two such lesser-used wood species are rubber wood (Hevea brasiliensis) and coconut wood (Cocos nucifera). We have determined the resistance of a treated and untreated coconut wood and rubber wood against selected brown and white rot decay fungi using the mini block method. Norway spruce and beech wood specimens were used as controls. After eight weeks of decay, mass losses were determined gravimetrically. The results showed that although both coconut wood and rubber wood were very resistant to all the decay fungi tested their resistance against the brown rot fungi were higher than the white rot fungi. Treatment of both wood species with a boron-based preservative increased their resistance considerably against all the decay fungi. The resistance of the treated coconut wood increased by 9% and 87% when exposed to S. lacrymans and T. versicolor respectively and that of the treated rubber wood increased by 43% and 82% when exposed to G. trabeum and H. fragiforme respectively. We however recommend that the treated woods should only be used where the risk of repeated wetting is very low in order to prevent leaching of the boron from the wood.

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