DIY "Pro" Termite treatment

[duffer]

Just finished my termite treatment for this year. Thought I'd share in case some of you want to do this yourself, and save $300-$400 every year.

When I built the house, the county requires a pre-build and a post build termite treatment from licensed company. When the guys were here, I asked them what they used for chemicals. They use Talstar, which is a brand name for a chemical called Bifenthren. They mixed up a batch, and sprayed it heavily under the basement slab, and around the foundation on the post build app. (they wanted to install the termite bate traps around the house, but I wouldn't let them. I don't see the logic in "inviting" termites to come up next to the house and garage when there are woods nearby that they can feast on fallen trees)

Since I have a 10' boom sprayer with a wand attachment, I decided to do this year's app (actually the 2nd one I've done) myself. You can buy generic Bifenthren from a pest control warehouse online. The generic I use is Bifen-IT. Not that expensive and the treatment cost me $30 in chemicals, plus a little diesel fuel to run the tractor PTO on the sprayer for an hour. So another $3.

Worked great. I would encourage you guys to give it a try.

 

[gsganzer]

I just treated for an active termite infestation in my back pole barn. I did a soil drench treatment using Termidor SC and/or Taurus SC by digging a 6" deep x 4" wide trench around the perimeter (and also directly around each pole). I then mixed 5 gallon buckets at 0.8oz/gallon and poured in the trench, backfilled the trench and then treated the backfill with the same solution using a backpack sprayer. I used Termidor foam to treat any active termite galleries in the wood members. This treatment is supposed to give around 7-8 years of protection.

I understand your hesitancy on the traps, but they are also part of a complete termite prevention/eradication program and let you know when they're present.

This site has some great tutorials for treating termites.

Do My Own

 

[Diggin It]

When I built the house, the county requires a pre-build and a post build termite treatment from licensed company.

Sounds like the bug guys had a successful lobbying campaign to ensure job security.

 

[Complete Turf Care]

Over the years, I have treated many acres of athletic fields with bifenthrin. It is fairly inexpensive, and controls a broad spectrum of insects. I've used it mostly for fire ants, mosquitoes, and armyworms. It is available under many different brand names, and it is safe around pets and humans. It can be used for fleas too.

I use it several times a year in my own yard for fire ants and for mosquitoes.

 

[the old grind]

I like Bifen-IT for ants around the concrete approach to the garage. Here in Michigan I can spray once at the first sign of ants say this time of year and once again in early fall. It seems to last three months or so on the ground compared to regular bifen or Lambda or Gamma cylothrin sprayed monthly on shrubbery to keep mosquitos and ticks down.

 

[duffer]

I did a soil drench treatment using Termidor SC and/or Taurus SC by digging a 6" deep x 4" wide trench around the perimeter (and also directly around each pole). I then mixed 5 gallon buckets at 0.8oz/gallon and poured in the trench

Do My Own

I tried the 5 gal bucket app last year, with trenching, and because of the slope of my lot, I didn't get the saturation I liked. That's why I went to the wand on my sprayer this year. I could control the amount in my trench much better, and it wasn't back breaking as the 5 gal buckets on this old 70 year old body. Took a little longer with the wand, (although not that much longer) but did a much better job for my circumstance.

Glad the 5 gal bucket approach works for you.

 

[bill9068]

I have a buddy who was licensed to use cloradane. Now he may or may not still have some but I know it works.

 

[the old grind]

Banned for all uses >30 years ago and it worked very well but too well on anything and everything else. (Banned on harvest crops nearly a decade earlier) If the guy had put the stuff down in '90 it might still be somewhat effective and carcinogenic. Its persistence was its downfall. It accumulates in human and pet bodies never to go away.

 

[bill9068]

Banned because it worked to well. Not banned in other countries.

 

[the old grind]

Lots of things are permissible by law in other countries or continents. We don't have sex workers, DDT, and a few other things. We Don't get a legal divorce by stating "I divorce you" three times and kick 'em out with only the clothes they're wearing. We don't cut thieves' hands off with government approval/oversight. Maybe just don't like cancer all that much in this country either. Does anybody want asbestos back because it works so well? IIRC it's still legal somewhere else.