Great video Guy. Loved when you appeared over your shoulder to ask a relevant question. It answered a question that had entered my mind while watching the video. Thanks for all the great videos that help so many people.
I was just typing up an objection to your claim that there’s just no way borate can penetrate wood when you mentioned Bora-Care as an exception! I’ve had the guy who invented it explain how he did it (his office is next to mine) and it still seems like witchcraft to me lol
Bora-Care says it is a patented mixture of glycol based components that draw it into the wood. Thanks for bringing this to my attention so I don't waste my time with the other stuff.
You are very welcome. I honestly do not know how they do it, but I do know that it works. Somehow they get it to soak into the wood in a way that the other products do not do. It's pricier, but well worth the money. Be well my friend.
Hi Guy. I am being quoted by a pest company to drill into healthy trees and posts around the house and treating them with pesticides in case termites eat them. Is this a thing or is it a waste of money? I am told there is a termite nest in a big dead tree perhaps 300 feet away from the house.
Waste of money and a total scam. You can treat the infested tree yourself and take out the entire colony for under $100. There is no benefit to doing a preventive treatment around trees or posts. Most species do not eat live wood, so you would need to live in an area where certain species exist for that to be a concern. Even then, we don't do preventive treatments on trees. Most posts are already treated for termites. They can still get termite damage, but posts are very easy to treat. Better the posts get attacked than the house. Finally, you can do a preventive treatment on your house for about $60 a year. Please watch my video on how to treat termites with Premise granules. I will give you the link to it. Just do this once a year and you will be good to go. I will also give you a link to my website page on how to treat trees and tree stumps for termites. I hope that helps. Be well my friend. Video on how to treat termites with Premise granules: ua-cam.com/video/riwjkJA_B3c/v-deo.html Website page on how to treat trees and tree stumps for termites: www.guyspestsolutions.com/termite-treatment-for-trees-and-stumps
Thank you so much for those kind words. Very much appreciated. One of the problems that I ran into when I first started making videos was that I had no place where I could make them where there was not a lot of background noise or where I could control the lighting. To solve this problem I converted a spare bedroom that we were not using into a tiny soundstage. I didn't want to just use a blank wall as my backdrop, so I purchased a professional backdrop from Amazon. There were a number of different options to choose from, but I liked the bookcase the best. So, now you know the truth. I hope you're not disappointed. Be well my friend.
@@willfreethemfreethem7671 I was afraid you were going to tell me that. I think the situation you have is cause for serious concern. If you are certain that these are termites, then I need to tell you that the only species of termites that will eat live food, like plants, are Formosan termites. If these plants are close to your house, then there is a reasonable chance that the termites are also attacking your house as well. I recommend that you do an inspection of your house to see if there are any mud tubes along the perimeter of the house. You will typically see them coming up from the ground. However, sometimes you will even see them in the eaves or in the attic as well. You may also want to dig into one of those potted plants and see if you can pull out a specimen with a red head. These are the soldiers, and they are very easy to identify. I will give you a link to my video on how to identify termites. It is very easy to do if you have a termite with a redhead. Please get back to me if you find that your house is being attacked. This is something that you can treat yourself, and I would be more than happy to assist you with that. Meanwhile, you can begin treating the termites that are attacking the plants. Since these are potted plants, you can simply move the pot and then dig a small hole where the pot used to be and treat it with Taurus SC . Before you remove the pot, scribe a 6-in circle around the pot and remove the dirt about 6 in deep across that entire circle. Mix the Taurus SC at a rate of 0.8 oz per gallon of water and soak the area really well where you dug it out. Then replace 3 inches of the dirt and soak that really well too. Finish filling in the hole, and then soak the remaining dirt too. Now that you have that area treated, simply replace the pot backer it was. The termites will now need to travel through the termite barrier that you place there and they will take this material back to the colony and share with the other termites. You should do this for all the potted plants. This may or may not kill off the entire colony, but at a minimum, it is going to slow them down. If you do have them in your house, then it would be wise to treat that as well. I hope that helps. Be well my friend. Video on how to identify termites: ua-cam.com/video/dIs_a0nfVjg/v-deo.html Video on how to treat Formosan termites: ua-cam.com/video/xDtGUWxMrRw/v-deo.html
What about boiling the borax in water and soaking cardboard in the solution to infuse it with borax, then use that as bait. The borax WILL enter the cardboard. Solubility is dependant on temperature.
I was using Terro ant bait (cuz it was all I had on hand) which is basically just sugar and boric acid on the wood and baseboards just to keep them from infesting the living room as they were crawling from under the baseboards- just a temporary fix until I figured out a permanent solution that is less than the 1500$ quote from terminix. It killed the few in the house but no evidence it even touched the colony because they just keep coming. Just got the granules from Amazon and am applying today! Will let y’all know how it turns out! Thanks again for the education!
I am so sorry that you are having a problem with ants. The thing that you said though that took me by surprise is that you ordered granules. I am not sure if you are talking about the termite granules or the granulated bait that I use for ants. The termite bait will not work for ants. Normally, I do bait ants, but it sounds like you may need a more serious option than that. This method involves using pesticides instead of baits. It also involves treating the exterior of the building because that is most likely where most of the ants are coming from. While there are some species that will colonize in your home, most of them colonize outside and some species colonize both inside and outside. Therefore, the idea is that we want to quickly kill the colonies that are outside, and we want to kill any colonies that may be inside. Let's start with the inside first. Mix some Temprid FX in a garden sprayer at a dilution rate of 16 ml per gallon of water. Simply spray any areas where there are ant trails, paying particular attention to baseboards, exterior door thresholds, and other areas where ants are seen or may be getting in. Do not apply directly to eating areas or food preparation areas. One treatment of this product is all that is needed to end the problem, as long as you do the exterior treatment every 60 to 90 days. For the exterior treatment, simply watch my video on how to treat your yard with a hose end sprayer. I will attach a link to that video. Most ants colonize in the ground and treating your entire yard will kill off all those colonies. If you have killed off all the colonies inside and you have killed off all the colonies outside, then you cannot possibly have an ant problem after that. The key though is that you must retreat your yard and the exterior of your home every 60 to 90 days to maintain control. You will know how often to treat the exterior if you check outside every couple of weeks for ant activity. As soon as you start to see ant mounds or ants crawling around outside, then you know how often you need to treat. You want to nip them in the bud, before they can get reestablished. I hope that helps. Be well Helen. Video on how to treat your yard with a hose end sprayer: ua-cam.com/video/wifoTU5dmp0/v-deo.html
@@GuysPestSolutions I found that borax dissolved in water with sugar is great for sugar ants, but doesn't work for fire ants. Fire ants are tough to get rid of. I kill a mound and work them every spring and fall. In fall the mounds come back. Sometimes a mound requires multiple applications of the powder or granules to kill the active mound. I guess termites are too week to consume the borax product an make it back to the colony to deliver it to the "queen" or "queens".
@@ralphparker Borax and sugar will work great for ants, most of the time, but termites are different. Fire ants are actually very easy to treat, and you can kill off a mound literally overnight. It's cheap too. You can probably treat all the ant mounds on your property for about $10. I will give you a link to my video on how to do it. They will be back though because your neighbors have them as well. If you would like to keep them gone for good, then treat your yard every 60 days with Bifen XTS. I have a video on how to do this and I will give you a link to that as well. It is very easy to do with a hose end sprayer. I hope that helps. Be well my friend. Video on how to treat fire ants: ua-cam.com/video/VReLWuT-jcQ/v-deo.html Video on how to treat your yard with a hose end sprayer: ua-cam.com/video/wifoTU5dmp0/v-deo.html
Using orange solvent to treat termites is not a good idea. It will kill termites by dissolving their exoskeletons, but it will not penetrate the wood sufficiently to do an effective job, and the termites that are exposed to it probably will not live long enough to bring the food back to the colony. If you do not take out the colony, then you do not end the infestation. You may kill termites that are close to the surface of the wood, but termites that operate deeper in the wood are not going to be affected at all. So, you may think that you have killed the termites, but in all likelihood they are still eating your house. Also, orange solvent is not good to breathe in, so you should only use it in well ventilated areas. If you want something that you can apply to wood directly, then a better choice would be to use Bora-Care. I will give you a link to the product and a video on how to use it. I hope that helps. Be well my friend. Video on how to use Bora-Care: ua-cam.com/video/Rmr_aEodyhg/v-deo.html Bora-Care: www.domyown.com/boracare-p-100.html
@@GuysPestSolutions I'm in Tamp[a and my house in infested with dry termites. I can access to the attic for the most part but I have plaster walls so getting at the studs would be a problem. Will bora-care be taken back to the colony to infest all of it or should I use something else in addition? I also thought of building a wand using pressure washer wands and making a U shaped tip that sprays the whole rafter in one pass without moving insulation. Of course I wouldn't use a pressure washer to drive it, just the wands for something extendable to reach the eaves.
I'm so sorry that I'm only getting to answer this right now. For some reason, UA-cam did not send me your comment until this morning. They do that sometimes and I have had them hold comments for as long as 3 years already. If ever you ask me a question, and you do not get an answer within a few days, then please email me at guyspestsolutions@gmail.com. It is important to understand how drywood termites work. They enter through cracks and crevices around windows, doors, the eaves, pipe penetrations, and so forth. Most of the time, they enter through several locations. That is because a swarm of them attacked your house at the same time. If there was a crack or a crevice, then they probably found it. After they established their galleries, which will be inside the wood, it will take four to seven years for them to be able to swarm. Now that they are in your house, the swarmers will use holes that are in your studs to travel through the walls. Those holes in the studs were created by the electricians to run the electrical wiring. Not only are these holes going through the studs, but holes were drilled into the attic for the light switches and to run some of the wiring for the outlets. So, the termites now have easy access throughout the attic and the walls. If you have a basement or crawl space, they have access to that as well. Most of the time, you will have no idea that they are in the walls, because the frass is inside the wall. To make matters worse, if you have drywood termites, then your neighbors have them too. That means you have been getting swarmed for as long as they have existed in the neighborhood. Most likely, we're talking about years, so it's a safe bet that you have these guys in many locations in your home. I always hate to be the bearer of bad news, but if you have drywood termites, the only sure way to get rid of them is to fumigate. Prices for this can vary wildly in this industry, so I recommend that you watch my video on how to hire a pest controller without getting ripped off. That video can save you a lot of money. You should also know that the gas they use to fumigate has absolutely no residual action whatsoever, so you can get reinfested the moment the tent comes down. Like I said before, if you have drywood termites, then your neighbors have them as well. Since drywood termites swarm every year, it is almost a certainty that you will be reinfested within a year after the fumigation is done. The only way to prevent this is to do a preventive treatment on your house every 60 to 90 days. Most pest controllers will not do this, so it is something that you generally need to do yourself. I have a video on how to do that and I will place a link below. If you absolutely cannot afford to fumigate your house, then you can try spot treating it yourself. It is virtually impossible to find all the termite galleries, but it is way better than doing nothing. Regardless of how you treat it, you should begin the preventive treatment immediately, so that you do not get additional termites paying you a visit. I hope that helps. Be well my friend. Video on how to hire a pest controller without getting ripped off: ua-cam.com/video/y-a8XOqVrlE/v-deo.html Video on how to prevent drywood termites: ua-cam.com/video/Yozv3s-Qwlw/v-deo.html Video on how to spot treat drywood termites: ua-cam.com/video/U7ck7zhS0Xo/v-deo.html
Thank you for your video. I am worried about the environmental impact of Fipronil. My long-term goal for my yard is to have mostly native plants and create a little mini-wildlife refuge for polinators and birds. We also have a pond/waterfall that I would like fix up and have some frogs or fish. Anyway, I'm worried about it killing these other insects and animals thru direct contact, run off, or eating insects that have been contaminated with Fipronil. Do you have any advice? I know you're a pest control guy, not an ecologist. I saw you said trenching with Borax is ineffective. I live in Phoenix, Arizona. Any advice would be much appreciated!
I'm not sure why you think there would be an environmental impact by using fipronil in a trench around your house, but I can assure you that the environmental impact will be zero. Products like Taurus SC are designed to bond with the soil, so they stay where you put them. If the product was to go on leaching into the ground, then it wouldn't stay when you need it to kill the termites. Depending upon soil conditions, it is unlikely that the product will leach into the ground more than a few inches. The trench is only 6 inches wide and I have literally never seen a bird feeding that close to the house. So, the reality is that the only environmental impact that using these products will have is going to be to kill the termites. You should also know that Taurus SC is safe for children to play on after it dries. Therefore, this is a very safe and effective product, and there's no reason in the world to avoid using it. For trenching to work, you must do it correctly. I will give you a link to my video on how to do that. You should also be aware that you have two species of subterranean termites where you live. One of those species are Formosan termites. These guys are very aggressive eaters and unlike other species of subterranean termites, they have the ability to colonize in your home. Therefore, they may need additional treatment. Please watch my video on how to identify termite species. Don't worry. It's not that hard. You just need to make sure that you are not dealing with Formosan termites. If it turns out that this is the species, then please contact me for further guidance. Most likely this is not the case, but it is worth investigating. I hope that helps. Be well Mary. Video on how to trench correctly: ua-cam.com/video/Fy7YHi_7Z8g/v-deo.html Video on how to identify termite species: ua-cam.com/video/dIs_a0nfVjg/v-deo.html
I was debating about which product I was going to use to treat my joists and crawl space with to treat for powder post Beatles and termites. I was debating buying Timbor and mixing it with anti-freeze (glycol) but have decided to just fork over the extra money and buy bora-care just to be safe and be able to sleep at night knowing I got the good stuff. Thank you
You can't beat Bora-Care for powder post beetles or any other wood destroying pest, but always mix it one to one with water and not one to five like the label will tell you. Also, you can mix it with cold water. I do it all the time. Smart move not to use Tim-Bor. It's made by the same company, but not the same thing. Don't waste your money on it. Please note that I am on vacation, and I will not be home until after June 11, so I may not be able to answer follow-up questions until I get home. So, please be patient, I will get caught up as quickly as possible. I hope that helps. Be well my friend.
