What To Do About Termites On Your San Diego County Property

Apathy

You pick up branches in your yard and notice that one has tiny insects crawling on it. Upon closer examination, you realize that they're termites. You take the stick over to the stack of wood you use for campfires and figure that you'll burn those termites up the next time you have a cookout. As long as they are away from the exterior of your home, you'll be okay, right? Here are a few things you might want to know:

• Termites can travel a hundred yards in search of food. If they're feeding on a stick in your yard, they could already be feeding on your home.
• When you find a few termites feeding on a branch or some other wood in your yard, keep in mind that there could be millions of termites in your yard. Most termites stay hidden under the ground or inside the wood they're feeding on.
• Moving a stick several yards from your home will not prevent termites from damaging your home.
• While termites prefer to feed on the branches, logs, stumps, and rotting trees in your yard, they can get into dry rot in your deck and feed on the inside of the boards. They can feed on fences, dog houses, playsets, sheds, and other exterior structures. They can also feed on certain wooden materials inside your home.

With these facts in mind, it is not wise to allow termites to go untreated.

Spot Treatment

You discover termites near a tree on your property. The tree has a few dead branches on it, so you conclude that termites are in that tree. You go online and purchase termiticide and pour it around the tree. That's going to take care of the problem, right? When the termites go in and out of the tree, they're going to pass through the product and die, or at least that is the assumption. Here are a few things you should know:

• It is unlikely that the termite nest is in the tree. It is far more likely that the tree is one of many food sources those termites are targeting in your yard.
• Termites are continually grooming each other. If you use a product that can be detected, they will start to avoid that tree (for a time).
• If you kill termites this way, you'll only kill off a small percentage of the colony. Spot treatments with a detectable active ingredient will not get to the source of the problem, which is the colony that is creating the termite workers.
• Weather conditions can cause termiticide to become inert. If you don't apply the product appropriately, you'll have little or no success, even if you use a product that has a transfer effect. A transfer effect is when the termites don't detect the active ingredient and they share it with each other through the process of grooming.

There is no quick fix for termites, and when your termite treatment fails, you won't know it. This can allow termites to continue to damage your San Diego County property.

Sprays

You discover frass on a window sill. Upon closer examination, you realize that there are tiny holes and some wood damage. You conclude that drywood termites have infested your window frame. After a search on the internet, you decide to purchase a spray and apply this spray to your window frame. When the termites come out, they'll come in contact with the product and die. Right? Here are a few things you should know:

• The topical nature of sprays makes them entirely useless against termites.
• Only a few termites will come in contact with the sprayed product.
• Sprayed products don't offer protection for long. Some will dry out quickly and no longer attach to termite workers that crawl on them.
• The termites will learn to avoid the sprayed area if it has any impact on the health of the colony.