Lar wrote:
DaveC wrote:

Hello,

I have a couple of small holes on an oak threshold. Drywood termites
are pushing out quite a lot of pellets; very impressive.

In the past I have engaged termite professionals to treat buildings
locally, but they usually spray a relatively lot of insecticide on the
exterior of the wood around the holes. Doesn't seem very efficient or
environmentally friendly.

Seems like it would be better to force a very small amount of gas or
liquid into the holes and along the tunnels. Preferably some material
that might be transferred further into the tunnel system and nest by
the termites themselves.

I have never seen a professional termite guy do this. Am I missing
something?

Also, if I could do this myself whenever I discover pellets or see one
of those little holes it would be a lot cheaper and more effective. I
have the technical background to handle toxic stuff safely.

Thanks for any ideas?

DaveC



You might look for a firm that will do a spot treatment of the area with
a product called Termidor. I'm in the Dallas area so I don't get a
chance to deal much with dry woods, but Termidor has proved to exceed
all claims made by the manufacturer for subterranean termite and ant
control so I would guess you would get the same results with dry woods.

Gee, Lar, does it pay to advertise on newsgroups? Since you portray
yourself as a professional, you should know whether Termidor is
effective against dry wood termites. The U of Fla website, with
extensive information about pest control, mentions Termidor only as a
barrier termiticide for subterranean termites.

It's been a few years since I did extensive research about termite
control and treatment, but at the time subterranean and drywood required
completely different methods for extermination in structures.

The little bit of looking I did now seems much more oriented toward
local treatment for drywood, rather than tenting. Still a lot of
tenting going on down in Fla, though.

The termites don't detect it so if by chance they don't get it to the
main galleries it won't chase the termites to another part of the
structure as other chemicals might and the foragers that are in the
treated areas continue to pass the product throughout the colony.

Lar