You probably won't get enough dust in there to do much good. You may kill a few hundred termites, but the idea is that you need to take out the colony. To do that, the termites need to take a pesticide back to the colony and share it with the other termites. Boric acid won't do that because it is going to kill the termites too quickly. You may see some reduction in activity where you apply it, but that is not going to take out the colony. They may also be attacking in an area that you have not yet discovered, so eliminating the entire colony is the way to go. Trust me. If you do not eliminate the colony, they will keep coming. I hope that helps. Be well my friend.
Hello Guy, I have been following your content for a 1+ year after discovering subterranean termites in my drywall and studs. They are coming in from the crack of the basement floor and foundation wall. We can't access the exterior since the entry concrete steps are right behind it. My termite company hasn't been able to take care of this in a year and they have drilled through the concrete steps and small trench with bait stations, they have never seen anything like this in 30+ years. I'd love to hear your thoughts. We have swarms every spring and termites in almost every stump in my yard. 😢
@@dineshrm I am so sorry that you are having this problem. In order to assist you, I need to see photos of the steps from all angles. Also, it would be helpful if you can get me a specimen of either one of the winged swarmers or one of the soldiers. The soldiers have red heads. You may be able to obtain one by digging into one of the stumps. I need to know the species. Please watch my video on how to properly photograph a bug. It needs to be done a certain way to be of help to me. I will give you a link to that video. My email address is guyspestsolutions@gmail.com. Be well my friend. Video on how to properly photograph a bug: ua-cam.com/video/I8qd63hX6y8/v-deo.html
Fipronil (termidor) is a powder before it's mixed with water .. how is this different? Also, if treating the outside of the house(barrier) .... wouldn't this work OK. It seems as though it would be a lot safer for humans than fipronil?
That is a great question. Termidor is actually a liquid and not a powder. Things are changing all the time, but I have never seen it in powdered form. That being said, your point is still well taken. I probably should have pointed out that not all powders are the same. Some powders, such as a laundry detergent, will dissolve in water and become a solution. This is not the case with boric acid and most other borate products. These powders are not soluble in water, so they do not create a solution, but rather a suspension. That means, when the liquid dries, it leaves behind the powder. It also means that they will not penetrate into the wood, so they are ineffective for treating termites. Borate products work very well on ants and roaches, because they travel on outside surfaces where these materials can be easily applied. I do not recommend using boric acid to treat the outside of a building because it can be easily washed away, and it only works on certain pests. To be effective, the target pest must ingest this material or get a pretty good amount of it on the exoskeletal. So, it works pretty well for insects that like to clean themselves, but it will not work for things like spiders. If you treat with an actual pesticide, it will not wash away when it rains, and most pesticides will kill a wide range of pests. Modern day pesticides are not as hazardous as people think. We are now living in the 21st century and so we now have 21st century pesticides. Prior to the 1990s, pesticides were very dangerous, but that is no longer the case. Most pesticides today have the same signal word as common laundry detergent. If you would like to know more about the safety of pesticides, then please watch my video on the subject. I think you will be surprised when you learn the truth. I hope that helps. Video explaining the truth about using pesticides: ua-cam.com/video/i7nLO6Js_3Q/v-deo.html
Just ran across your video.. thanks for the info... Had a question... I just got a prebuilt shed here in SW Florida. It's 2x the size of the old one but it went right where the old on was. I framed out a pad a filled it with crushed stone, but want to do something preventative because it's just a matter of time before the find it lol. What are some options you would suggest? Thank you for all your videos and advice!!
If the shed is made of wood, then treat ALL the interior surfaces with Bora-Care. Mix it one to one with water in a 5 gallon bucket, using a drill and paint mixer attachment. Do not mix it one to five. This will make the shed termite proof. I will give you a link to the product and a video on how to use it. Apply it with the cheapest pump-up garden sprayer you can find because the product can clog them up. If it clogs, just throw it away. You can usually find them at Lowes or Home Depot for around $12. I hope that helps. Be well my friend. Bora-Care: www.solutionsstores.com/bora-care Bora-Care video: ua-cam.com/video/Rmr_aEodyhg/v-deo.html
@@GuysPestSolutions yep it's wood... Gonna grab some! Thanks for the reply! One other question that comes to mind is how long does it take to dry?.. I would like to caulk around the base of the framing on the inside.
@@wildgoose-media Great question. It dries at about the same speed as water. So, drying time depends upon climate conditions and ventilation. Certainly, it should be dry by the next day. Keep in mind that if you use Bora-Care outside, you need to let it dry 48 hours and then you need to paint or seal it in some way. You do not need to seal it inside. I hope that helps. Be well my friend.
Chlorpyrifos is an organophosphate insecticide that was widely used in agriculture and residential settings for many years. However, it is now known to be harmful to human health and the environment, and its use has been restricted or banned in many countries. Chlorpyrifos is a neurotoxin, meaning that it can damage the nervous system. Exposure to chlorpyrifos can cause a variety of health problems, including headaches, dizziness, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, muscle weakness, and seizures. In severe cases, chlorpyrifos exposure can lead to death. It has been associated with neurodevelopmental harms in children. Prenatal exposures to chlorpyrifos are associated with lower birth weight, reduced IQ, loss of working memory, attention disorders, and delayed motor development. Chlorpyrifos is also harmful to the environment. It can kill birds, fish, and other wildlife. It can also pollute water and soil. For all these reasons, I do not use chlorpyrifos and I do not recommend its use by anyone. There are much safer alternatives on the market. If you let me know the target pest, I can recommend a way to treat it with much safer products. Be well my friend.
Guy, I want to treat bare wood in the crawlspaces with Boracare and inject Termidor foam into wood for drywood termites where I see evidence of activity (fumigation estimate is $5K where I live so not feasible at this time). Can the Boracare solution be effectively sprayed using those typical 32 oz spray bottles you find at Home Depot or Lowes? Or will the solution clog the sprayer too quickly? It's a tight squeeze below so if I can get around using something smaller than a 1 gal sprayer, it would be easier for me.
You could use a 32 ounce sprayer, but that is going to be a lot of squeezing on your hand and it will go way slower than using a 1 gallon pump-up sprayer. You can also paint it on with a regular paint brush. When you are in tight quarters like that, you should wear eye protection and a respirator. You should also remove the insulation prior to treatment because you want to also treat the subfloor. It's a big job, but if you do it correctly, it lasts forever. Always mix the Bora-Care one to one with water. I will give you a link to a video on how to use the product correctly. Be well my friend. Bora-Care video: ua-cam.com/video/Rmr_aEodyhg/v-deo.html
Neem oil will kill termites, but it has the same problem as boric acid. I do not know of an effective way to deliver it. I do not believe that it will sufficiently penetrate wood to be truly effective. The truth is that I know of no natural way to treat termites. I think the choices with termites are pretty clear. You can either use a quality non-repellent pesticide or your house is going to be eaten. For the life of me I do not understand why people just don't use pesticides, instead of messing around with what they think are safer options. The truth is that modern day pesticides are no more hazardous than common laundry detergent. I recommend that you have a look and my video on this subject. I think it will put to rest a lot of the misconceptions that people have about the use of pesticides. We are no longer in the 20th century, when pesticides were dangerous. We are now well into the 21st century and we now have 21st century pesticides that are way different then their ancestors from the last century. Comparing today's pesticides with pesticides from the last century, is like comparing today's smartphones with cell phones that were being made in the 1990s. Technology has come a long way over the years and pesticides are no different. I hope that helps. Be well my friend. Video explaining the truth about the dangers of using pesticides: ua-cam.com/video/i7nLO6Js_3Q/v-deo.html
Thanks for the info, Guy. What about TAP insulation (with boric acid) for preventing reinfestations of drywood termites post-fumigation? I’d appreciate your thoughts.
I have no experience with TAP insulation, but I suspect that it works pretty well. The problem is that drywood termites tend to hang out in the center of wood. If they try to eat the insulation, they are going to die, and they will not be able to establish a gallery in the insulation. However, I think most of the time, the termites are going to do what they do best. That is enter actual wood and then start a colony as close to the center of the wood as they can. So, I don't think TAP insulation is a bad idea, but at the same time, I do not think it will prevent a reinfestation of drywood termites. It is important to understand how drywood termites work. They enter through cracks and crevices around windows, doors, the eaves, pipe penetrations, and so forth. Most of the time, they enter through several locations. That is because a swarm of them attacked your house at the same time. If there was a crack or a crevice, then they probably found it. After they established their galleries, which will be inside the wood, it will take four to seven years for them to be able to swarm. Now that they are in your house, the swarmers will use holes that are in your studs to travel through the walls. Those holes in the studs were created by the electricians to run the electrical wiring. Not only are these holes going through the studs, but holes were drilled into the attic for the light switches and to run some of the wiring for the outlets. So, the termites now have easy access throughout the attic and the walls. If you have a basement or crawl space, they have access to that as well. Most of the time, you will have no idea that they are in the walls, because the frass is inside the wall. To make matters worse, if you have drywood termites, then your neighbors have them too. That means you have been getting swarmed for as long as they have existed in the neighborhood. Most likely, we're talking about years, so it's a safe bet that you have these guys in many locations in your home.
You should also know that the gas they use to fumigate has absolutely no residual action whatsoever, so you can get reinfested the moment the tent comes down. Like I said before, if you have drywood termites, then your neighbors have them as well. Since drywood termites swarm every year, it is almost a certainty that you will be reinfested within a year after the fumigation is done. The only way to prevent this is to do a preventive treatment on your house every 60 to 90 days. Most pest controllers will not do this, so it is something that you generally need to do yourself. I have a video on how to do that and I will place a link below. You should begin the preventive treatment immediately, so that you do not get additional termites paying you a visit. I hope that helps. Be well my friend.
Video on how to prevent drywood termites: ua-cam.com/video/neNsmVbj8Pc/v-deo.html
@@GuysPestSolutions Thank you very much for the detailed explanation! And you are spot on about the neighbors. While my house was being tented, one of the neighbors texted me a photo of frass similar to what I had discovered in my own home.
@@FruitOfTheSpirit You are very welcome. I recommend sharing all this information with the neighbors. You may want to share me as well. I would be more than happy to answer any questions that they may have. Be well my friend.
I do not have a video on bed bugs, but Solutions Pest and Lawn has a pretty good one. The procedure they show you in the video it's very good. The only thing is that you need to be more thorough than they suggested in the video. I recommend doing this treatment in all the rooms and not just the bedrooms. Bed bugs can be in your living room as well, and even your dining room. So, you should be treating all the upholstered furniture. You should also vacuum and treat all the floors, and you should treat all the base boards as well. The key to getting rid of bedbugs is to be thorough and treat absolutely everything. I hope that helps. Be well my friend. Bed bug video: ua-cam.com/video/9aH1eXf449U/v-deo.html
Guy! Great content! How do I get rid of cockroaches in my septic tank, or possibly the leachfield for my grey water drain? I believe they are oriental cockroaches. I have never found any in my house, but I do find dead ones on my screen porch and in my detached garage. Local pest control came out and sprayed the base of all walls inside and out, sprinkled some granules by the septic tank, charged me $600 and then told me I need to have them come monthly to keep things in control.
I guess the first question I need to ask is how do you know that there are roaches in your septic tank or your leachfields? I think that would be a somewhat unusual situation. Oriental cockroaches are mostly and outside roach, but they can infest homes, so you need to send these guys packing. My advice would be to treat your yard every 60 days with Bifen XTS. This will kill not only the roaches, but every other pest imaginable that may be breeding in your yard. Just watch my video on how to treat your yard with the hose end sprayer. I will give you a link to it. Roaches are not capable of coming through the plumbing into your home, so if you treat your yard every 60 days, then any roaches that may come up from the septic system will die when they travel through the grass. I think it would be possible to treat the septic system, but I wouldn't go there, unless you are absolutely certain that you have roaches breeding in there. To confirm that, you would need to remove the cover of the septic tank and have a look. If you do see roaches in there, then get back to me, and I will tell you how to go about doing it. Not a fun job, but it can be done. I do not think that you will find a pest controller who will be willing to do it, so it is one of those things that you will most likely need to do yourself. Most likely though, the roaches are breeding around the septic tank and not actually in it. If that is the case, then the yard treatment will take them out. I hope that helps. Be well my friend. Video on how to treat your yard with a hose end sprayer: ua-cam.com/video/wifoTU5dmp0/v-deo.html
A fence could have one of four different species of termites, depending upon where you live. Use a flathead screwdriver to dig out a specimen with a red head and then watch my video on how to identify termite species. These could also be carpenter ants, so you may also want to watch my video on how to tell the difference between carpenter ants and termites. After you ID the species, then I can tell you how to treat. Trenching may not be a good option for you. Please let me know if you have trouble identifying the species. It's really pretty easy though, so you will probably ID them pretty fast. I hope that helps. Be well my friend. Video on how to identify termite species: ua-cam.com/video/dIs_a0nfVjg/v-deo.html Video on how to tell the difference between carpenter ants and termites: ua-cam.com/video/enJPS-h70Bs/v-deo.html
@@GuysPestSolutions I live in Michigan if that helps, the one pile I sprayed with Terminix. I think I'm seeing small white magot shaped dead ones, but you are correct because I clearly see ants everywhere. any products kill both?
