September 2008 / Vol.5 / Issue 9

Hello and Welcome to the September Greenpest News. Each month we aim to provide you with some useful information, keeping it short, sweet and pertinent.

Contents

1. Pest Talk - How to dust for termites - the how, what, when, where and why.
2. Monthly Special.

Pest Talk

How to use a termite puffer ‘correctly’.

NB, This article also includes lots of other useful information on termite control that you may find interesting.

We recently searched Google for information outlining the correct use of a termite puffer.  Although there were several web sites that talked about using a termite puffer, including ours, there wasn’t any particular one that actually offered direct “How to” instructions.  So, we thought we’d change that.

Before we start, it’s important that we mention that using a termite puffer is not as easy as it looks.  Professionals make it look simple because they’ve had plenty of practice.  Like many things, it looks easy until you try it for the first time.  For example, if you had to, you could probably do a dentist’s job and drill a tooth if you were shown how, and had a little practice at it.  You’d need all the right tools, a steady hand and training in what to do, but you could probably do it.  However, it would most likely be a nasty experience for the first person you tried it on… ouch!  Likewise, termite dusting looks easy – especially when you watch a professional at work, but it does take practice.  If you ‘stuff it up’, to use the vernacular, the termites may seem to disappear only to reappear at a later date somewhere else in the property which is definitely not the desired result… ouch again!  Our advice is to always use an experienced professional, however for the few readers who are still keen to D.I.Y, here are the basics.

There are several termite puffers available on the market ranging in style from manual models to electronic and even gas propelled.  They all have the one aim which is to deliver small amounts of dust to areas of termite activity.  All of them work to one degree or another depending on:

• The expertise of the applicator
• The medium to which they are being applied
• The type of termiticidal dust being applied.

The electronic and gas propelled dust applicators have the advantage of being able to deliver a steady stream of dust at a constant pressure.  However the price of these devices is prohibitive and most pest controllers still use a hand puffer.  The disadvantage of a hand puffer is that they suck as well as blow.  A common mistake beginners make is to suck a bit of dirt or grit back into the puffer.  It becomes firmly blocked and prevents it from working.  Precious time is wasted clearing the puffer tip and the termites may abandon the area you intended to treat in the few minutes it usually takes to get the puffer working properly again.  That’s assuming you have the requisite tools needed (piano wire) to clear the tip.

Historically, W.A. Flick developed the first termiticidal dust and application puffer in the early twentieth century.  It was arsenic based and is still used today despite its extreme toxicity.  The use of Arsenic-trioxide has diminished considerably since 2000 when BAYER launched an insect growth regulator called Intrigue, the first non-toxic dust based on Triflumuron.  Only one batch was ever made and it is still selling to those who want it.  BAYER won’t be making any more, so when it runs out, it is unlikely to be remade.  It was very popular with some pest controllers, including us, but others ridiculed it.  Sadly the ridicule usually came from pest controllers who hadn’t even tried it, or from pest controllers who didn’t understand it or have the skill to use it correctly.  Some of the nasty rumours spread about Intrigue Dust were put out by opposition companies who had a different product to push.  It’s a shame, because the dust was very good when used correctly and skilfully, however because it was unprofitable (and unlikely to sell in the huge US market) BAYER just walked away from it.

More recently the introduction of the faster acting, low toxic Termidor Dust based on Fipronil has seen more pest controllers move away from Arsenic, and others who had abandoned dusting as method, return to give Termidor Dust a trial.  Some love it, some don’t.  The main handicap of B.A.S.F.’s Termidor Dust is that it is quite tricky to apply.  It requires even more skill with a puffer and a bit of practice to master.  Some pest controllers simply don’t have the patience to use it and have already put the kibosh on it.  As a staunch advocate of Termidor Dust, we can only say, “Don’t throw the baby out with the bath water.  It’s a fantastic product when used properly and it is worth spending the effort to become proficient with it.”

Briefly, the way a termiticidal dust works is simple:

• It is applied to active areas of termite activity.
• It sticks to the termite’s body and is transferred to other termites via:
  • Grooming
  • Trophallaxis (The regurgitation and sharing of food.)
  • Cannibalism – Termites eat their dead.
  • Inadvertent contact when brushing past each other.
• Over a period of time it spreads to the queen and the juveniles and before long the colony is destroyed.

