Well, the news is good. Or possibly bad. We misunderstood when we talked to an exterminator on the phone, and spent the weekend before he arrived spraying the wood in our basement with an over-the-counter termite killer and ripping out all of the moldy, hole-riddled wood and drywall ourselves. When he came to inspect the house a few days later, he could tell by the “sand tracks” on the walls (in the photo above) that we had the dreaded Western Subterranean Termite. That’s bad. However, he could find nary a sign of any termites in our basement or anywhere else in the house. That’s good. But — and this is the “possibly bad” part — we really shouldn’t have done anything to the termites ourselves. Had they been alive and wriggling when the exterminator arrived, he would have treated them with a solution that they would have carried down into the ground where the rest of them lived, and eventually it would have knocked all of them out. Because we took matters into our own hands, it’s uncertain whether we managed to kill the termites ourselves, or if we’ve simply driven them underground, only to reappear again later. We did learn some interesting things about discouraging termites and other pests from invading your home, and also about some of the environmentally friendly ways to get rid of them. Read on to find out more. –Mary T. Click the link to read all about it!

1. You can’t necessarily prevent termites, but you can do a few things to discourage them. Check around the perimeter of your house for any areas where wood is touching the soil — this includes your deck. Move the soil away from these areas so it’s not touching (we may need to put cement around one of our deck supports). We were also advised to trim back a couple trees and our wisteria, which can be a roadway for carpenter ants or, um, rodents.

2. Treating termites green is mostly a matter of how chemicals are applied, not what chemicals are applied. Our exterminator, Cascade Pest Control, was the first pest control firm in the U.S. to win awards for safe practices, including the EPA’s Evergreen Award. They told us that this is the result of taking meticulous care with where and how chemicals are applied, making sure that no humans, animals or outside plants come in contact with anything meant for termites. So while you may not be able to treat termites without chemicals at all, you can find exterminators that will be as conscious of your safety as you are.

3. There are, however, all-natural termite treatments out there. We were particularly fascinated to hear about Beneficial Nematodes — basically, fighting bug with bug. According to Arbico Organics, Beneficial Nematodes are applied through tubes throughout the perimeter of the house, washing them into termite tunnels, and “once inside the nest, they kill the colony by killing the queens or by killing enough workers and soldiers that the queens starve.” Our exterminator told us that the Nematodes will then die out on their own once there’s nothing left on which to feed. You can actually purchase your own from Arbico Organics, though I suspect there are exterminators who use them, too.

4. Once you’ve had termites, check periodically to make sure they haven’t returned. Our exterminator suggested that when we re-finish our basement, we look into snap-on baseboards. These will allow us to easily remove a section of wall on occasion to check to make sure that the bugs haven’t returned, and take action quickly if they have. He also told us what to look for without removing anything. For example, Western Subterranean Termites bring water up from underground, and the result is that little piles of sandy dirt and sawdust will be evident along the baseboards. As in all things, catching them early can make the difference between a few hundred dollars’ worth of treatment and thousands upon thousands.

Just remember not to disturb the termites unless you’re absolutely sure you should!

This entry was posted on Monday, August 11th, 2008 at 5:00 am and is filed under fixing, gardening, living green. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.