@@davidkarl5192 You only have two species of termites in Michigan. They are subterranean termites or dampwood termites. It is important to figure out which one you have because subterranean termites colonize under the ground and dampwood termites colonize in the wood itself. Therefore, if you have subterranean termites, then you would need to treat the ground. However, if you have dampwood termites, then you need to treat the wood. I recommend that you dig into the wood with a flathead screwdriver and try to obtain a specimen with a red head. Put it in a jar and let it die a natural death. They don't live long when they are exposed to the air. Take a look at the mandibles and see if they have serrated surfaces on the inside. If the mandibles are serrated, then they are dampwood termites. If the mandibles are perfectly smooth, then these are subterranean termites. It is very possible that you have both termites and carpenter ants. It is very common for carpenter ants to be in the exact same location as the termites, because carpenter ants like to eat termites. Not only do the termites provide a handy food source, but they also provide the tunnels that the carpenter ants like to travel through. Those pre-made tunnels make it a lot easier for the carpenter ants to establish their colonies in the wood. Unlike termites, carpenter ants do not eat wood. They need to forge for food. If you kill the termites, then you are removing the food source for the ants. At that point, it is very easy to go ahead and treat the ants. Since they do not eat wood, and they need to forage for food, we can simply use a surface spray to take care of them. Normally, I would use Taurus SC for this purpose. I will explain how to do that after you get finished addressing the termites. I hope that helps. Be well David.
That sounds exactly like termites. Those sound like exit holes from subterranean termites. They are often filled back in with mud. You may want to have a pest controller inspect or you could just do it yourself. Just look for mud tubes around the outside of the building. They usually are coming up from the ground. You may also find them in the basement, crawl space, or the attic. Please let me know if you would like to treat it yourself. Be well my friend.
How you handle that will depend on the species. Figuring out the species is actually pretty easy and I have a video on how to do that. I will provide you with a link below. After watching this video, you should be able to identify the species. Just get back to me after you watch it and let me know what you found out. At that point, I can tell you exactly what you need to do. Let me know if you have any problems identifying the species, but I do not think that you will. It is much easier than you may imagine. Also, please tell me where you live. Location matters. Be well my friend. Video on how to identify termite species: ua-cam.com/video/dIs_a0nfVjg/v-deo.html
Hi, Guy. Have written previously and am arranging for my house to be fumigated. I also have my order of Bifen coming today and will start spraying this weekend. In addition to these two measures, for a 60 year old house like mine, would you recommend spraying all exposed wood in the attic, crawl space, etc. with Bora-Care? Thanks, you're info is much appreciated by all.
Yes. Applying Bora-Care to as many places as possible is a very good idea and it will help to prevent drywood termites. I recommend mixing it one to one with water and not one to five, so ignore the label directions in that regard. Also, you can mix it with cold water. I do it all the time. Good luck with the treatment. I recommend that you stay out of the house for 7 days after they tell you that you can go back in. Accidents happen every year that result in deaths, so it's best to use caution. The gas should definitely be gone if you follow my advice. Remember that these folks are human, and they can make mistakes. Also, I recommend bagging the mattresses in bags designed for bed bugs. This will keep the gas out of the mattresses. Do not bag the box springs because they often contain wood that may be infested. You can obtain bed bug mattress bags on Amazon. I hope that helps. Be well my friend.
They are subterranean, and actually “live” underground. They are only coming up for food and bringing it back to their underground colony (ie queen, reproductive, and babies. )Germicidal in a trench around the home and drilling into the concrete basement floors is what the pros suggest. This gentleman suggest a pelletized product sprinkled around the outside of the home and “watered in.” This method will work. You could disrupt, kill the ones in the wall with boracare, but it won’t kill the whole colony, necessarily. Use bait stations for long term defense.
You only have one species of termites where you are and they are an easily treated species of subterranean termites. There are two options for treating subterranean termites yourself. The easiest way is to use termite granules. It costs less than $60 to do and it only takes about an hour. The application is so easy that a child can do it. The other option is to trench around the entire building, including the driveway. It takes about a day for most people to trench around an average sized building and it only costs about $100 to do the job. Trenching lasts for 5 to 10 years, but the granules should be applied every year as a preventive measure. I have videos on how to do both options and I will place links below. For the granules to work you need to have dirt around most of the house and that dirt needs to be porous enough to allow water to seep into the ground fairly quickly. To find out if the dirt around your house is porous enough, just dig a small hole next to the house that is about 4 inches deep, 8 inches long, and just the width of the shovel. Fill the hole with water and watch to see how fast it drains down into the ground. If it seeps into the ground fairly quickly, then the granules should work just fine. However, if it just kind of sits there, then the granules would not be a good choice, and you should consider trenching. Make sure that you buy the correct granules. You need the ones that have imidacloprid as the active ingredient. A lot of the Home Depot and Lowes stores no longer sell the correct granules, but you can get them from Amazon. I will give you a link to them. You can give any subterranean termite treatment a bit of a boost by doing a spot treatment. If at all possible, spot treating for subterranean termites should not be the only approach to eliminate an infestation. An additional exterior treatment should also be done with either granules or trenching, whenever possible. Spot treating alone may totally eliminate the infestation with no other treatments, but it's not a sure thing. To spot treat subterranean termites, you need to buy a fipronil foam. I will provide links for two products that you can choose from. I like the FiPro the best because it's a little less expensive and I like the applicator tip better, but the Termidor Foam also works very well. The FiPro is not available everywhere. If you can get one of these foams, then drill holes in all damaged areas, that are 4 inches apart, and drilled about halfway through the wood. If you are seeing exit holes in the wall, then there is most likely a stud behind the exit hole. Get a stud finder and locate the stud where it meets the ceiling and drive a small nail into the stud a couple of inches below the ceiling. Attach a weighted string to the nail and that will show you where the stud is. Then drill the holes 4 inches apart along the entire length of the stud, about 3 inches deep. Do the same thing for woodwork, except only drill the holes halfway through the wood. If you think that there is a 2 x 4 behind the woodwork, then drill a 3-inch-deep hole every 8 inches. The holes only need to be wide enough to get the applicator tip of the foam can into the hole. After the holes are drilled, then shoot the foam into each hole for about 5 seconds or until you have foam either coming back out at you or coming out the other holes that you drilled. All the holes should have foam either going into them or coming out of them. This will contaminate their food source and they will take the fipronil back in the colony and spread it around to the other termites. Most of the time, subterranean termites are going to be building mud tubes somewhere. You will most likely find these mud tubes going up the exterior or interior of your foundation and you may find them along joists and even in the attic sometimes. If you have a slab home, then you may find them going up the outside of the house on the slab and even the side of the house. If you can find the mud tubes, then you can treat them as well. Just scrape off about a 2-inch section of each mud tube down to the bare surface. Then, shoot that foam into each side of the mud tube and also apply a little of it on the surface where you removed it. The termites will rebuild the mud tubes and bring the foam back to the colony to spread around to the other termites. Also, if you can find the mud tubes, this is a very good way to determine when the infestation is gone. If you scrape off that 2-inch section of a mud tube, you can see if there are any live termites in the tube. Again, the termites will rebuild the tube and go about their business. Do this every two weeks after you finish all your treatments. Apply the foam to the mud tube every time you do it. At the point you are no longer seeing live termites and they stop rebuilding the mud tube, then your infestation has been eradicated. After you use one of these methods, you may want to consider installing monitoring stations around the house. This is not necessary, but it is very easy to do, and you will know immediately if you have termites in the area. If one of the stations goes off, then you can treat the termites right at the station, before they try to attack your house. This way, you are protected by either the granules or the trenching, and you have the peace of mind knowing that there are no termites in the area. You can make these stations yourself out of used water bottles for about 50 cents each. I have a video on how to do that and I will give you a link to it. These stations have a little orange dot on the top of them. When the dock disappears you either have termites or the station has malfunctioned. Either way, you can check to see if there are active termites, and if there are, then you can treat them right there. Now, let's face it, we are making these things out of used water bottles, so it is possible that one of orange indicators can move to the side and disappear, even though there are no termites. That's not really a big deal though because these things are very fast and easy to make and install. So, just keep a few on hand should you need to replace one. After they are installed, just walk around the house every couple of months to see if there are orange dots missing. It couldn't be easier. It typically takes several weeks for any termite treatment to be effective. That is because you are using slow kill products. If you were to kill the termites too quickly, then they would not have a chance to bring the poison back to the colony and share it with the other termites. If you don't kill off the entire colony, you will not end the infestation. Therefore, you must kill off subterranean termites very slowly. So, I would give this at least 12 weeks before I would decide that something went wrong, and the process didn't work. Hiring a professional to trench your house is pretty much going to take about the same amount of time to kill off the colony. I hope that helps. Be well my friend. Video on how to apply termite granules: ua-cam.com/video/H7rW_TSBHJ4/v-deo.html Video on how to trench for subterranean termites the right way: ua-cam.com/video/Fy7YHi_7Z8g/v-deo.html Video and how to make termite monitoring stations: ua-cam.com/video/gye27aXHRsY/v-deo.html Termite granules: www.amazon.com/dp/B000RUIJYM?ref=nb_sb_ss_w_as-reorder-t1_k1_1_5&=&crid=2P2TMXP7SR4W8&=&sprefix=termi FiPro: www.solutionsstores.com/fipro-foaming-aerosol Termidor Foam: www.domyown.com/termidor-foam-p-3528.html
Those home made baits can work for ants and roaches sometimes, to some extent, but not at all for termites. Termites do not eat sugar the way ants and roaches do. Termites eat cellulose and sugar does not contain cellulose. I hope that helps. Be well my friend.
@@JoRoBoYo Usually not. However, there are agricultural termites that do eat grass. They are mostly found in hot, dry areas like Arizona. They typically do not infest homes though. Most species are subterranean and operate under the dirt and grass. If you see mud tubes in the grass, then they are most likely agricultural termites. I hope that helps. Be well my friend.
Guy, I am about to use Navigator SC and a foaming agent to treat inside wall cavities. Would there be any benefit to adding in some boric acid to the foaming mix?
You did not mention the target pest. If you are going after termites, then you would be better off foaming the wall voids with Bora-Care. This product will make the wood permanently termite proof. If you are going to foam with Navigator SC, then I don't know that there would be much of an advantage to mixing boric acid with it. We generally do not foam wall voids with fipronil. When foaming with fipronil, we typically drill holes into the wall studs and foam into the holes. If you like, I can give you a procedure for how to do that. If you are unfamiliar with Bora-Care, then check out the videos below on how do you use it. I hope that helps. Be well my friend ua-cam.com/video/Rmr_aEodyhg/v-deo.html ua-cam.com/video/kXQTc9wwCfQ/v-deo.html ua-cam.com/video/7hajP8VrK0I/v-deo.html
@Guy's Pest Solutions so you are saying navigator sc foams up after you spray it? I bought some boracare recently but still haven't used it yet...so i simply add these 2 products together in my sprayer? Will i need to drill any holes in my attic to get this foam in the walls?
@@dieselcowboy777 No. If you want Navigator SC to convert to a foam, then you need to mix it with a foaming agent and use it in a foamer. You cannot mix Navigator SC and Bora-Care together. However, you can convert Bora-Care into a foam by mixing it with a foaming agent and using a foamer. In fact, you can pretty much convert any liquid pesticide into a foam by mixing it with a foaming agent and using a foamer. To treat your walls, you either need to treat the studs or the wall voids. To spot treat the studs, you need a fipronil foam. You can buy the aerosol cans or use a foamer. The cans work a lot better. Drill holes in all damaged areas, that are 4 inches apart, and drilled about halfway through the wood. If you are seeing exit holes in the wall, then there is most likely a stud behind the exit hole. Get a stud finder and locate the stud where it meets the ceiling and drive a small nail into the stud a couple of inches below the ceiling. Attach a weighted string to the nail and that will show you where the stud is. Then drill the holes 4 inches apart along the entire length of the stud, about 3 inches deep. Do the same thing for woodwork, except only drill the holes halfway through the wood. If you think that there is a 2 x 4 behind the woodwork, then drill a 3-inch-deep hole every 8 inches. The holes only need to be wide enough to get the applicator tip of the foam can or the foamer into the hole. After the holes are drilled, then shoot the foam into each hole for about 5 seconds or until you have foam either coming back out at you or coming out the other holes that you drilled. All the holes should have foam either going into them or coming out of them. This will contaminate their food source and they will take the fipronil back in the colony and spread it around to the other termites. To treat the wall voids, you need to use Bora-Care. I will give you links to videos and how to use it and a link to a place where you can buy it. You cannot treat the walls from the attic. However, you can treat all the wood in the attic with Bora-Care. I hope that helps. Be well my friend. Video on how to use Bora-Care: ua-cam.com/video/Rmr_aEodyhg/v-deo.html Video on how to treat wall studs with Bora-Care: ua-cam.com/video/7hajP8VrK0I/v-deo.html Bora-Care: www.domyown.com/boracare-p-100.html?pdpv=2 Canned foam: www.domyown.com/termidor-foam-p-3528.html?pdpv=2
To the best of my knowledge, lime plaster in between the studs will not stop termites at all. They may not eat the plaster, but they will still eat the wood. I hope that helps. Be well my friend.
