Wednesday, July 9, 2008

Termite Treatment

Are termites a problem in or near your house? Are you having problems eradicating these pests from your property? Then you need termite treatment! Well there goes my attempt at sounding like an infomercial. Sorry I didn’t have the miracle solution for you that works in 10 minutes guaranteed. But what I do have is a few guidelines to follow when treating against termites.

The first thing that you want to do when treating termites is first do proper termite identification. You cannot treat all termites the same and use the same method to treat each species. For example, Drywood termites do not need to burrow mud tubes in the ground that lead to their food unlike subterranean termites. So putting a chemical barrier into your soil will not be very effective against these termites. To create a solution to your problem, you have to know the variables that you are working with. No nerd talk intended.

The next thing that you will do is decide upon which treatment method that you will use. Are you going to try to treat these termites yourself? Are you going to call a professional? Will you use repellant liquid termiticides or will you use a bait system to kill them off? Each of these questions will lead you to more knowledge about how termite treatment works. Then you will know how to talk to a professional or what you will need to do to correctly apply termite treatment.

After you have put your treatment options to use, you will then want to carefully monitor their effectiveness. Check in and around places where termites were festering. Do you see any new fecal remnants? Are there any signs of termite infestation in new areas? Sometimes these treatments will cause termites to go around and find another path, so you want to make sure that you are aware of this happening before more damage is caused.

As always you should remember that the best treatment is prevention. You should never keep trash or decayed wood near your house. If you have any faucets, make sure to keep their leaks away from the foundation of your house. You don’t want to promote a high moisture environment near your property. Keep all of your gutters clean, and keep mulch around a foot away from the foundation of your house. Also avoid contact between your porch and the ground. If you do this, you shouldn’t ever have to worry about termites around your house. Good luck!

Tuesday, July 8, 2008

Subterranean Termite Treatments

If you are dealing with a termite problem, then you probably have subterranean termites in your property. These termites are treated all of the time, so with a little research, you can find out just how to treat them or how to talk to a professional about what you want done to your yard. I hate getting shafted into quick-fixes that cost an arm and a leg because I didn’t do adequate research, and because of that, I want to you to know what should be done so that you can make sure that it gets treated correctly. Yah, I’m a nice guy…or at least I want you to think that so that you keep reading and telling your friends about this wonderful site.

I’m not going to bore you with information about subterranean termites so that I can make it seem like I have a long article for you. I’m going to tell you about what treatments do to subterranean termites and what should be done to apply it. The first treatment option for these termites is a repellent liquid termiticide. This is a chemical that is injected, like a needle in your arm, into the soil. You, or the professionals, should drill a slab into the soil and insert the treatment through that. You want to make sure that it goes deep enough to occupy the holes that these termites use to get to their food sources, which is usually a few inches into the ground. This chemical will ward off the subterranean termites and they will turn away.

Another subterranean termite treatment option is a non-repellent liquid termiticide. This is applied in the same manner as the repellent ones, except, as the name suggests, it doesn’t repel termites. Instead, it kills those sons of bitches. Termites cannot detect these termiticide in the soil so once they go through it, they immediately die. Go ahead, admit it, you want to get rid of these pests the inhumane way. Hey, if you are going to do that then you might want to try a bait system too!

Bait systems are set up through these wood monitoring stakes. When a termite is detected, a bait is given. These baits travel from the worker termites to their colonies and passed around as food. It does not kill the termites, but rather it kills the babies from living. If a colony does not have anyone to replace them, then they will eventually die out. I was always told that the best way to kill an empire was to get them to kill themselves. Why not leverage the workers stupidity to work for you? Ahh, how satisfying!

So there you have, a concise and sweet list of treatment options for subterranean termites. Just do as I say or make sure that someone else does and you will be in good shape. Maybe you shouldn’t mention the satisfaction that you get from killing innocent pests simply trying to survive…

Monday, July 7, 2008

DIY Termite Treatment

So you are an independent person and you can handle any problem in your house without paying some overcharging company for their services. I understand, I am the same way. But is termite treatment something that you can do yourself? Let’s discuss do it yourself treatment options and see if this is indeed something that you should tackle with your own ingenuity.

For the homeowner, there are really only two different methods that you can use when treating termites. The first method is a barrier treatment. As I discussed in my earlier post, the goal of this treatment is to protect your house, basement and any other buildings on your property with a chemical barrier. You will need to inject this treatment into the soil. For your basement, make sure to go at least 4 feet deep into the soil around your basement area while making sure to get the chemical below the basement slab as well. For the rest of the area around your house, get it a few inches into the soil by drenching the top layer with the chemical.

If you think that you can do this yourself, then by all means attempt it, I’m not going to stop you. However, you should be aware that professionals have special equipment that ensures proper treatment. They have injection rods, drills for concrete, a huge pump and a large tank of this chemical to spray your property with. They also have the skills and experience of dealing with this on a daily basis that a homeowner does not have (unless you are the exception of course). But if you are going to do so, just note what I said above and try to do that without leaving gaps that allow termites to get through.

The next approach to do it yourself termite control is baiting systems. Baiting systems are used to attack the colony directly. If you kill off all of the termite colonies then you have a good chance at protecting your house from further infestation. The best baiting systems are the ones that contain insect growth regulator (IGR). The way that this works is that the termites that get food bring the bait back to the colony where it travels from termite to termite. This IGR does not kill any adult termites, but it kills all of the babies. So when the adult termites die naturally, there is no young ones to replace them. Then the colony is finished.

This method is simple enough for any homeowner to use. However, the supply of IGRs is tightly controlled and is exclusively limited to companies that have contracts with the supply. Since these IGRs are so hard to find, this Do It Yourself method is almost completely out of the picture. But, if you can find some to purchase, then try it. The best approach would be to use a chemical barrier combined with the bait method. This will provide the most protection and kill the most termites. Good luck with your project. Don’t be too intimidated, it’s fun getting in touch with your inner man vs insect self.

Sunday, July 6, 2008

Termite Treatment Options

If you have successfully figured out that you are dealing with termites through proper termite identification, then you are ready to advance into different termite treatment options. Before you get so excited that you just can’t stand reading anymore, just please note the different tracks that you can take while going after these pests. I know, you want to take some gas and burn some shit up, don’t we all?

In case you don’t know, different termite species require different treatment. Subterranean termites can be treated in a lot of ways. One way to treat them is through liquid termiticide applications. The way these work is by putting this liquid around and underneath a building where you suspect that subterranean termites live. This will put a chemical barrier around your property so that the termites will eventually die. The reason they die is because it prevents them from being able to sense their direction anymore to their colonies. Termites do not have eyes, so with their senses not functioning properly, they will eventually die of dehydration.

If you want to treat Formosan termites, then you will could use any method that you use for subterranean termites. Since they are the same species, the same termite treatment will work. Instead of a liquid termiticide, you could use a repellant termiticide. These are high toxic chemicals that will immediately kill any termite near your structure. Sounds like the best solution right? Possibly, but termites are sometimes aware of this harmful chemical and will avoid contact with it. So maybe the fire idea was good?

Now this was just an example of how two different termites could be treated. However, with every treatment option there are advantages and disadvantages. For example, liquid termiticide is great if you are on a budget. They can last for a long time, even years in the soil. They are also a pretty effective termite repellant that will immediately kill off termites. However, it is hard to block off an entire property while leaving no gaps that could later be routes for invading termites to take. If you use this liquid within 50 feet of water, then you risk water contamination.

Like anything that you do in life, you should always be aware of both the advantages and disadvantages of termite treatments. So be sure to do your research. Maybe another day I will go into further detail.

Tuesday, July 1, 2008

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