How do I rid Termites near Hive Stands

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Most of the termite bait systems I've seen of late are not poisons that are brought back from the field to the colony but rather kill the scouts on the spot. Eventually all scouts die and are not able to translate the location of the food source back to the colony which basically starves them.


Apis, if you know where the colony is located a bath of boiling water every few days for a month or so is enough to evenyually weaken the numbers to where the colony collapses.


--- Quote --- Even if a few termites do attempt to eat dry wood, it takes them a long time to do much damage.  Damp wood is the real danger, they eat that stuff like candy.
--- End quote ---

I am not too sure about that. Carpenter ants won't touch dry wood but termites with chew it to pieces.  All you have to do is prevent the termite from building their mud channel connecting the wood source to the ground.  A termite shield is nothing more than a piece of tin bent out at a 45 degree angle away from a foundation.  They can get around the sharp edge of the tin.

So essentially if you blocked up your hive in all four corners with say a half a brick and put a small pie tin (tart size) upside down between the brick and the hive they can't build that duct that they need to get back to the ground once a day.  I doubt if the termites would build an unsupported duct from the ground to the bottom board to bypass the shield because that takes a huge colony.  You can always whack it down if you see that happening and then they will give up trying and go somewhere else.

AceBird, that sounds like a great plan! 

I’ve never had to keep the buggers out of a hive, just a house  :-D
If you don’t have small pie tins, how about using inverted coffee cans over AceBirds hive stand bricks?

I don't believe where you are located there are Formosan termites such as we have here, they are a species you don't want to deal with. You likely have some type of subterranean variety. Here we refer to our eastern subterranean species (which there are several sub species) as regular or native subterranean termites.

The regular ones are wimpy compared to the Formosan and I've seen instances where simply breaking mud tunnels deterred them in certain areas for weeks, even months at a time.

If the colony/colonies are advanced they of course will be more determined to seek out food sources (anything containing cellulose).

Termite shields are not a deterrent to subterranean termites, they will just build their tunnels over and around them. Their intended purpose (shields) is to force termites to the exterior of piers/chain walls, etc... and in so doing you are able to view such erected mud tunnels. Without shields termites are able to go through the center of any non solid pier or chain wall.

You can try breaking tunnels and see how that deters them or even move your hives to a drier area.

Bora-care is about the best borate treatment you can find on the market, hands down. You paint it on or spray it on "raw wood" only. Its sold by the gallon and you dilute it as much as you need to suit your needs. A 4 x 1 mix is not unreasonable to achieve control.

If the situation is advanced and you cannot move your hives a liquid treatment with Termidor is your best solution. Its long lasting (13-14 yrs) and doesn't leech from the soil. You will need to apply it using a trench and treat method, simply spraying the top of the soil does no good at all.

I have been a licensed PCO for 21 yrs.

Hope this helps.



--- Quote from: BlueBee on January 27, 2011, 12:22:53 PM ---Edit that…’s like trying to get rid of Misquitoes not “mis-quotes”   :-D

--- End quote ---

And here I thought you were referring to the mainstream media!!  Just as appropriate...eliminating misquotes...they're about as bad as termites..... :-D


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