That will not work. The boric acid needs to get on their feet or their bodies and putting it in a trench will not allow that to happen effectively. Also, the termites that go back to the colony to die from boric acid, will not take out any other termites. So, even if it did work in a trench, that would not kill the colony. At best it would kill a few termites, but the vast majority would not be affected. That is why it doesn't work to treat wood either. You need to kill the entire colony. For that you need a slow kill termiticide that the termites can spread around to the entire colony. I hope that helps. Be well my friend.
That's a really tough one. Anytime you are trying to treat any sort of pests that are damaging tree leaves, you really need to get the pesticide onto all the leaves. This can be a pretty tall order. No pun intended. You need some pretty high pressure equipment to shoot the pesticide to the top of some of these trees. Then there is the problem that other trees in the area are also infested. At best, the pesticide treatment will last one year, so they will be back. That means this is the sort of thing that you really need professional equipment to do and you need to do it every year. So, I do not know of a way that a homeowner can do an effective job themselves. Even a professional with the right equipment can only put a Band-Aid on the problem that is going to come off in a few months. I wish I had better news for you, but the truth is that I do not have a solution for this problem. That is very unusual for me, but you found one of the few pests for which I cannot offer a do it yourself solution. I am so sorry.
It is important to understand how drywood termites work. They enter through cracks and crevices around windows, doors, the eaves, pipe penetrations, and so forth. Most of the time, they enter through several locations. That is because a swarm of them attacked your house at the same time. If there was a crack or a crevice, then they probably found it. After they established their galleries, which will be inside the wood, it will take four to seven years for them to be able to swarm. Now that they are in your house, the swarmers will use holes that are in your studs to travel through the walls. Those holes in the studs were created by the electricians to run the electrical wiring. Not only are these holes going through the studs, but holes were drilled into the attic for the light switches and to run some of the wiring for the outlets. So, the termites now have easy access throughout the attic and the walls. If you have a basement or crawl space, they have access to that as well. Most of the time, you will have no idea that they are in the walls, because the frass is inside the wall. To make matters worse, if you have drywood termites, then your neighbors have them too. That means you have been getting swarmed for as long as they have existed in the neighborhood. Most likely, we're talking about years, so it's a safe bet that you have these guys in many locations in your home. I always hate to be the bearer of bad news, but if you have drywood termites, the only sure way to get rid of them is to fumigate. Prices for this can vary wildly in this industry, so I recommend that you watch my video on how to hire a pest controller without getting ripped off. That video can save you a lot of money. You should also know that the gas they use to fumigate has absolutely no residual action whatsoever, so you can get reinfested the moment the tent comes down. Like I said before, if you have drywood termites, then your neighbors have them as well. Since drywood termites swarm every year, it is almost a certainty that you will be reinfested within a year after the fumigation is done. The only way to prevent this is to do a preventive treatment on your house every 60 to 90 days. Most pest controllers will not do this, so it is something that you generally need to do yourself. I have a video on how to do that and I will place a link below. If you absolutely cannot afford to fumigate your house, then you can try spot treating it yourself. I will give you a link to my video on how to do it. It is virtually impossible to find all the termite galleries, but it is way better than doing nothing. Regardless of how you treat it, you should begin the preventive treatment immediately, so that you do not get additional termites paying you a visit. I hope that helps. Be well Lindsay. Video on how to hire a pest controller without getting ripped off: ua-cam.com/video/y-a8XOqVrlE/v-deo.html Video on how to prevent drywood termites: ua-cam.com/video/neNsmVbj8Pc/v-deo.html Video on how to spot treat drywood termites: ua-cam.com/video/U7ck7zhS0Xo/v-deo.html
i use Antifreeze and 20 mule mix to spray my studs to protect them as i was treating my infestation so they would not fly land and start again . I understand the idea of borax not penetrating the wood (hence the antifreeze) but would my treatment not protect it from landing on it and starting a new colony?
The only species of termites that could start a colony in the wood are drywood termites. Subterranean termites do not work that way. These guys only colonize in the ground and never in your house. Most of the time, you are dealing with subterranean termites, so treating the wood like you are doing will do nothing to prevent a new colony, because they would not have started a new colony anyway. The treatment you are using will not treat an infestation of drywood termites or subterranean termites. It is possible that it may have some effect with preventing drywood termites, but you would be better off using Bora-Care. This product will not only prevent all species of termites from attacking the wood, it will treat any termites that are already in the wood, and it lasts forever. For it to be effective, the wood must not be sealed with a stain, sealer, or paint. I will give you a link to the product. I hope that helps. Be well my friend. Video on how to use Bora-Care: ua-cam.com/video/Rmr_aEodyhg/v-deo.html Bora-Care: www.domyown.com/boracare-p-100.html
Hi Gus. I had significant termite damage in my family room, built on a slab. I was able to support , open and Jack the walls to repair with treated lumber and all surfaces then sprayed with Octoborate solution. Couple of observations from the damage. Anything primed and or painted (fully) was left alone and the studs of Douglas Fir were mildly attempted but abandoned. They seemed to only attack the Eastern hem fir used for the rim joice , header and stud plates. The pest service installed the Trelona traps , all with a wood block at the bottom and a bait cartridge at the top. That seems to be somewhat in difference to the company instructions to install with blocks and only install baits at traps with activity. I also wondered about the time effectiveness of the bait. I made the company replace all the bait cartridges this spring. All , except 2 , had been in the traps more than four years. Any thoughts on this? I am making your soda bottle observation posts to augment the Trelona stations to check the checkers. Once you’ve had these “visitors”, it isn’t easy to forget they’re still out there!
Pest controllers will often put the actual bait in the Advance stations because they don't want to check on them. This way, they only need to check once a year. That is the wrong way to do it, but it is very common. You could have done that yourself for a lot less money. If the infestation is gone now, you can cancel your contract with the pest control company and just use the water bottle monitoring stations. They are way easier to check. If one goes off, then just put a bait station next to it. You can make bait stations yourself and I have a video on how to do that. I will give you the link. Please let me know if the infestation is not gone and I will tell you how to get rid of them. Be well my friend. Bait station video: ua-cam.com/video/r05Z-aUJehw/v-deo.html
Thanks MUCH Guy. I never saw a live or dead termite when I tore the walls apart. I never saw any mud tubes either. I believe, based on the "damage trail" , they entered through a crack between a concrete slab and my main house poured foundation . I sealed the cracks with layers of insect foam, hydraulic cement and aluminum flashing. As far as I know, there are no lingering critters. I did watch your video and it was helpful; but, we live in New York State and many of the needed chemicals can't be sold here without a license. I opened some of the traps ( with gloves on) and noticed the monitoring wood blocks were gone ( rot or insects ?) but no activity in the bait cartridges which I made them change out this spring in entirety. I am placing monitoring stations that you recommend as bottles are available. Agree the PC company has dropped the ball despite hefty price increases for two trips a year.@@GuysPestSolutions As always, on behalf of us mere mortals , we appreciate your sharing of knowledge!
It is important to understand how drywood termites work. They enter through cracks and crevices around windows, doors, eaves, pipe penetrations, and so forth. Most of the time, they enter through several locations. That is because a swarm of them attacked your house at the same time. If there was a crack or a crevice, then they probably found it. After they establish their galleries, which will be inside the wood, it will take four to seven years for them to be able to swarm. Now that they are in your house, the swarmers will use holes that are in your studs to travel through the walls. Those holes in the studs were created by the electricians to run the electrical wiring. Not only are these holes going through the studs, but holes were drilled into the attic for the light switches and to run some of the wiring for the outlets. So, the termites now have easy access throughout the attic and the walls. If you have a basement or crawl space, they have access to that as well. Most of the time, you will have no idea that they are in the walls, because the frass is inside the wall. To make matters worse, if you have drywood termites, then your neighbors have them too. That means you have been getting swarmed for as long as they have existed in the neighborhood. Most likely, we're talking about years, so it's a safe bet that you have these guys in many locations in your home. I always hate to be the bearer of bad news, but if you have drywood termites, the only sure way to get rid of them is to fumigate. Prices for this can vary wildly in this industry, so I recommend that you watch my video on how to hire a pest controller without getting ripped off. That video can save you a lot of money. You should also know that the gas they use to fumigate has absolutely no residual action whatsoever, so you can get reinfested the moment the tent comes down. Like I said before, if you have drywood termites, then your neighbors have them as well. Since drywood termites swarm every year, it is almost a certainty that you will be reinfested within a year after the fumigation is done. The only way to prevent this is to do a preventive treatment on your house every 60 days. Most pest controllers will not do this, so it is something that you generally need to do yourself. I have a video on how to do that and I will place a link below. This is a generic video that covers a lot of different pests, but it also works for preventing drywood termites. Just ignore the part about treating your yard. You only need to treat the house for drywood termites. This will not treat the termites that are already there, but it will stop new ones from getting in. If you absolutely cannot afford to fumigate your house, then you can try spot treating it yourself. It is virtually impossible to find all the termite galleries, but it is way better than doing nothing. Regardless of how you treat it, you should begin the preventive treatment immediately, so that you do not get additional termites paying you a visit. I hope that helps. Be well my friend. Video on how to hire a pest controller without getting ripped off: ua-cam.com/video/y-a8XOqVrlE/v-deo.html Video on how to prevent drywood termites: ua-cam.com/video/Yozv3s-Qwlw/v-deo.html Video on how to spot treat drywood termites: ua-cam.com/video/U7ck7zhS0Xo/v-deo.html
Try DOT - disodium octaborate tetrahydrate... Boron in 100% "soluble" in room temp water... I have not tried. Easy to get... Used as foliar spray in agriculture/ gardens. If someone gets results....please post.
This is not going to work. It will kill some termites that are close to the surface, but it will not penetrate the wood sufficiently to reach most of the activity. Also, it is unlikely that the termites will not bring contaminated food back to the colony, so the colony is going to keep producing more termites. This may be helpful to prevent termites, but it depends on the situation. I hope that helps. Be well my friend.
How you handle that will depend on the species. Figuring out the species is actually pretty easy and I have a video on how to do that. I will provide you with a link below. After watching this video, you should be able to identify the species. Just get back to me after you watch it and let me know what you found out. At that point, I can tell you exactly what you need to do. Let me know if you have any problems identifying the species, but I do not think that you will. It is much easier than you may imagine. Also, please tell me where you live. Location matters. Be well my friend. Video on how to identify termite species: ua-cam.com/video/dIs_a0nfVjg/v-deo.html
I can help you with that. How you handle it will depend on the species. Figuring out the species is actually pretty easy and I have a video on how to do that. I will provide you with a link below. After watching this video, you should be able to identify the species. Just get back to me after you watch it and let me know what you found out. At that point, I can tell you exactly what you need to do. Let me know if you have any problems identifying the species, but I do not think that you will. It is much easier than you may imagine. Also, please tell me where you live. Location matters. Be well Dora. Video on how to identify termite species: ua-cam.com/video/dIs_a0nfVjg/v-deo.html
Petrified wood is created over thousands of years. Usually 5000 to 10,000 years. I don't think you can wait that long. You may want to consider a faster solution. Be well my friend.
What a great service you do, helping to demystify the home insect problem.
Thank you so much for those kind words. Very much appreciated. Be well Sherrill.
Great video Guy. Loved when you appeared over your shoulder to ask a relevant question. It answered a question that had entered my mind while watching the video. Thanks for all the great videos that help so many people.
Thank you so much for watching and for those kind words. I always appreciate it when you watch my videos.
Informative and entertaining. You are a myth buster. Thank you for another great video.
Thank you so much for those kind words. Very much appreciated. Be well my friend.
I was just typing up an objection to your claim that there’s just no way borate can penetrate wood when you mentioned Bora-Care as an exception! I’ve had the guy who invented it explain how he did it (his office is next to mine) and it still seems like witchcraft to me lol
Great information, Thank you
You are very welcome. Thanks for watching. Be well my friend.
Bora-Care says it is a patented mixture of glycol based components that draw it into the wood. Thanks for bringing this to my attention so I don't waste my time with the other stuff.
You are very welcome. I honestly do not know how they do it, but I do know that it works. Somehow they get it to soak into the wood in a way that the other products do not do. It's pricier, but well worth the money. Be well my friend.
Hi Guy. I am being quoted by a pest company to drill into healthy trees and posts around the house and treating them with pesticides in case termites eat them. Is this a thing or is it a waste of money?
I am told there is a termite nest in a big dead tree perhaps 300 feet away from the house.
Waste of money and a total scam. You can treat the infested tree yourself and take out the entire colony for under $100. There is no benefit to doing a preventive treatment around trees or posts. Most species do not eat live wood, so you would need to live in an area where certain species exist for that to be a concern. Even then, we don't do preventive treatments on trees. Most posts are already treated for termites. They can still get termite damage, but posts are very easy to treat. Better the posts get attacked than the house. Finally, you can do a preventive treatment on your house for about $60 a year. Please watch my video on how to treat termites with Premise granules. I will give you the link to it. Just do this once a year and you will be good to go. I will also give you a link to my website page on how to treat trees and tree stumps for termites.
I hope that helps. Be well my friend.
