Using Cedar Mulch to Eliminate Termites

Cedar mulch has for many decades been regarded as the optimum soil alternative for repelling termites and other unwanted insects from your garden. Unlike plastic and rubber mulches, cedar mulch is one hundred percent environmentally friendly and is not conducive to pollution or plant degradation in the slightest. The following article covers the method you should use in removing your garden's termite problem and the reasons behind its guaranteed success.

Step 1 - Identifying Infested Areas

Unless you are already aware of the areas of your garden affected by termite infestation, you should conduct a short survey of your garden plants to discover the ones suffering from these infuriating insects. You will see an incredible number of boreholes in plants suffering. To confirm an insect is a termite, look for a lack of waist and a straight body. These insects swarm in the spring time, which differentiates them from their look-a-likes such as carpenter ants.

Step 2 - Applying Cedar Mulch

Now that you have identified the areas of your garden under termite attack, remove around six inches of the ground soil that surrounds these plants. If you are conducting an entire covering over your garden, perform this same topsoil removal everywhere. Now open your bag of cedar mulch and begin to lay a six inch covering around all of your garden trees and plants. It can be used everywhere, even in small borders and pots as it does not create an impermeable layer like similar mulches may well do. Unlike popular belief, cedar mulch does not detract from the growth of the plants that it surrounds, so do not worry as you pack the mulch around your plants using your trowel and spade.

Step 3 - No More Termites

Now that you have laid generous amounts of cedar mulch over your garden, you can simply sit back and watch as your termite problem systematically decreases until the entire garden is pest-free. Cedar mulch also acts as a repellent to countless other insect pests and plant-borne diseases. The cedar mulch is able to work so efficiently due to the chemical imbalances it introduces in the greedy termite's diet. Extensive studies performed in the past fifty years have shown that certain varieties of tree, such as sycamore, are incredibly harmful to the intestines of the termite. Cedar is one of these woods and when it is ingested by termites they will die within two weeks due to the new imbalance in their symbiotic relationship with the wood they consume.

As well as totally preventing the termite presence your garden once suffered from, the introduction of cedar mulch into your garden has countless other benefits. Cedar mulch increases moisture absorption rates and promotes plant growth. As a result, filtration and evaporation levels drop and soil erosion is also deterred. Ultimately, the use of cedar mulch should not be limited to those with termite problems as it is a sensational gardening product that will not fail to impress any private gardener.