Termites

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Corriewf

New Member
Dec 2, 2009
290
Central VA
Anybody have problems with termites getting to their wood? I seem to have them coming out of the ground to eat anything there for a week or more. I bought some sprays but doesn't seem to help. Is there any natural remedy to rid myself of these bastards?

Thanks.
 
Keep the wood far from your house and other structures until after the first few good frosts.
 
Flatbedford" date=" said:
Keep the wood far from your house and other structures until after the first few good frosts.

Your right, protect the firewood and let them have the house....that's what you meant right?

House is sided with cedar and has cinderblock underneath that.
 
Corriewf said:
Anybody have problems with termites getting to their wood? I seem to have them coming out of the ground to eat anything there for a week or more. I bought some sprays but doesn't seem to help. Is there any natural remedy to rid myself of these bastards?

Thanks.

There is a natural remedy -- fire ants. Do they get as far north as you are? I'm acutally serious -- fire ants are carnivores; they eat termites.

I bought a bayer product rated for wood piles. You spray it on the ground first, and then stack the wood. You can also spray it around your house. It seems to be pretty effective when I follow the directions.
 
get bayer advanced fireant/termite killer. its about $18 per quart at lowes. Mix as prescribed - use 1/4cup to 5 gallon buket and alow it to slowly soakinto the ground where your stacking wood.
Buy some cheap landscape timbers or find some old 4x4 PT to stack wood off ground. I use a few handfulls of mothbaths at bottom of stack to keep snakes away.
After stripping my house to barestuds outside and siding with pt plywood and hardieboard siding I hope to never have these buggers eating my studs again.
Where I live its not if there are termites- its where
 
I have termites , in part due to my proximity to old woods.
If I leave a shovel upside down with the handle on the ground too long they start eating the handle.
They get into plywood, OSB and cardboard, too.

I get whatever Ma. allows Home Depot or Lowes to sell in granules and spread generously on the ground around the stacks.
Also keep stacks off the ground with concrete blocks and the blocks have to have the holes either filled with mortar or laid sideways so they don't build tube tunnels up to the splits.
 
My pest control company sprays the house quarterly. When I first started burning, I asked, and they spray around the wood stacks as well, no extra charge. They obviously don't provide any guarentee, but so far its worked well
 
Hi -

I sprinkle a box of Borax about my foundation, and other wood nearly every year and have not had any issues. My nieghbors did have issues... I believe it works.

Mike
 
From what I know the critters that are exoskeleton do not like boric acid. The only problem with some wood, is the tree already has the mites inside. The rotten areas usualy have some good sized colonies...
 
I tried borax on some ant hill in the lawn and not only did the ants leave ( or died - I didn't go looking for corpses) but the lawn died. I may have used more than was necessary, though.
 
billb3 said:
I tried borax on some ant hill in the lawn and not only did the ants leave ( or died - I didn't go looking for corpses) but the lawn died. I may have used more than was necessary, though.

Gives a whole new meaning to the term "scorched earth policy." ;) :)
 
billb3" date=" said:
I tried borax on some ant hill in the lawn and not only did the ants leave ( or died - I didn't go looking for corpses) but the lawn died. I may have used more than was necessary, though.

Also trying borax. I am hoping this will help with the mice and ant problem in the house. Getting tired of the cats bringing me "gifts"...
 
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