Video on how to treat termites with Premise granules: ua-cam.com/video/riwjkJA_B3c/v-deo.html
Website page on how to treat trees and tree stumps for termites: www.guyspestsolutions.com/termite-treatment-for-trees-and-stumps
Very informative video, Guy. What are all those books in the background? What are you studying with all those books. Obviously not termites.
Thank you so much for those kind words. Very much appreciated. One of the problems that I ran into when I first started making videos was that I had no place where I could make them where there was not a lot of background noise or where I could control the lighting. To solve this problem I converted a spare bedroom that we were not using into a tiny soundstage. I didn't want to just use a blank wall as my backdrop, so I purchased a professional backdrop from Amazon. There were a number of different options to choose from, but I liked the bookcase the best. So, now you know the truth. I hope you're not disappointed. Be well my friend.
I have subterranean termites coming into my potted plants and into the soil what do you recommend how to kill
Where do you live and are the potted plants inside or outside?
@@GuysPestSolutions Florida and they are outside
@@willfreethemfreethem7671 I was afraid you were going to tell me that. I think the situation you have is cause for serious concern. If you are certain that these are termites, then I need to tell you that the only species of termites that will eat live food, like plants, are Formosan termites. If these plants are close to your house, then there is a reasonable chance that the termites are also attacking your house as well. I recommend that you do an inspection of your house to see if there are any mud tubes along the perimeter of the house. You will typically see them coming up from the ground. However, sometimes you will even see them in the eaves or in the attic as well. You may also want to dig into one of those potted plants and see if you can pull out a specimen with a red head. These are the soldiers, and they are very easy to identify. I will give you a link to my video on how to identify termites. It is very easy to do if you have a termite with a redhead. Please get back to me if you find that your house is being attacked. This is something that you can treat yourself, and I would be more than happy to assist you with that. Meanwhile, you can begin treating the termites that are attacking the plants. Since these are potted plants, you can simply move the pot and then dig a small hole where the pot used to be and treat it with Taurus SC . Before you remove the pot, scribe a 6-in circle around the pot and remove the dirt about 6 in deep across that entire circle. Mix the Taurus SC at a rate of 0.8 oz per gallon of water and soak the area really well where you dug it out. Then replace 3 inches of the dirt and soak that really well too. Finish filling in the hole, and then soak the remaining dirt too. Now that you have that area treated, simply replace the pot backer it was. The termites will now need to travel through the termite barrier that you place there and they will take this material back to the colony and share with the other termites. You should do this for all the potted plants. This may or may not kill off the entire colony, but at a minimum, it is going to slow them down. If you do have them in your house, then it would be wise to treat that as well.
I hope that helps. Be well my friend.
Video on how to identify termites: ua-cam.com/video/dIs_a0nfVjg/v-deo.html
Video on how to treat Formosan termites: ua-cam.com/video/xDtGUWxMrRw/v-deo.html
Well explained, and perfect 'thought balloon' question 👍
Thank you so much mate. Greatly appreciated.
@@GuysPestSolutions 👍❤️
@@SteveMack Thanks. Greatly appreciated.
What about boiling the borax in water and soaking cardboard in the solution to infuse it with borax, then use that as bait. The borax WILL enter the cardboard. Solubility is dependant on temperature.
You could give it a try and see what happens. If you do, then please get back to me and let me know how it worked out. Be well my friend.
I was using Terro ant bait (cuz it was all I had on hand) which is basically just sugar and boric acid on the wood and baseboards just to keep them from infesting the living room
as they were crawling from under the baseboards- just a temporary fix until I figured out a permanent solution that is less than the 1500$ quote from terminix. It killed the few in the house but no evidence it even touched the colony because they just keep coming. Just got the granules from Amazon and am applying today! Will let y’all know how it turns out! Thanks again for the education!
I am so sorry that you are having a problem with ants. The thing that you said though that took me by surprise is that you ordered granules. I am not sure if you are talking about the termite granules or the granulated bait that I use for ants. The termite bait will not work for ants. Normally, I do bait ants, but it sounds like you may need a more serious option than that.
This method involves using pesticides instead of baits. It also involves treating the exterior of the building because that is most likely where most of the ants are coming from. While there are some species that will colonize in your home, most of them colonize outside and some species colonize both inside and outside. Therefore, the idea is that we want to quickly kill the colonies that are outside, and we want to kill any colonies that may be inside. Let's start with the inside first.
Mix some Temprid FX in a garden sprayer at a dilution rate of 16 ml per gallon of water. Simply spray any areas where there are ant trails, paying particular attention to baseboards, exterior door thresholds, and other areas where ants are seen or may be getting in. Do not apply directly to eating areas or food preparation areas. One treatment of this product is all that is needed to end the problem, as long as you do the exterior treatment every 60 to 90 days.
For the exterior treatment, simply watch my video on how to treat your yard with a hose end sprayer. I will attach a link to that video. Most ants colonize in the ground and treating your entire yard will kill off all those colonies. If you have killed off all the colonies inside and you have killed off all the colonies outside, then you cannot possibly have an ant problem after that. The key though is that you must retreat your yard and the exterior of your home every 60 to 90 days to maintain control. You will know how often to treat the exterior if you check outside every couple of weeks for ant activity. As soon as you start to see ant mounds or ants crawling around outside, then you know how often you need to treat. You want to nip them in the bud, before they can get reestablished.
I hope that helps. Be well Helen.
Video on how to treat your yard with a hose end sprayer: ua-cam.com/video/wifoTU5dmp0/v-deo.html
@@GuysPestSolutions I found that borax dissolved in water with sugar is great for sugar ants, but doesn't work for fire ants. Fire ants are tough to get rid of. I kill a mound and work them every spring and fall. In fall the mounds come back. Sometimes a mound requires multiple applications of the powder or granules to kill the active mound. I guess termites are too week to consume the borax product an make it back to the colony to deliver it to the "queen" or "queens".
@@ralphparker Borax and sugar will work great for ants, most of the time, but termites are different. Fire ants are actually very easy to treat, and you can kill off a mound literally overnight. It's cheap too. You can probably treat all the ant mounds on your property for about $10. I will give you a link to my video on how to do it. They will be back though because your neighbors have them as well. If you would like to keep them gone for good, then treat your yard every 60 days with Bifen XTS. I have a video on how to do this and I will give you a link to that as well. It is very easy to do with a hose end sprayer.
I hope that helps. Be well my friend.
Video on how to treat fire ants: ua-cam.com/video/VReLWuT-jcQ/v-deo.html
Video on how to treat your yard with a hose end sprayer: ua-cam.com/video/wifoTU5dmp0/v-deo.html
I have read that only the queen of the colony has to be killed to eliminate it. Is this true?
Yes. If you don't kill the queen, she will go on producing more termites. Be well my friend.
A friend told me about concentrated Orange solvent. Works great
Using orange solvent to treat termites is not a good idea. It will kill termites by dissolving their exoskeletons, but it will not penetrate the wood sufficiently to do an effective job, and the termites that are exposed to it probably will not live long enough to bring the food back to the colony. If you do not take out the colony, then you do not end the infestation. You may kill termites that are close to the surface of the wood, but termites that operate deeper in the wood are not going to be affected at all. So, you may think that you have killed the termites, but in all likelihood they are still eating your house. Also, orange solvent is not good to breathe in, so you should only use it in well ventilated areas. If you want something that you can apply to wood directly, then a better choice would be to use Bora-Care. I will give you a link to the product and a video on how to use it.
I hope that helps. Be well my friend.
Video on how to use Bora-Care: ua-cam.com/video/Rmr_aEodyhg/v-deo.html
Bora-Care: www.domyown.com/boracare-p-100.html
@@GuysPestSolutions I'm in Tamp[a and my house in infested with dry termites. I can access to the attic for the most part but I have plaster walls so getting at the studs would be a problem. Will bora-care be taken back to the colony to infest all of it or should I use something else in addition? I also thought of building a wand using pressure washer wands and making a U shaped tip that sprays the whole rafter in one pass without moving insulation. Of course I wouldn't use a pressure washer to drive it, just the wands for something extendable to reach the eaves.
I'm so sorry that I'm only getting to answer this right now. For some reason, UA-cam did not send me your comment until this morning. They do that sometimes and I have had them hold comments for as long as 3 years already. If ever you ask me a question, and you do not get an answer within a few days, then please email me at guyspestsolutions@gmail.com.
It is important to understand how drywood termites work. They enter through cracks and crevices around windows, doors, the eaves, pipe penetrations, and so forth. Most of the time, they enter through several locations. That is because a swarm of them attacked your house at the same time. If there was a crack or a crevice, then they probably found it. After they established their galleries, which will be inside the wood, it will take four to seven years for them to be able to swarm. Now that they are in your house, the swarmers will use holes that are in your studs to travel through the walls. Those holes in the studs were created by the electricians to run the electrical wiring. Not only are these holes going through the studs, but holes were drilled into the attic for the light switches and to run some of the wiring for the outlets. So, the termites now have easy access throughout the attic and the walls. If you have a basement or crawl space, they have access to that as well. Most of the time, you will have no idea that they are in the walls, because the frass is inside the wall. To make matters worse, if you have drywood termites, then your neighbors have them too. That means you have been getting swarmed for as long as they have existed in the neighborhood. Most likely, we're talking about years, so it's a safe bet that you have these guys in many locations in your home.
I always hate to be the bearer of bad news, but if you have drywood termites, the only sure way to get rid of them is to fumigate. Prices for this can vary wildly in this industry, so I recommend that you watch my video on how to hire a pest controller without getting ripped off. That video can save you a lot of money. You should also know that the gas they use to fumigate has absolutely no residual action whatsoever, so you can get reinfested the moment the tent comes down. Like I said before, if you have drywood termites, then your neighbors have them as well. Since drywood termites swarm every year, it is almost a certainty that you will be reinfested within a year after the fumigation is done. The only way to prevent this is to do a preventive treatment on your house every 60 to 90 days. Most pest controllers will not do this, so it is something that you generally need to do yourself. I have a video on how to do that and I will place a link below. If you absolutely cannot afford to fumigate your house, then you can try spot treating it yourself. It is virtually impossible to find all the termite galleries, but it is way better than doing nothing. Regardless of how you treat it, you should begin the preventive treatment immediately, so that you do not get additional termites paying you a visit.
I hope that helps. Be well my friend.
Video on how to hire a pest controller without getting ripped off: ua-cam.com/video/y-a8XOqVrlE/v-deo.html
Video on how to prevent drywood termites: ua-cam.com/video/Yozv3s-Qwlw/v-deo.html
Video on how to spot treat drywood termites: ua-cam.com/video/U7ck7zhS0Xo/v-deo.html
I wonder if it’s just diesel, since that works with oil penetration
Thank you for your video. I am worried about the environmental impact of Fipronil. My long-term goal for my yard is to have mostly native plants and create a little mini-wildlife refuge for polinators and birds. We also have a pond/waterfall that I would like fix up and have some frogs or fish. Anyway, I'm worried about it killing these other insects and animals thru direct contact, run off, or eating insects that have been contaminated with Fipronil. Do you have any advice? I know you're a pest control guy, not an ecologist. I saw you said trenching with Borax is ineffective. I live in Phoenix, Arizona. Any advice would be much appreciated!
I'm not sure why you think there would be an environmental impact by using fipronil in a trench around your house, but I can assure you that the environmental impact will be zero. Products like Taurus SC are designed to bond with the soil, so they stay where you put them. If the product was to go on leaching into the ground, then it wouldn't stay when you need it to kill the termites. Depending upon soil conditions, it is unlikely that the product will leach into the ground more than a few inches. The trench is only 6 inches wide and I have literally never seen a bird feeding that close to the house. So, the reality is that the only environmental impact that using these products will have is going to be to kill the termites. You should also know that Taurus SC is safe for children to play on after it dries. Therefore, this is a very safe and effective product, and there's no reason in the world to avoid using it.
For trenching to work, you must do it correctly. I will give you a link to my video on how to do that.
You should also be aware that you have two species of subterranean termites where you live. One of those species are Formosan termites. These guys are very aggressive eaters and unlike other species of subterranean termites, they have the ability to colonize in your home. Therefore, they may need additional treatment. Please watch my video on how to identify termite species. Don't worry. It's not that hard. You just need to make sure that you are not dealing with Formosan termites. If it turns out that this is the species, then please contact me for further guidance. Most likely this is not the case, but it is worth investigating.
I hope that helps. Be well Mary.
Video on how to trench correctly: ua-cam.com/video/Fy7YHi_7Z8g/v-deo.html
Video on how to identify termite species: ua-cam.com/video/dIs_a0nfVjg/v-deo.html
Glad I saw this video.
Thank you so much. Be well my friend.
I was debating about which product I was going to use to treat my joists and crawl space with to treat for powder post Beatles and termites. I was debating buying Timbor and mixing it with anti-freeze (glycol) but have decided to just fork over the extra money and buy bora-care just to be safe and be able to sleep at night knowing I got the good stuff. Thank you
You can't beat Bora-Care for powder post beetles or any other wood destroying pest, but always mix it one to one with water and not one to five like the label will tell you. Also, you can mix it with cold water. I do it all the time. Smart move not to use Tim-Bor. It's made by the same company, but not the same thing. Don't waste your money on it.
Please note that I am on vacation, and I will not be home until after June 11, so I may not be able to answer follow-up questions until I get home. So, please be patient, I will get caught up as quickly as possible.
I hope that helps. Be well my friend.
Can't you drill holes into the wood and add it that way?
