Summer has come late for termites in sydney

Temperatures in Sydney have stayed reasonably warm for this time of year and it appears that termites are enjoying what little summer they can. Termites are much more active in warmer months and this year is no exception. Whilst Sydney had a cooler than normal summer, Autumn has been quite warm so far and termites are being found by homeowners in almost alarming numbers. The best way to ensure that you do not suffer from termite attack is to have an annual termite inspection carried out. This will ensure that if termites do attack your home that you will suffer only small amounts of damage. A termite inspection carried out by an appropriately qualified person will cover all areas of our home, the exterior, the sub floor area, the interior , and the roof void. It is only after all of this that an expert will know whether your home has been attacked by termites or not. When you find that your home has not been attacked, do not rest easy, think about future preventative measures

Which Termite Control Product is Best? Is Sydney Different?

Termite treatment methods must vary from state to state and from area to area. Many Termiticides will have varying lengths of life and effectiveness dependent upon the soil type which they are introduced to. Very high alkaline soils have been proven to reduce the life and effectiveness of Chlorpyrifos based pesticides by up to five times. Very sandy soils are not at all good for the installation of chemical soil barriers as the molecules of the active ingredient find it difficult to bond to the sand particles, much more organic matter is needed in the soil for successful treatment and control. Clay soils present their own problems with it being very difficult to keep the pesticide from all running to a low point without evenly soaking in, and occasionally when good bonding to the soil has occurred a termite control treatment can be completely compromised if the clay dries out and does what clay does in dry conditions, and opens up, with large cracks which effectively give pathways through the treated areas.

There are some homes where these types of treatments are useful and can be the ideal termite control method, however they are few and far between. Ensure that you fully research all termite control methods before embarking on a method that may just be fruitless. Always take colony control measures first, this means killing the termite colony that is affecting your home. There are several approved methods of colony elimination including introduction of a termiticide dust to the termite workings, direct destruction of the colony and baiting

Termite Control Measures and the Home Owner

Termite control is not something that can be delegated to a pest control company and then forgotten about, you need to take responsibility for your own space. Leaving firewood stored against your home like in this photograph is an open invitation for termites.
Termites will forage around underground looking for what to them is a food source,and trying to find that food whilst keeping out of our environment. This means that they will be very secretive attacking timbers from below where you cannot see them until it is often too late. Often there are Water sources around homes that provide the termites with all of the moisture that they need. Moisture is a very important commodity to termites as they need very high humidity levels to survive. It is your responsibility as a homeowner to ensure that these high risk factors are minimised around your home.

Termite control is a serious subject

Way to often I am hearing from the public that they believe that treating termites is simple, easy and that a back yarder can do it. Well all these claims are true, the unfortunate part is that killingthe termites is the easy part. Keeping termites away is the real problem.

Termites live in a complex colony often some distance from the building they are attacking. Ideally the colony can be located and destroyed, however in urban situations this is rarely possible.

I am often argued with by an inexperienced handymen armed with a can of termite killer from the local hardware store who is about to save the day by "spraying" the buggers. This can be catspastrophic, a product will not be registered to kill termites unless it works, however that product may well have an instruction list as long as your arm on the termiticide label. Unless the label is followed to the letter the application will probably not work.

The best thing in an urban situation is to be able to feed the termites a bait product that they freely take back to the colony and eliminate the entire colony.

Killing the termites at the feeding site is easy, hot water, wd 40, fly spray will all kill them, don't do it. Resist the urge to tamper with the termites and do your research into the best methods of control. Be prepared that proper termite control can cost $3-5K or occasionally more. Dont scrimp here, use an experienced team to get the job done right the first time. It will save you grief.

Termite or White Ant?

Are they termites or white ants?

White ants are actually termites, white ant is just the common name. Many people when quickly identifiying a mass of insects that have been disturbed, will often come up with White ants as the culprit. In the many years that I have been dealing with insect pests I have learnt that a quick id by an unqualified person, will often mistake common ants for termites.

Common Ants have nesting habits that ensure that above all the next generations are looked after first. When a nest of black ants are disturbed the ants will hurriedly pick up any eggs to protect them and find a new place to tend them. These eggs are very white and often around the same size as the ant that is carrying it. When the person who has disturbed the ants first sees a writhing mass of thousands of insects, often they have such a shock at seeing this unexpected insect life that the first reaction is to run and grab some spray to dispatch the invaders! At this point there is most often very little time spent in the identification of the pest however invariably the most common movement seen will be the ants that are rapidly moving the very white eggs to safety.