It sounds too simple, but that is all there is to it.  Unfortunately, it sometimes fails to work and the termites survive.  Here’s why:

• Incorrect or poor application technique.  (Which we will cover in this article.)
• Insufficient amount of dust applied due to:
  • Incorrect use of the termite puffer.
  • Guessing rather than measuring the amount of dust used.
• Insufficient numbers of termites treated due to:
  • Disturbance of the termites during the treatment phase which leads to abandonment of the treated area.
  • Lack of accessible application points.
• Rejection of termites contaminated with the dust when they return to the nest.
  • It has been observed that Schedorhinotermes sp. may reject inbound workers coated in Arsenic-trioxide dust.
  • Coptotermes spp. has been observed to abandon part of their nest infected with Arsenic-trioxide dust and relocate the queen termite to a safe area (or re-establish a new queen.)

Let’s digress for a moment.  Aside from its extreme toxicity, Arsenic-trioxide dust has a very high failure rate, usually due to poor application techniques.  It is highly repellent to termites so it takes patience and a high degree of skill to apply it successfully.  Some pesties still use it claiming it is still the best, but the truth be known, they only use it because it is cheap.  One gram of Arsenic-trioxide dust costs about 50 cents whereas one gram of Termidor Dust costs about $16.00 wholesale.  To put that in perspective, one gram of gold bullion is about $35.

The problem with Arsenic-trioxide dust is that it can appear to work when in fact it hasn’t.  When a pestie returns to follow-up an Arsenic-trioxide dusting, the termite galleries are usually inactive.  However, the vital point of concern is:

• Are the termites gone because they are dead?
• Or have they only been repelled from the area of treatment since Arsenic-trioxide is highly repellent to termites?”

Unfortunately, there are some cases where it is reported to the client that the termites are dead and gone when in fact they have only been repelled from the treated part of the house and in fact are actually relocating to a new part of the house where they may not be so easy to find.  The pestie gets paid, the home owner relaxes, and the termites continue on their merry way through a different part of the home.  By the time the problem is rediscovered, usually several months later, considerably more damage is done.

On the other hand, Termidor dust is non-repellent to termites and so long as it is applied skilfully, the termites will go about their business normally which means that all of the dust will be transferred back to the nest which in turn will lead to the destruction of the nest.  This process is usually a part of the initial treatment phase.  It should then be backed up by:

• Chemically soil treating the suspected (or known) exterior entry point to prevent re-entry should the nest survive or incase another colony happens to intercept the existing subterranean leads used by the termites to enter the house.
• And finally a termite monitoring and baiting system should be placed around the rest of the property to reduce the risk of termites finding other entry points to the property.

That said, let’s return to the point of this article – How to correctly use a termite puffer.

The key points to correct dust application are:

• Don’t scare off the termites whilst conducting the treatment.
• Use enough dust to kill the nest.
• Treat a sufficient number of termites to ensure success.

Now we’ll examine these points one by one.

Don’t scare off the termites whilst conducting the treatment.

Termites are shy creatures, probably because they are blind, have few defences and are a nutritious meal for a variety of insects, birds, and animals (including indigenous people around the globe).  Termites can sense when they are discovered – whether it is from light entering their area of activity or vibrations or the loss of humidity caused when their galleries are broken open.

When termites become aware of a disturbance, some species (notably Coptotermes spp.) will vibrate their bodies to sound an alarm and this vibration is passed along to others who in turn vibrate.  It means retreat, get out of here, go back, danger.  If the threat is big enough, then some of the termites will also lay down pheromones as they abandon the area.  The pheromones indicate danger, don’t go here.

Side note: If for any reason, those pheromones are left in a termite bait, then the bait is ruined until the pheromones wear off.  This is why one of the most important features of the Green Termite Bait System is that the baits can be treated with negligible disturbance to the termites inside the bait.

When enough termites vibrate, you can actually hear them unaided – it sounds like cellophane being crinkled up.  Termites also use the vibration to measure the density of the timber they are in – it gives them an idea of how much timber there is left to eat.  In the dead quiet of night, some people will report that they can actually hear the termites in their walls – definitely something you don’t want to listen to!