You probably won't get enough dust in there to do much good. You may kill a few hundred termites, but the idea is that you need to take out the colony. To do that, the termites need to take a pesticide back to the colony and share it with the other termites. Boric acid won't do that because it is going to kill the termites too quickly. You may see some reduction in activity where you apply it, but that is not going to take out the colony. They may also be attacking in an area that you have not yet discovered, so eliminating the entire colony is the way to go. Trust me. If you do not eliminate the colony, they will keep coming. I hope that helps. Be well my friend.
Hello Guy, I have been following your content for a 1+ year after discovering subterranean termites in my drywall and studs. They are coming in from the crack of the basement floor and foundation wall. We can't access the exterior since the entry concrete steps are right behind it. My termite company hasn't been able to take care of this in a year and they have drilled through the concrete steps and small trench with bait stations, they have never seen anything like this in 30+ years. I'd love to hear your thoughts. We have swarms every spring and termites in almost every stump in my yard. 😢
@@dineshrm I am so sorry that you are having this problem. In order to assist you, I need to see photos of the steps from all angles. Also, it would be helpful if you can get me a specimen of either one of the winged swarmers or one of the soldiers. The soldiers have red heads. You may be able to obtain one by digging into one of the stumps. I need to know the species. Please watch my video on how to properly photograph a bug. It needs to be done a certain way to be of help to me. I will give you a link to that video. My email address is guyspestsolutions@gmail.com. Be well my friend.
Video on how to properly photograph a bug: ua-cam.com/video/I8qd63hX6y8/v-deo.html
I am going to get my house fumigated for termites, is that the best way to eliminate the Colony?
Fipronil (termidor) is a powder before it's mixed with water .. how is this different? Also, if treating the outside of the house(barrier) .... wouldn't this work OK. It seems as though it would be a lot safer for humans than fipronil?
That is a great question. Termidor is actually a liquid and not a powder. Things are changing all the time, but I have never seen it in powdered form. That being said, your point is still well taken. I probably should have pointed out that not all powders are the same. Some powders, such as a laundry detergent, will dissolve in water and become a solution. This is not the case with boric acid and most other borate products. These powders are not soluble in water, so they do not create a solution, but rather a suspension. That means, when the liquid dries, it leaves behind the powder. It also means that they will not penetrate into the wood, so they are ineffective for treating termites. Borate products work very well on ants and roaches, because they travel on outside surfaces where these materials can be easily applied. I do not recommend using boric acid to treat the outside of a building because it can be easily washed away, and it only works on certain pests. To be effective, the target pest must ingest this material or get a pretty good amount of it on the exoskeletal. So, it works pretty well for insects that like to clean themselves, but it will not work for things like spiders. If you treat with an actual pesticide, it will not wash away when it rains, and most pesticides will kill a wide range of pests. Modern day pesticides are not as hazardous as people think. We are now living in the 21st century and so we now have 21st century pesticides. Prior to the 1990s, pesticides were very dangerous, but that is no longer the case. Most pesticides today have the same signal word as common laundry detergent. If you would like to know more about the safety of pesticides, then please watch my video on the subject. I think you will be surprised when you learn the truth. I hope that helps.
Video explaining the truth about using pesticides: ua-cam.com/video/i7nLO6Js_3Q/v-deo.html
Just ran across your video.. thanks for the info...
Had a question... I just got a prebuilt shed here in SW Florida. It's 2x the size of the old one but it went right where the old on was. I framed out a pad a filled it with crushed stone, but want to do something preventative because it's just a matter of time before the find it lol.
What are some options you would suggest?
Thank you for all your videos and advice!!
If the shed is made of wood, then treat ALL the interior surfaces with Bora-Care. Mix it one to one with water in a 5 gallon bucket, using a drill and paint mixer attachment. Do not mix it one to five. This will make the shed termite proof. I will give you a link to the product and a video on how to use it. Apply it with the cheapest pump-up garden sprayer you can find because the product can clog them up. If it clogs, just throw it away. You can usually find them at Lowes or Home Depot for around $12.
I hope that helps. Be well my friend.
Bora-Care: www.solutionsstores.com/bora-care
Bora-Care video: ua-cam.com/video/Rmr_aEodyhg/v-deo.html
@@GuysPestSolutions yep it's wood... Gonna grab some!
Thanks for the reply!
One other question that comes to mind is how long does it take to dry?.. I would like to caulk around the base of the framing on the inside.
@@wildgoose-media Great question. It dries at about the same speed as water. So, drying time depends upon climate conditions and ventilation. Certainly, it should be dry by the next day. Keep in mind that if you use Bora-Care outside, you need to let it dry 48 hours and then you need to paint or seal it in some way. You do not need to seal it inside.
I hope that helps. Be well my friend.
How should I use chlorpyrifos effectively? 🙂
Chlorpyrifos is an organophosphate insecticide that was widely used in agriculture and residential settings for many years. However, it is now known to be harmful to human health and the environment, and its use has been restricted or banned in many countries.
Chlorpyrifos is a neurotoxin, meaning that it can damage the nervous system. Exposure to chlorpyrifos can cause a variety of health problems, including headaches, dizziness, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, muscle weakness, and seizures. In severe cases, chlorpyrifos exposure can lead to death. It has been associated with neurodevelopmental harms in children. Prenatal exposures to chlorpyrifos are associated with lower birth weight, reduced IQ, loss of working memory, attention disorders, and delayed motor development.
Chlorpyrifos is also harmful to the environment. It can kill birds, fish, and other wildlife. It can also pollute water and soil.
For all these reasons, I do not use chlorpyrifos and I do not recommend its use by anyone. There are much safer alternatives on the market. If you let me know the target pest, I can recommend a way to treat it with much safer products. Be well my friend.
Guy, I want to treat bare wood in the crawlspaces with Boracare and inject Termidor foam into wood for drywood termites where I see evidence of activity (fumigation estimate is $5K where I live so not feasible at this time). Can the Boracare solution be effectively sprayed using those typical 32 oz spray bottles you find at Home Depot or Lowes? Or will the solution clog the sprayer too quickly? It's a tight squeeze below so if I can get around using something smaller than a 1 gal sprayer, it would be easier for me.
You could use a 32 ounce sprayer, but that is going to be a lot of squeezing on your hand and it will go way slower than using a 1 gallon pump-up sprayer. You can also paint it on with a regular paint brush. When you are in tight quarters like that, you should wear eye protection and a respirator. You should also remove the insulation prior to treatment because you want to also treat the subfloor. It's a big job, but if you do it correctly, it lasts forever. Always mix the Bora-Care one to one with water. I will give you a link to a video on how to use the product correctly. Be well my friend.
Bora-Care video: ua-cam.com/video/Rmr_aEodyhg/v-deo.html
@@GuysPestSolutions Thanks, Guy! You’re the best.
You are very welcome. Thank you so much for those kind words. Very much appreciated. Be well my friend.
Hi Guy, thank you for your videos. Have you any information about using neem oil for termites?
Neem oil will kill termites, but it has the same problem as boric acid. I do not know of an effective way to deliver it. I do not believe that it will sufficiently penetrate wood to be truly effective. The truth is that I know of no natural way to treat termites. I think the choices with termites are pretty clear. You can either use a quality non-repellent pesticide or your house is going to be eaten. For the life of me I do not understand why people just don't use pesticides, instead of messing around with what they think are safer options. The truth is that modern day pesticides are no more hazardous than common laundry detergent. I recommend that you have a look and my video on this subject. I think it will put to rest a lot of the misconceptions that people have about the use of pesticides. We are no longer in the 20th century, when pesticides were dangerous. We are now well into the 21st century and we now have 21st century pesticides that are way different then their ancestors from the last century. Comparing today's pesticides with pesticides from the last century, is like comparing today's smartphones with cell phones that were being made in the 1990s. Technology has come a long way over the years and pesticides are no different.
I hope that helps. Be well my friend.
Video explaining the truth about the dangers of using pesticides: ua-cam.com/video/i7nLO6Js_3Q/v-deo.html
Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge. I really appreciate it.
@@HollyClips You are very welcome. Be well Holly.
Thanks for the info, Guy. What about TAP insulation (with boric acid) for preventing reinfestations of drywood termites post-fumigation? I’d appreciate your thoughts.
I have no experience with TAP insulation, but I suspect that it works pretty well. The problem is that drywood termites tend to hang out in the center of wood. If they try to eat the insulation, they are going to die, and they will not be able to establish a gallery in the insulation. However, I think most of the time, the termites are going to do what they do best. That is enter actual wood and then start a colony as close to the center of the wood as they can. So, I don't think TAP insulation is a bad idea, but at the same time, I do not think it will prevent a reinfestation of drywood termites.
It is important to understand how drywood termites work. They enter through cracks and crevices around windows, doors, the eaves, pipe penetrations, and so forth. Most of the time, they enter through several locations. That is because a swarm of them attacked your house at the same time. If there was a crack or a crevice, then they probably found it. After they established their galleries, which will be inside the wood, it will take four to seven years for them to be able to swarm. Now that they are in your house, the swarmers will use holes that are in your studs to travel through the walls. Those holes in the studs were created by the electricians to run the electrical wiring. Not only are these holes going through the studs, but holes were drilled into the attic for the light switches and to run some of the wiring for the outlets. So, the termites now have easy access throughout the attic and the walls. If you have a basement or crawl space, they have access to that as well. Most of the time, you will have no idea that they are in the walls, because the frass is inside the wall. To make matters worse, if you have drywood termites, then your neighbors have them too. That means you have been getting swarmed for as long as they have existed in the neighborhood. Most likely, we're talking about years, so it's a safe bet that you have these guys in many locations in your home.
You should also know that the gas they use to fumigate has absolutely no residual action whatsoever, so you can get reinfested the moment the tent comes down. Like I said before, if you have drywood termites, then your neighbors have them as well. Since drywood termites swarm every year, it is almost a certainty that you will be reinfested within a year after the fumigation is done. The only way to prevent this is to do a preventive treatment on your house every 60 to 90 days. Most pest controllers will not do this, so it is something that you generally need to do yourself. I have a video on how to do that and I will place a link below. You should begin the preventive treatment immediately, so that you do not get additional termites paying you a visit.
I hope that helps. Be well my friend.
Video on how to prevent drywood termites: ua-cam.com/video/neNsmVbj8Pc/v-deo.html
@@GuysPestSolutions Thank you very much for the detailed explanation! And you are spot on about the neighbors. While my house was being tented, one of the neighbors texted me a photo of frass similar to what I had discovered in my own home.
@@FruitOfTheSpirit You are very welcome. I recommend sharing all this information with the neighbors. You may want to share me as well. I would be more than happy to answer any questions that they may have. Be well my friend.
Hi GUY, do you have a video on bedbugs? And what to look for at hotels?
I do not have a video on bed bugs, but Solutions Pest and Lawn has a pretty good one. The procedure they show you in the video it's very good. The only thing is that you need to be more thorough than they suggested in the video. I recommend doing this treatment in all the rooms and not just the bedrooms. Bed bugs can be in your living room as well, and even your dining room. So, you should be treating all the upholstered furniture. You should also vacuum and treat all the floors, and you should treat all the base boards as well. The key to getting rid of bedbugs is to be thorough and treat absolutely everything.
I hope that helps. Be well my friend.
Bed bug video: ua-cam.com/video/9aH1eXf449U/v-deo.html
Thank you!
Guy! Great content! How do I get rid of cockroaches in my septic tank, or possibly the leachfield for my grey water drain? I believe they are oriental cockroaches. I have never found any in my house, but I do find dead ones on my screen porch and in my detached garage. Local pest control came out and sprayed the base of all walls inside and out, sprinkled some granules by the septic tank, charged me $600 and then told me I need to have them come monthly to keep things in control.
I guess the first question I need to ask is how do you know that there are roaches in your septic tank or your leachfields? I think that would be a somewhat unusual situation. Oriental cockroaches are mostly and outside roach, but they can infest homes, so you need to send these guys packing. My advice would be to treat your yard every 60 days with Bifen XTS. This will kill not only the roaches, but every other pest imaginable that may be breeding in your yard. Just watch my video on how to treat your yard with the hose end sprayer. I will give you a link to it. Roaches are not capable of coming through the plumbing into your home, so if you treat your yard every 60 days, then any roaches that may come up from the septic system will die when they travel through the grass. I think it would be possible to treat the septic system, but I wouldn't go there, unless you are absolutely certain that you have roaches breeding in there. To confirm that, you would need to remove the cover of the septic tank and have a look. If you do see roaches in there, then get back to me, and I will tell you how to go about doing it. Not a fun job, but it can be done. I do not think that you will find a pest controller who will be willing to do it, so it is one of those things that you will most likely need to do yourself. Most likely though, the roaches are breeding around the septic tank and not actually in it. If that is the case, then the yard treatment will take them out.
I hope that helps. Be well my friend.
Video on how to treat your yard with a hose end sprayer: ua-cam.com/video/wifoTU5dmp0/v-deo.html
@@GuysPestSolutions I will buy some bifen and treat the yard as you show in the video, and will see if that handles the problem.
@@stew4148 Please let me know how you make out. Be well my friend.
my privacy fence looks like it has them, but the sawdust is focused on 1 panel so far. should I dig a trench along the fence?
A fence could have one of four different species of termites, depending upon where you live. Use a flathead screwdriver to dig out a specimen with a red head and then watch my video on how to identify termite species. These could also be carpenter ants, so you may also want to watch my video on how to tell the difference between carpenter ants and termites. After you ID the species, then I can tell you how to treat. Trenching may not be a good option for you. Please let me know if you have trouble identifying the species. It's really pretty easy though, so you will probably ID them pretty fast.
