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This
article appeared in the May 4, 2003 Lincoln Journal Star Newspaper
My
husband and I love our 90-year old house in an established Lincoln
neighborhood. Like many people, we feel good after we have completed
a project which upgrades or restores our home. After reading
and watching the Do-It-Yourself shows (DIY) on the cable channels,
we believe we can tackle just about any project. (How fast the
project gets done is another matter. . . there always seem to
be more projects than time or money.)
But,
with all the DIY shows I have watched, I have never seen a DIY
discussion of termite control. Why? Because there are just too
many obstacles to getting a good and effective treatment for
the homeowner.
Currently,
there are two different approaches to termite control. The first
is the traditional barrier treatment. With the barrier approach,
the goal is to protect the house by surrounding the entire house
and basement with a chemical barrier. This includes injecting
an insecticide into the soil at least four feet deep around
the basement and injecting it under the basement slab. A home
built on a slab or crawlspace is treated much the same, except
less insecticide is used.
One
reason why homeowners shouldn’t attempt barrier treatments
themselves is specialized equipment is needed to do a proper
treatment. Injection rods, concrete drills, a large tank with
a pump are so expensive it is cost prohibitive for the homeowner.
The other reason is homeowners don’t have skills and experience
to do an effective treatment. I certainly wouldn’t want
a novice doing his or her very first termite treatment on my
home, but would specifically hire somebody who has specialized
training and experience.
Some
folks believe if they use insecticides around the outside of
the house, it will protect their house against termites. This
may be somewhat helpful in controlling some insects, but not
effective against termites.
The
second approach to termite control is the use of baiting systems.
The goal of the bait is to kill the colony and indirectly, protect
the home. Right now, the baiting systems that have the best
chance of killing the colony are those that contain an insect
growth regulator (IGR). The worker termites take the bait back
to the colony where it gets passed to other termites. The growth
regulator does not kill the queen or adult workers, but kills
immature termites by disrupting the molting process. When the
adult worker termites die a natural death, there are no young
termites to take their place. With no workers, the colony slowly
starves to death.
It
seems like this system might be simple enough for homeowners
to use, but the problem is none of these IGR baits are available
for homeowners to purchase. The supply is very tightly controlled
by the manufacturers who only work with pest control professionals.
There are some other types of baits being used by pest control
professionals, but, at best, they only suppress the colony and
should be only used in conjunction with a good barrier treatment.
There
is one non-IGR bait that can be purchased in hardware stores,
called Terminate. However, this product’s label recommends
users have their homes inspected by a pest control professional.
In addition, the label states the bait is not intended to be
used in place of a liquid treatment when termites have been
found infesting homes.
Unlike
20 years ago, making a decision about termite treatment is more
complicated today because all termite control companies do not
use the same treatment approach. It is important for homeowners
to understand enough about termites and termite control to make
an intelligent decision about what type of treatment is best
for them. To help them, they can get answers at a workshop,
Everything Homeowners Should Know About Termites and Termite
Control. It will be held Thursday, May 22, 6:30 to 9:30 p.m.,
at the Lancaster Extension Education Center, 444 Cherrycreek
Road. There will be a $20 registration fee that will cover updated
reference materials. The public is encourage to pre-register
by calling 441-7180. Find more information about this workshop
on the Web at http://lancaster.unl.edu
 More
Termite Control Resources
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