To reiterate, when using a termite puffer to treat termites, it’s important that the termites are not alarmed, so open the termite gallery as gently as possible.  In wood, this can be achieved by prying open a small splinter with a sharp pointed knife.  The hole should be just big enough to insert the tip of the puffer.  You’ll need to make a second hole at an appropriate distance from the first hole to allow the dust to flow as well as to confirm (by sighting the exiting dust) that it has travelled throughout the galleries connecting the two points.

Side note: On the Termidor Dust label, the suggested distance between injection holes is about 1000mm, however a more typical distance is usually 300mm – 500mm and if the galleries are congested it could well be as little as 150mm.  Usually it’s determined by trial and error based on professional experience.  The aim is to be able to puff the dust in so that it comfortably flows through the galleries and a small amount emerges from the second hole.  How far the dust will flow without clogging up will depend on:

• The skill of the operator
• The quality of the applicator/puffer
• The type of dust being applied
• Whether the galleries are horizontal or vertical because gravity can help or hinder
• And the aperture of the galleries being treated.

With this many variables you can see why it takes a bit of practice to get it right.

The first hole is then covered with some dark cloth tape to preserve moisture as well as shut out the light, then a third hole is made and the puffer moves to the second hole where the process is repeated and so on until the full length of the termite gallery is dusted.

Dusting is usually started at the nearest point to the nest and proceeds outward to the far end of the accessible activity.  Why?  The reason is simple.  Even with due care, the termites may become agitated and bolt for home (back to the nest).  Starting closest to the nest ensures that as many termites as possible come in contact with the dust.  Obviously, when the termites furthest away begin rushing back to the nest, they must pass through the areas that you have already treated.

Sometimes when termites are deeper in the timber, it will be necessary to drill into their galleries.  One should attempt to drill at an acute angle to facilitate the direction in which you plan to blow the dust.

As a last resort, it is possible to dust termite leads – sometimes referred to as shelter tubes; however, it’s not recommended unless you have no other choice.  The leads are often fragile and it is usually impossible to seal them up afterwards.

Just quickly, here is an explanation of the difference between a termite gallery and a termite lead.

• A typical termite gallery is a tunnel chewed through the inside of a tree or a timber frame component of your home – it has been created by the termites actually eating the wood.  A termite gallery can exist in anything a termite eats or eats its way through; books, polystyrene, cardboard or a timber termite bait.  It may also be found in other man made areas such as conduit used for electrical cabling – especially below ground and often seen where underground power or phone lines connect to the house.  The thousands of tunnels in a termite nest that look like a sponge are also called termite galleries or chambers.
• A termite lead is the mud tubing that termites use to travel on the surface and through the soil to cross obstacles and gaps.  The mud is composed of dirt, faeces and saliva.  It is quite hard and can be brittle. 

Although it is possible to apply dust to a termite nest, the usual method of treatment of a nest (if its location is known) is to flood it with an approved termiticide.  Alternatively it can be treated with termiticidal foam.  More simply still, one can even dig it up, take it to an open area and smash it open.  The termites will die from desiccation unless the ants, lizards and birds eat them first.  It’s environmentally irresponsible to poison a nest, then smash it open.  When you leave, the termiticide may also harm the predators that swoop in to feed on the exposed termites.

Desiccation is a termite’s No1 problem.  As invertebrates, termites have a very thin outer membrane forming their exoskeleton, so they can easily lose moisture.  That’s why they maintain close to 100% humidity inside their galleries and leads.  Generally, if a lead is broken open, the termites will quickly abandon the lead and seal off the breach at a safe point further away.  Once things have settled down, they may return or not.  If not, the dusting will probably fail which is why it isn’t advisable to dust leads unless there is no other option.

That’s why professionals prefer to dust galleries.  Galleries are usually stronger than leads and termites can more easily repair them and return to their normal activity.  With thousands of termites marching back and forth the dust will soon be dispersed throughout the colony and the battle is over – you win.