I hope that helps. Be well my friend.
Video on how to identify termite species: ua-cam.com/video/dIs_a0nfVjg/v-deo.html
Video on how to tell the difference between carpenter ants and termites: ua-cam.com/video/enJPS-h70Bs/v-deo.html
@@GuysPestSolutions I live in Michigan if that helps, the one pile I sprayed with Terminix. I think I'm seeing small white magot shaped dead ones, but you are correct because I clearly see ants everywhere. any products kill both?
@@davidkarl5192 You only have two species of termites in Michigan. They are subterranean termites or dampwood termites. It is important to figure out which one you have because subterranean termites colonize under the ground and dampwood termites colonize in the wood itself. Therefore, if you have subterranean termites, then you would need to treat the ground. However, if you have dampwood termites, then you need to treat the wood. I recommend that you dig into the wood with a flathead screwdriver and try to obtain a specimen with a red head. Put it in a jar and let it die a natural death. They don't live long when they are exposed to the air. Take a look at the mandibles and see if they have serrated surfaces on the inside. If the mandibles are serrated, then they are dampwood termites. If the mandibles are perfectly smooth, then these are subterranean termites. It is very possible that you have both termites and carpenter ants. It is very common for carpenter ants to be in the exact same location as the termites, because carpenter ants like to eat termites. Not only do the termites provide a handy food source, but they also provide the tunnels that the carpenter ants like to travel through. Those pre-made tunnels make it a lot easier for the carpenter ants to establish their colonies in the wood. Unlike termites, carpenter ants do not eat wood. They need to forge for food. If you kill the termites, then you are removing the food source for the ants. At that point, it is very easy to go ahead and treat the ants. Since they do not eat wood, and they need to forage for food, we can simply use a surface spray to take care of them. Normally, I would use Taurus SC for this purpose. I will explain how to do that after you get finished addressing the termites.
I hope that helps. Be well David.
What to use to keep away ants and termites in organic farming
Gosh. I really don't do that sort of thing, but diatomaceous earth and nematodes come to mind. I hope that helps. Be well my friend.
Not sure if I have termites I have some holes in my sheetrock looks like dirt on there also
That sounds exactly like termites. Those sound like exit holes from subterranean termites. They are often filled back in with mud. You may want to have a pest controller inspect or you could just do it yourself. Just look for mud tubes around the outside of the building. They usually are coming up from the ground. You may also find them in the basement, crawl space, or the attic. Please let me know if you would like to treat it yourself. Be well my friend.
Guys the best, but how to treat around windows?
How you handle that will depend on the species. Figuring out the species is actually pretty easy and I have a video on how to do that. I will provide you with a link below. After watching this video, you should be able to identify the species. Just get back to me after you watch it and let me know what you found out. At that point, I can tell you exactly what you need to do. Let me know if you have any problems identifying the species, but I do not think that you will. It is much easier than you may imagine. Also, please tell me where you live. Location matters.
Be well my friend.
Video on how to identify termite species: ua-cam.com/video/dIs_a0nfVjg/v-deo.html
Hi, Guy. Have written previously and am arranging for my house to be fumigated. I also have my order of Bifen coming today and will start spraying this weekend. In addition to these two measures, for a 60 year old house like mine, would you recommend spraying all exposed wood in the attic, crawl space, etc. with Bora-Care? Thanks, you're info is much appreciated by all.
Yes. Applying Bora-Care to as many places as possible is a very good idea and it will help to prevent drywood termites. I recommend mixing it one to one with water and not one to five, so ignore the label directions in that regard. Also, you can mix it with cold water. I do it all the time.
Good luck with the treatment. I recommend that you stay out of the house for 7 days after they tell you that you can go back in. Accidents happen every year that result in deaths, so it's best to use caution. The gas should definitely be gone if you follow my advice. Remember that these folks are human, and they can make mistakes. Also, I recommend bagging the mattresses in bags designed for bed bugs. This will keep the gas out of the mattresses. Do not bag the box springs because they often contain wood that may be infested. You can obtain bed bug mattress bags on Amazon.
I hope that helps. Be well my friend.
Thank you!
You are very welcome. Be well my friend.
Colorado termites in my wall near my outdoor spigot what product? Link to buy to kill in wall?
They are subterranean, and actually “live” underground. They are only coming up for food and bringing it back to their underground colony (ie queen, reproductive, and babies. )Germicidal in a trench around the home and drilling into the concrete basement floors is what the pros suggest. This gentleman suggest a pelletized product sprinkled around the outside of the home and “watered in.” This method will work. You could disrupt, kill the ones in the wall with boracare, but it won’t kill the whole colony, necessarily. Use bait stations for long term defense.
You only have one species of termites where you are and they are an easily treated species of subterranean termites.
There are two options for treating subterranean termites yourself. The easiest way is to use termite granules. It costs less than $60 to do and it only takes about an hour. The application is so easy that a child can do it. The other option is to trench around the entire building, including the driveway. It takes about a day for most people to trench around an average sized building and it only costs about $100 to do the job. Trenching lasts for 5 to 10 years, but the granules should be applied every year as a preventive measure. I have videos on how to do both options and I will place links below.
For the granules to work you need to have dirt around most of the house and that dirt needs to be porous enough to allow water to seep into the ground fairly quickly. To find out if the dirt around your house is porous enough, just dig a small hole next to the house that is about 4 inches deep, 8 inches long, and just the width of the shovel. Fill the hole with water and watch to see how fast it drains down into the ground. If it seeps into the ground fairly quickly, then the granules should work just fine. However, if it just kind of sits there, then the granules would not be a good choice, and you should consider trenching. Make sure that you buy the correct granules. You need the ones that have imidacloprid as the active ingredient. A lot of the Home Depot and Lowes stores no longer sell the correct granules, but you can get them from Amazon. I will give you a link to them.
You can give any subterranean termite treatment a bit of a boost by doing a spot treatment. If at all possible, spot treating for subterranean termites should not be the only approach to eliminate an infestation. An additional exterior treatment should also be done with either granules or trenching, whenever possible. Spot treating alone may totally eliminate the infestation with no other treatments, but it's not a sure thing.
To spot treat subterranean termites, you need to buy a fipronil foam. I will provide links for two products that you can choose from. I like the FiPro the best because it's a little less expensive and I like the applicator tip better, but the Termidor Foam also works very well. The FiPro is not available everywhere. If you can get one of these foams, then drill holes in all damaged areas, that are 4 inches apart, and drilled about halfway through the wood. If you are seeing exit holes in the wall, then there is most likely a stud behind the exit hole. Get a stud finder and locate the stud where it meets the ceiling and drive a small nail into the stud a couple of inches below the ceiling. Attach a weighted string to the nail and that will show you where the stud is. Then drill the holes 4 inches apart along the entire length of the stud, about 3 inches deep. Do the same thing for woodwork, except only drill the holes halfway through the wood. If you think that there is a 2 x 4 behind the woodwork, then drill a 3-inch-deep hole every 8 inches. The holes only need to be wide enough to get the applicator tip of the foam can into the hole. After the holes are drilled, then shoot the foam into each hole for about 5 seconds or until you have foam either coming back out at you or coming out the other holes that you drilled. All the holes should have foam either going into them or coming out of them. This will contaminate their food source and they will take the fipronil back in the colony and spread it around to the other termites.
Most of the time, subterranean termites are going to be building mud tubes somewhere. You will most likely find these mud tubes going up the exterior or interior of your foundation and you may find them along joists and even in the attic sometimes. If you have a slab home, then you may find them going up the outside of the house on the slab and even the side of the house. If you can find the mud tubes, then you can treat them as well. Just scrape off about a 2-inch section of each mud tube down to the bare surface. Then, shoot that foam into each side of the mud tube and also apply a little of it on the surface where you removed it. The termites will rebuild the mud tubes and bring the foam back to the colony to spread around to the other termites.
Also, if you can find the mud tubes, this is a very good way to determine when the infestation is gone. If you scrape off that 2-inch section of a mud tube, you can see if there are any live termites in the tube. Again, the termites will rebuild the tube and go about their business. Do this every two weeks after you finish all your treatments. Apply the foam to the mud tube every time you do it. At the point you are no longer seeing live termites and they stop rebuilding the mud tube, then your infestation has been eradicated.
After you use one of these methods, you may want to consider installing monitoring stations around the house. This is not necessary, but it is very easy to do, and you will know immediately if you have termites in the area. If one of the stations goes off, then you can treat the termites right at the station, before they try to attack your house. This way, you are protected by either the granules or the trenching, and you have the peace of mind knowing that there are no termites in the area. You can make these stations yourself out of used water bottles for about 50 cents each. I have a video on how to do that and I will give you a link to it. These stations have a little orange dot on the top of them. When the dock disappears you either have termites or the station has malfunctioned. Either way, you can check to see if there are active termites, and if there are, then you can treat them right there. Now, let's face it, we are making these things out of used water bottles, so it is possible that one of orange indicators can move to the side and disappear, even though there are no termites. That's not really a big deal though because these things are very fast and easy to make and install. So, just keep a few on hand should you need to replace one. After they are installed, just walk around the house every couple of months to see if there are orange dots missing. It couldn't be easier.
It typically takes several weeks for any termite treatment to be effective. That is because you are using slow kill products. If you were to kill the termites too quickly, then they would not have a chance to bring the poison back to the colony and share it with the other termites. If you don't kill off the entire colony, you will not end the infestation. Therefore, you must kill off subterranean termites very slowly. So, I would give this at least 12 weeks before I would decide that something went wrong, and the process didn't work. Hiring a professional to trench your house is pretty much going to take about the same amount of time to kill off the colony.
I hope that helps. Be well my friend.
Video on how to apply termite granules: ua-cam.com/video/H7rW_TSBHJ4/v-deo.html
Video on how to trench for subterranean termites the right way: ua-cam.com/video/Fy7YHi_7Z8g/v-deo.html
Video and how to make termite monitoring stations: ua-cam.com/video/gye27aXHRsY/v-deo.html
Termite granules: www.amazon.com/dp/B000RUIJYM?ref=nb_sb_ss_w_as-reorder-t1_k1_1_5&=&crid=2P2TMXP7SR4W8&=&sprefix=termi
FiPro: www.solutionsstores.com/fipro-foaming-aerosol
Termidor Foam: www.domyown.com/termidor-foam-p-3528.html
@@GuysPestSolutions thank you excellent
Borax + Sugar + water spray on paper board (use as bait). Not sure about the solution percentage.
Those home made baits can work for ants and roaches sometimes, to some extent, but not at all for termites. Termites do not eat sugar the way ants and roaches do. Termites eat cellulose and sugar does not contain cellulose. I hope that helps. Be well my friend.
@@GuysPestSolutions they eat grass?
@@JoRoBoYo Usually not. However, there are agricultural termites that do eat grass. They are mostly found in hot, dry areas like Arizona. They typically do not infest homes though. Most species are subterranean and operate under the dirt and grass. If you see mud tubes in the grass, then they are most likely agricultural termites. I hope that helps. Be well my friend.
Guy, I am about to use Navigator SC and a foaming agent to treat inside wall cavities. Would there be any benefit to adding in some boric acid to the foaming mix?
You did not mention the target pest. If you are going after termites, then you would be better off foaming the wall voids with Bora-Care. This product will make the wood permanently termite proof. If you are going to foam with Navigator SC, then I don't know that there would be much of an advantage to mixing boric acid with it. We generally do not foam wall voids with fipronil. When foaming with fipronil, we typically drill holes into the wall studs and foam into the holes. If you like, I can give you a procedure for how to do that. If you are unfamiliar with Bora-Care, then check out the videos below on how do you use it.
I hope that helps. Be well my friend
ua-cam.com/video/Rmr_aEodyhg/v-deo.html
ua-cam.com/video/kXQTc9wwCfQ/v-deo.html
ua-cam.com/video/7hajP8VrK0I/v-deo.html
@@GuysPestSolutions Apology, it is for drywood termites, and yes I did see your boracare video, thanks much!
@Guy's Pest Solutions so you are saying navigator sc foams up after you spray it?
I bought some boracare recently but still haven't used it yet...so i simply add these 2 products together in my sprayer?
Will i need to drill any holes in my attic to get this foam in the walls?
@@dieselcowboy777 No. If you want Navigator SC to convert to a foam, then you need to mix it with a foaming agent and use it in a foamer. You cannot mix Navigator SC and Bora-Care together. However, you can convert Bora-Care into a foam by mixing it with a foaming agent and using a foamer. In fact, you can pretty much convert any liquid pesticide into a foam by mixing it with a foaming agent and using a foamer. To treat your walls, you either need to treat the studs or the wall voids.
To spot treat the studs, you need a fipronil foam. You can buy the aerosol cans or use a foamer. The cans work a lot better. Drill holes in all damaged areas, that are 4 inches apart, and drilled about halfway through the wood. If you are seeing exit holes in the wall, then there is most likely a stud behind the exit hole. Get a stud finder and locate the stud where it meets the ceiling and drive a small nail into the stud a couple of inches below the ceiling. Attach a weighted string to the nail and that will show you where the stud is. Then drill the holes 4 inches apart along the entire length of the stud, about 3 inches deep. Do the same thing for woodwork, except only drill the holes halfway through the wood. If you think that there is a 2 x 4 behind the woodwork, then drill a 3-inch-deep hole every 8 inches. The holes only need to be wide enough to get the applicator tip of the foam can or the foamer into the hole. After the holes are drilled, then shoot the foam into each hole for about 5 seconds or until you have foam either coming back out at you or coming out the other holes that you drilled. All the holes should have foam either going into them or coming out of them. This will contaminate their food source and they will take the fipronil back in the colony and spread it around to the other termites.
