Termites in garden - what to do??

[jimandpj]

We've been placing cardboard and such out in next year's garden area. Jim noticed termites out there feasting on all the paper products. He hasn't seen any evidence of termites around the house... yet. Anybody have any ideas on how to get rid of them (other than setting a torch to the whole garden area)?

Thanks,
PJ

[MaryNY]

If there's more than one hill or colony of them, you can take a shovel full from one area and dig it into another area - being sure to mess up that mound really good to get the home-bugs mad as can be - and then take a shovel full of the second bunch and dig it back into the first mound, being sure to mess it up real good as well. According to what I've heard, this should start a war which will kill all of them off, because neither bunch will tolerate intruders.

Of course if it's a huge problem, you can always you some sort of chemical bug killer, if necessary.

Good luck!

MaryNY

[BaronsMom]

Here in Nebraska we have subterranean termites - the main colony is many feet below the soil surface. The colony sends the workers up, they find something to eat and take it back to the colony. Disturbing the soil doesn't help and our termites don't make mounds. Spraying the surface of the soil with insecticide doesn't impact the colony. If you spray something the rest of the termites will go around it and look for food somewhere else. (hopefully not closer to your home)

If your garden is a long way from your home, don't worry about it.

If it is right up to the house, have a pest control company do an annual inspection just to make sure they aren't on the house (most times you don't have to pay for those).

Talk to your local county extension office to see what is recommended in your area. If they don't know, ask to talk to a specialist at the university.

[mtman]

let the chicken loose in there

[culpeper]

If you lived in my area, you'd press the panic button. Then find the nearest pest control business and call them without delay. Much depends on the species, of course, but we have several kinds here, and they're all bad news. You may find a nest, but you know there'll be several feeding colonies up to 500 metres away which belong to that nest. It's a job for the professionals, and, sadly, extermination ALWAYS requires nasty chemicals. Better than having your house eaten away, though.