For a look at what termites really look like follow this link to a close up view of some termites

Termite control jobs in Sydney down over Summer 2012

The total number of termite treatments carried out by Pestec over this summer was down slightly to the previous three years. An interesting period is happening now where the total amount of termite treatments in Sydney for Pestec is up substatially for the small part of Autumn that we have had so far. If the trend continues in this way, then overall for the year the total number of termite treatments will again average out.
The cooler weather and rain over Summer in Sydney seems to have meant that homeowners have spent less time outdoors and therefore had less opportunity to find any termite issues that may be existing in their yards, sheds or fences before the termites make their way to the house.
At Pestec we fear that this will mean that many termite infestations in homes that may have been picked up during a "normal" summer will go un noticed until next summer. This will mean that the damage that is suffered from the termite attack will be much worse.
Homeowners that have an annual termite inspection will not suffer the same as those who do no preventative maintenance.
Prevention is better than cure.

Termites still going strong in Autumn in Sydney

We are into Autumn now in Sydney and the termite attacks that often start to wane at this time of year do not appear to be doing so this year. Pestec still is taking multiple reports of termites attacking homes each day! There are still several different species of termites doing the damage, mainly though the termites are Coptotermes spp, Schedorhinotermes spp and Nasutitermes spp termites. No matter which termite decides to attack your home significant damage can occur. The best security against termite attack is a monitoring system like the Nemesis Termite Monitoring System, further information and videos showing how this works can be found here.

Termite baiting can take time to kill the termites!

Termite baiting has proven to be a blessing for homeowners in Sydney.

Baiting for termites has significantly reduced the amounts of highly toxic pesticides that needs to be placed around homes and has also reduced the amount of damage that is done to install those pesticides.

One of the most common termite speies in the Sydney basin is Coptotermes spp these termites are attributed with causing the most damage of all termites in Sydney.

A ver good up side of having your home attacked by these termites is that they are the species that we deal with the most, and therefore we more about these termites and how they respond than any other termite spp.

On average Coptotermes spp termites will take ten weeks to eliminate the colony. The actual time taken to complete destruction of the colony is much closer to four weeks, however the technical definition of colony elimination includes two visits to check the stations, where there is no activity present. Visits are generally three to four weeks apart.

Whilst it takes time to eliminate the colony, research tells us that once termites start to feed on our bait they will stop feeding on timber and therefore stop timber damage. A very handy little side effect.

You will benefit greatly from having a termite baiting and monitoring system installed as once you have eliminated those termites currently attacking your home you will then be able to ensure that no further termite attacks can happen to your home. Check this video to see just how a monitoring system works. http://www.pestec.com.au/Nemesis-termite-baiting

Thermal imaging ever more important in termite detection

Thermal imaging is certainly not new technology, it's use in termite detection is now becoming "old technology" the gimmicks of thermal imaging have worn off and the real benefits of using the technology in well trained hands is being seen.

A Thermal camera that is properly rated for the task at hand, will find traces of termites where a standard inspection may miss them. For example, if a termite colony has taken up residence in a cavity wall of a house, there may be no signs of that infestation under the home or even in the roof void above that area, given that termite colonies produce quite a bit of heat, the colony will show up even if the walls are double brick.

Follow this link to see a photograph of a wall of a house where for successive years the pest controllers could not find where the termites were getting in. The termites in fact lived in the wall cavity on the second floor. http://www.pestec.com.au/technology

Thermal imaging is no "magic wand" but in many situations it is invaluable.

Termites respond well to advanced baiting techniques

The statistics do not lie. %100 of termite attacks that Pestec has treated with Termite bait have resulted in colony elimination. The average time to colony elimination varies with species of termite, time of year baiting starts and some other environmental factors, however the average time to colony elimination with Coptotermes spp termites is 9 weeks. Colony elimination actually has happened in shorter time than this in all cases as this figure includes a visit after termites have ceased to be sighted. This puts baiting in line with the time to elimination that other products such as dusts claim for elimination. www.pestec.com.au

Baiting means that the termite colony has been eliminated not that the house has been cut off from them, this means that the colony cannot possibly attack the home again unlike with repellant pesticides which when they wear off the termite colony will be bigger and stronger and able to re enter the home and cause more damage.