To treat the wall voids, you need to use Bora-Care. I will give you links to videos and how to use it and a link to a place where you can buy it.
You cannot treat the walls from the attic. However, you can treat all the wood in the attic with Bora-Care.
I hope that helps. Be well my friend.
Video on how to use Bora-Care: ua-cam.com/video/Rmr_aEodyhg/v-deo.html
Video on how to treat wall studs with Bora-Care: ua-cam.com/video/7hajP8VrK0I/v-deo.html
Bora-Care: www.domyown.com/boracare-p-100.html?pdpv=2
Canned foam: www.domyown.com/termidor-foam-p-3528.html?pdpv=2
@@GuysPestSolutions so i don't need to mix the bora care with the termidor foam...
I thought the foam was a mixing agent to go with bora care
Does lime plaster in between studs stop termites becayse of the high PH? Same as hempcrete..
To the best of my knowledge, lime plaster in between the studs will not stop termites at all. They may not eat the plaster, but they will still eat the wood. I hope that helps. Be well my friend.
Thanks a million!
You are very welcome. Be well my friend.
What if you pour boric acid into trench?
That will not work. The boric acid needs to get on their feet or their bodies and putting it in a trench will not allow that to happen effectively. Also, the termites that go back to the colony to die from boric acid, will not take out any other termites. So, even if it did work in a trench, that would not kill the colony. At best it would kill a few termites, but the vast majority would not be affected. That is why it doesn't work to treat wood either. You need to kill the entire colony. For that you need a slow kill termiticide that the termites can spread around to the entire colony. I hope that helps. Be well my friend.
Can you PLEASE explain in a video how to finally get rid of ELM LEAF BEETLES once and for all?
That's a really tough one. Anytime you are trying to treat any sort of pests that are damaging tree leaves, you really need to get the pesticide onto all the leaves. This can be a pretty tall order. No pun intended. You need some pretty high pressure equipment to shoot the pesticide to the top of some of these trees. Then there is the problem that other trees in the area are also infested. At best, the pesticide treatment will last one year, so they will be back. That means this is the sort of thing that you really need professional equipment to do and you need to do it every year. So, I do not know of a way that a homeowner can do an effective job themselves. Even a professional with the right equipment can only put a Band-Aid on the problem that is going to come off in a few months. I wish I had better news for you, but the truth is that I do not have a solution for this problem. That is very unusual for me, but you found one of the few pests for which I cannot offer a do it yourself solution. I am so sorry.
Can you do a video on how to eliminate a dry wood termite colony? Thanks
It is important to understand how drywood termites work. They enter through cracks and crevices around windows, doors, the eaves, pipe penetrations, and so forth. Most of the time, they enter through several locations. That is because a swarm of them attacked your house at the same time. If there was a crack or a crevice, then they probably found it. After they established their galleries, which will be inside the wood, it will take four to seven years for them to be able to swarm. Now that they are in your house, the swarmers will use holes that are in your studs to travel through the walls. Those holes in the studs were created by the electricians to run the electrical wiring. Not only are these holes going through the studs, but holes were drilled into the attic for the light switches and to run some of the wiring for the outlets. So, the termites now have easy access throughout the attic and the walls. If you have a basement or crawl space, they have access to that as well. Most of the time, you will have no idea that they are in the walls, because the frass is inside the wall. To make matters worse, if you have drywood termites, then your neighbors have them too. That means you have been getting swarmed for as long as they have existed in the neighborhood. Most likely, we're talking about years, so it's a safe bet that you have these guys in many locations in your home.
I always hate to be the bearer of bad news, but if you have drywood termites, the only sure way to get rid of them is to fumigate. Prices for this can vary wildly in this industry, so I recommend that you watch my video on how to hire a pest controller without getting ripped off. That video can save you a lot of money. You should also know that the gas they use to fumigate has absolutely no residual action whatsoever, so you can get reinfested the moment the tent comes down. Like I said before, if you have drywood termites, then your neighbors have them as well. Since drywood termites swarm every year, it is almost a certainty that you will be reinfested within a year after the fumigation is done. The only way to prevent this is to do a preventive treatment on your house every 60 to 90 days. Most pest controllers will not do this, so it is something that you generally need to do yourself. I have a video on how to do that and I will place a link below. If you absolutely cannot afford to fumigate your house, then you can try spot treating it yourself. I will give you a link to my video on how to do it. It is virtually impossible to find all the termite galleries, but it is way better than doing nothing. Regardless of how you treat it, you should begin the preventive treatment immediately, so that you do not get additional termites paying you a visit.
I hope that helps. Be well Lindsay.
Video on how to hire a pest controller without getting ripped off: ua-cam.com/video/y-a8XOqVrlE/v-deo.html
Video on how to prevent drywood termites: ua-cam.com/video/neNsmVbj8Pc/v-deo.html
Video on how to spot treat drywood termites: ua-cam.com/video/U7ck7zhS0Xo/v-deo.html
@@GuysPestSolutions Thank you so much!!!
@@lindsaycarina You are very welcome. Be well Lindsay.
i use Antifreeze and 20 mule mix to spray my studs to protect them as i was treating my infestation so they would not fly land and start again . I understand the idea of borax not penetrating the wood (hence the antifreeze) but would my treatment not protect it from landing on it and starting a new colony?
The only species of termites that could start a colony in the wood are drywood termites. Subterranean termites do not work that way. These guys only colonize in the ground and never in your house. Most of the time, you are dealing with subterranean termites, so treating the wood like you are doing will do nothing to prevent a new colony, because they would not have started a new colony anyway. The treatment you are using will not treat an infestation of drywood termites or subterranean termites. It is possible that it may have some effect with preventing drywood termites, but you would be better off using Bora-Care. This product will not only prevent all species of termites from attacking the wood, it will treat any termites that are already in the wood, and it lasts forever. For it to be effective, the wood must not be sealed with a stain, sealer, or paint. I will give you a link to the product.
I hope that helps. Be well my friend.
Video on how to use Bora-Care: ua-cam.com/video/Rmr_aEodyhg/v-deo.html
Bora-Care: www.domyown.com/boracare-p-100.html
Hi Gus. I had significant termite damage in my family room, built on a slab. I was able to support , open and Jack the walls to repair with treated lumber and all surfaces then sprayed with Octoborate solution. Couple of observations from the damage. Anything primed and or painted (fully) was left alone and the studs of Douglas Fir were mildly attempted but abandoned. They seemed to only attack the Eastern hem fir used for the rim joice , header and stud plates. The pest service installed the Trelona traps , all with a wood block at the bottom and a bait cartridge at the top. That seems to be somewhat in difference to the company instructions to install with blocks and only install baits at traps with activity. I also wondered about the time effectiveness of the bait. I made the company replace all the bait cartridges this spring. All , except 2 , had been in the traps more than four years. Any thoughts on this? I am making your soda bottle observation posts to augment the Trelona stations to check the checkers. Once you’ve had these “visitors”, it isn’t easy to forget they’re still out there!
Pest controllers will often put the actual bait in the Advance stations because they don't want to check on them. This way, they only need to check once a year. That is the wrong way to do it, but it is very common. You could have done that yourself for a lot less money. If the infestation is gone now, you can cancel your contract with the pest control company and just use the water bottle monitoring stations. They are way easier to check. If one goes off, then just put a bait station next to it. You can make bait stations yourself and I have a video on how to do that. I will give you the link. Please let me know if the infestation is not gone and I will tell you how to get rid of them. Be well my friend.
Bait station video: ua-cam.com/video/r05Z-aUJehw/v-deo.html
Thanks MUCH Guy. I never saw a live or dead termite when I tore the walls apart. I never saw any mud tubes either. I believe, based on the "damage trail" , they entered through a crack between a concrete slab and my main house poured foundation . I sealed the cracks with layers of insect foam, hydraulic cement and aluminum flashing. As far as I know, there are no lingering critters. I did watch your video and it was helpful; but, we live in New York State and many of the needed chemicals can't be sold here without a license. I opened some of the traps ( with gloves on) and noticed the monitoring wood blocks were gone ( rot or insects ?) but no activity in the bait cartridges which I made them change out this spring in entirety. I am placing monitoring stations that you recommend as bottles are available. Agree the PC company has dropped the ball despite hefty price increases for two trips a year.@@GuysPestSolutions As always, on behalf of us mere mortals , we appreciate your sharing of knowledge!
@@rzh3443 You are very welcome. If you live in NY, then you need to go to NJ to get pesticides. Nothing is illegal there. Lol. Be well my friend.
What about wood termites?
It is important to understand how drywood termites work. They enter through cracks and crevices around windows, doors, eaves, pipe penetrations, and so forth. Most of the time, they enter through several locations. That is because a swarm of them attacked your house at the same time. If there was a crack or a crevice, then they probably found it. After they establish their galleries, which will be inside the wood, it will take four to seven years for them to be able to swarm. Now that they are in your house, the swarmers will use holes that are in your studs to travel through the walls. Those holes in the studs were created by the electricians to run the electrical wiring. Not only are these holes going through the studs, but holes were drilled into the attic for the light switches and to run some of the wiring for the outlets. So, the termites now have easy access throughout the attic and the walls. If you have a basement or crawl space, they have access to that as well. Most of the time, you will have no idea that they are in the walls, because the frass is inside the wall. To make matters worse, if you have drywood termites, then your neighbors have them too. That means you have been getting swarmed for as long as they have existed in the neighborhood. Most likely, we're talking about years, so it's a safe bet that you have these guys in many locations in your home.
I always hate to be the bearer of bad news, but if you have drywood termites, the only sure way to get rid of them is to fumigate. Prices for this can vary wildly in this industry, so I recommend that you watch my video on how to hire a pest controller without getting ripped off. That video can save you a lot of money. You should also know that the gas they use to fumigate has absolutely no residual action whatsoever, so you can get reinfested the moment the tent comes down. Like I said before, if you have drywood termites, then your neighbors have them as well. Since drywood termites swarm every year, it is almost a certainty that you will be reinfested within a year after the fumigation is done. The only way to prevent this is to do a preventive treatment on your house every 60 days. Most pest controllers will not do this, so it is something that you generally need to do yourself. I have a video on how to do that and I will place a link below. This is a generic video that covers a lot of different pests, but it also works for preventing drywood termites. Just ignore the part about treating your yard. You only need to treat the house for drywood termites. This will not treat the termites that are already there, but it will stop new ones from getting in. If you absolutely cannot afford to fumigate your house, then you can try spot treating it yourself. It is virtually impossible to find all the termite galleries, but it is way better than doing nothing. Regardless of how you treat it, you should begin the preventive treatment immediately, so that you do not get additional termites paying you a visit.
I hope that helps. Be well my friend.
Video on how to hire a pest controller without getting ripped off: ua-cam.com/video/y-a8XOqVrlE/v-deo.html
Video on how to prevent drywood termites: ua-cam.com/video/Yozv3s-Qwlw/v-deo.html
Video on how to spot treat drywood termites: ua-cam.com/video/U7ck7zhS0Xo/v-deo.html
Try DOT - disodium octaborate tetrahydrate... Boron in 100% "soluble" in room temp water... I have not tried. Easy to get... Used as foliar spray in agriculture/ gardens. If someone gets results....please post.
This is not going to work. It will kill some termites that are close to the surface, but it will not penetrate the wood sufficiently to reach most of the activity. Also, it is unlikely that the termites will not bring contaminated food back to the colony, so the colony is going to keep producing more termites. This may be helpful to prevent termites, but it depends on the situation. I hope that helps. Be well my friend.
HOWdy G's-P-S, ...
Thanks
COOP
the WiSeNhEiMeR from Richmond, INDIANA
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You are very welcome. Be well my friend.
What do you recommend for treating termites in the attic? Thank you!
How you handle that will depend on the species. Figuring out the species is actually pretty easy and I have a video on how to do that. I will provide you with a link below. After watching this video, you should be able to identify the species. Just get back to me after you watch it and let me know what you found out. At that point, I can tell you exactly what you need to do. Let me know if you have any problems identifying the species, but I do not think that you will. It is much easier than you may imagine. Also, please tell me where you live. Location matters. Be well my friend.
Video on how to identify termite species: ua-cam.com/video/dIs_a0nfVjg/v-deo.html
My house is their favorite restaurant 😢🐜😂is terrible but true ❤
I can help you with that. How you handle it will depend on the species. Figuring out the species is actually pretty easy and I have a video on how to do that. I will provide you with a link below. After watching this video, you should be able to identify the species. Just get back to me after you watch it and let me know what you found out. At that point, I can tell you exactly what you need to do. Let me know if you have any problems identifying the species, but I do not think that you will. It is much easier than you may imagine. Also, please tell me where you live. Location matters.
Be well Dora.
Video on how to identify termite species: ua-cam.com/video/dIs_a0nfVjg/v-deo.html
The tell me how minerals penetrate wood to create petrified wood
Petrified wood is created over thousands of years. Usually 5000 to 10,000 years. I don't think you can wait that long. You may want to consider a faster solution.
Be well my friend.
I think geckos 🦎 and ants 🐜 love to eat termites. 😊
Very true. Be well my friend.