How to Eliminate Termites in Soil

In order to eliminate termites from your soil effectively, you must learn the ins and outs of treatment, care and prevention techniques. If you feel you have a small self contained termite problem, there are things you can do yourself to try and eradicate these wood destroying pests. If the problem becomes too large, or if they begin to infest your home, you will need to call a professional to assist you with the wood infestation problem. Here is a quick checklist of what you can do as a first measure in attacking your termite infestation in your soil.

Step 1 - Find out the Type of Termite

Take some measures to find out what you have infesting the soil. Go through a portion of your soil, trap one of the termites and gather them in a sealed contained with a few holes for air ventilation.There are many different types of termites that can burrow in the soil and eventually get to the foundation of the house, making their way to the portions of wood in your home. While the application steps are relatively the same, the type of product you use will vary based on the type of termites. Using the wrong application on a different termite species will cause rapid proliferation of your termite colony because you likely will not recheck for infestation problems until the colony has become out of control.

Step 2 - Locate the Colony

Do your best to locate the colony. Find the main nest. Mark the nest with a wire flag or metal post to return and treat it.

Step 3 - Lay the Bait

Baiting is a great solution if your colony is new and small. As it takes longer than other methods of termite elimination, only use it when you are sure the problem has just arisen. Lay down several layers of bait on top of and within the soil. Baiting stations include wooden monitors and treated monitors. Use the wooden monitor to bait the termite the treated monitor will eliminate the pesky critters.

Step 4 - Apply Termiticide

Apply termiticide directly to the soil. As the termiticide intrudes the soil, it bonds to the outter most layer of the soil particles. Camouflaged as regular soil, the termites are not aware of the toxicity you have just introduced. Termites brush up against the poison and eventually carry it back to their colony and primary nesting area. They kill their colony by exposing them to the termiticide.

A few notes about the application:

Always apply the termiticide when you expect to have a good spell of dry warm weather. Rain will wash away the toxin and your application will render useless.

During application and for several weeks after, do not disturb the soil. Do not plant or uproot anything near the nesting area and colony.

Refrain from using a sprinkler in the general vicinity of your application. Again, this will reduce or eliminate the effectiveness of your treatment