Professional Termite Control Methods

  Written by Glenn DuBois - Fumapest Group 

FIRSTLY, it is essential to complete a thorough inspection of the buildings and surrounds. The property owner should be receive with a written inspection report and detailed specifications. The inspection and report be received before any protective measures are commenced.

A professional termite inspection and report, including a termite control protection advice costs around $200 to $300 for an average size dwelling, depending upon the style of construction and ease of inspection access.

CONSUMER NOTE: Most home-owners are unaware that their general home insurance policy does NOT cover termite damage to structural timbers. However, appropriate professional indemnity insurance is available to professional pest controllers to cover termite damage to structural timbers in a building caused by subterranean termites gaining entry into the building through an abutting chemical soil treated area.

If there are termites in the building, at the time of chemical soil treatment, they cannot safely return to their central colony nest through the chemically treated soil. Termites are compelled to return every few days to their central colony nest in the ground to obtain moisture essential for their survival and to feed and groom the nymphs (young termites), the king, queen and other termites.

Special care and equipment can be used to detect a subsidiary termite nest contained within the building structure.

WARNING: Several outdated products are solvent based termite control pesticides which may cause health problems to asthmatics during the drying process.

Termidor and Premise do NOT have an obnoxious odour or emit airborne residues or fumes. Both are registered as a low hazard insecticide with a CAUTION notation on the registered label.

Some alternative termiticides have a strong repellency action to deter foraging termites. Whereas Termidor and Premise are non-repellant to the termites. Termites can enter the treated soil zone without detecting the Termidor or Premise chemical. The repellant nature of other products mean the termites can detect the chemical and will move along the treated soil areas, actively seeking a gap to gain entry into the building.

Premise has been used as soil treatment barrier against termites for more than eight years in the USA with excellent results for long term termite control. We are not aware of any significant problems during this period.

Both Bayer Premise and BASF Termidor claim their products will transfer from one affected termite to another ... the technology aimed at eradicating the queen termite and the entire colony - refer to the animated illustration below:

Termites tunneling in the Premise treated soil area abutting the building (of high concentration - near the point of application) are killed outright.

Termites tunneling in the outer parts of a Premise treated soil area (of low concentration) will not detect the Premise which adheres to their bodies and has a delayed lethal effect of several days - enough time to be transferred back to the central colony nest.

After 250 million years of living underground, subterranean termites have evolved with a very thin waxy skin (called an exoskeleton) that readily absorbs moisture.

The Premise active adheres to the termite exoskeleton and is readily adsorbed through the exoskeleton and into the termite's body to immobilize and kill the affected termite within a few days.

The termites spread the Premise to other termites during regular physical contact, particularly when working together in close proximity, grooming and feeding the rest of the colony, a regular function of their daily life.

The Sentricon termite monitoring and baiting system was developed by Dow AgroSciences, USA. The Sentricon bait is an insect growth regulator, which is designed to be spread throughout the colony by the worker termites.

An insect growth regulator affects termites by stopping the moulting process required for the termites to grow. As the worker termites die off, the termite colony declines to the point where it can no longer sustain itself, ultimately leading to it's collapse and elimination.

The Exterra termite monitoring and baiting system is owned by Ensystex, USA. The Exterra termite bait is also an insect growth regulator.

Both Sentricon and Exterra systems have their own plastic bait stations which must be used with their product. These bait stations can be placed in the ground and checked regularly.

Termite colony elimination in favourable circumstances may take several weeks to a few months. However, in some cases, termite colony elimination is unsuccessful or may take years, depending on the circumstances. Where a large number of termites find and consume the bait, then colony elimination is virtually assured within a few months. This is where the experience and skill of the termite controller is paramount to decide if and where a baiting program is implemented and properly monitored.

Both the Sentricon and Exterra termite baits are designed to be slow acting, non-repellant and therefore spread to other termites in the colony before the colony can detect where the deadly effect is coming from.

Termites have acute survival instincts. The location of a toxic food source if detected, will be abandoned. Too much disturbance of the foraging termites (workers and soldiers) in a particular location, will alert the termite colony to abandon the area. The termites appear to be gone, but may in fact be entering the building in other areas. Your home is a much bigger bait station.

Both the Exterra and Sentricon termite baiting systems are subject to regular inspection and monitoring by the termite controller. The larger the number of termites that consume the bait, the quicker and more certain is the termite colony elimination process.

It is usual to reinspect the bait stations and the buildings and surrounds every month to reposition, reapply or replenish the bait, if necessary. This process is labour intensive so that the long term cost of the monitoring / baiting system may accumulate out of hand before the chance of success or otherwise, is realised.

Ring the Experts: successful termite protection of a building using a baiting program often requires expert skill and judgment, based upon years of field-work experience in termite control in a wide variety of circumstances.

With a termite baiting program, there can be no absolute guarantee of long-term protection of nearby buildings. There may be other termite nests nearby the building that do not find the bait stations. Your home is a much bigger bait station. Other termite nests may exist in trees, under concrete on-ground flooring and in-fill patios of neighboring properties.

The Sentricon baits are placed in their in-ground bait stations after removal of the termite infested timber therein. This may involve sufficient disruption of the termites such that they avoid the in-ground Sentricon bait station, entirely.

This serious short-coming is overcome by the patented Exterra Termite Stations where the timber is aligned around the cylinder such that the bait can be inserted without such disturbance of the termites present.

RECOMMENDATION: Exterra or Sentricon be used where a complete chemical soil barrier treatment using Termidor or Premise is not practicable or desired, and where a several thousand termites are likely to eat the bait.

CONSUMER NOTE: the installation of a chemical soil barrier does not negate the need for regular competent inspections - at least 3 to 6 months where the termite risk is high.

We usually recommend 3 or 6 monthly inspections be carried for the first 24 months following a chemical soil treatment. Monitoring of "stand-alone" baiting systems should be carried out every 4 to 6 weeks.

A Word of Warning: the correct identification of a destructive termite species, inspection of a building for tell-tale signs, analysis of your circumstances and the design and implementation of an effective program for the protection of a building from termite infestations, requires expert skill and judgement based upon professional training and extensive field-work experience in termite control in a wide variety of circumstances.