It is ideal if you can dust an end point where termites are actively feeding.  Hundreds of termites are going back and forth from the ‘coal face’ every hour, transferring small amounts of balled up cellulose in their guts back to the nest.  Termidor dust is particularly effective because it is composed of alpha-cellulose and is also edible.  This is why a small amount of dust applied to a Green Termite Bait is so dynamic at destroying a termite colony in just a few weeks.  The bait is a feeding ‘end point’ and it can be easily treated with dust.  Best of all, it can be done with an undetectable amount of disturbance.  That is the ingenuity of its design.

Use enough dust to kill the nest.

This would seem to be an obvious statement, but it is a common mistake to use too little.  When dusting a termite gallery it’s vital that sufficient dust reaches sufficient termites. 

So how much is enough?  It depends on the dust.  The Termidor Dust label recommends between 1 – 5 grams which is quite a range.  If 5 grams of dust is used and 20% makes it back to the nest you will probably succeed at killing the nest.  Likewise, if one gram of dust is used and 100% of it makes it back to the nest you should be successful, but if only 20% of one gram makes it back, then there may not be enough active ingredient to kill the entire colony and they may recover.

Our tests have indicated that even as little as ½ a gram of Termidor dust can destroy a small termite colony.

It’s important that the amount of dust used is measured.  But measuring isn’t easy when it comes to dust.  If you want to measure its weight you’ll need jeweller’s scales, which is just not practical.  Another method to measure it, is to look at the volume in the clear 5 gram vial and use a fifth of it if you want 1 gram.   However, because Termidor Dust easily fluffs up, this method can be quite inaccurate.

The biggest common error is to simply fill a duster with some dust and go about treating a series of termite galleries – hoping you have used enough.  It’s not hard to ‘feel’ like you have used a couple of grams when in fact you have only used ¼ of a gram.

Conversely, too much dust, poorly applied in such a way that it clogs the galleries may also fail because it could alarm the termites and become repellent.

Treat a sufficient number of termites to ensure success.

This is an obvious statement, yet it is one that creates a lot of controversy within the termite scientific community.  How many termites is enough?

Dare I say it?  One is!  If… it’s a colony of three (Queen, King and one poor lonely worker)… ha haa!

All jokes and facetiousness aside, if it’s a colony of 10 million you may need to dust 1,000 or 10,000.  In fact, no one really knows, it may be as few as 100.

The factor that matters is:

Sufficient dust to destroy the nest must return to the nest– whether it is transported there by a series of 100 termites over 10 days or 1,000 termites over 1 day makes little difference in the end because grooming, trophallaxis, general contact and cannibalism will ensure it transfers throughout the colony to the point of colony destruction.

Some pest controllers will proudly sprout out guff such as “If you don’t get at least 10,000 termites – it’ll never work!”  They are so sure of themselves when they say this and truly believe it to be a fact when in actual fact it isn’t.  So let’s explain…

First of all, the number 10,000 was chosen by BAYER (as an approximate guess) because the question “How many?” was put to BAYER by the APVMA for label registration purposes before Intrigue Dust was released in 2000.  BAYER got the ‘10,000’ number from a published experiment conducted by the CSIRO when they were dusting termites using Arsenic-trioxide several years earlier.  These termites were actually extracted from a bait box, sifted, dusted and returned to the bait box – a method that is rarely if ever used in the field due to its total impracticability.

That’s the origin of the ‘10,000’ number that so many pesties like to quote, as if it’s some kind of law written in stone.  In fact, it’s only a scientific guesstimate.

Here’s another quick (and fun) example to demonstrate the silliness of claiming that specific numbers of termites must be dusted if you want to destroy a nest.  What if the colony only has 9,000 termites?  Plainly, stating that you need to dust 10,000 termites is nonsensical.

BASF were also asked by the APVMA to come up with some numbers for their Termidor Dust label and they got around it by saying 1 – 3 grams per 100ml of termites.  From a scientific and mathematic point of view, 1 – 3 grams is a very broad range.  In fact, we doubt if there are any pest controllers out there who can tell you how many termites make up a 100ml.  1,000? 5,000? 10,000?  Who knows?  Who’s going to count them?  Who cares?

Here’s the point.  You need enough dust for the colony to die.  How much dust depends on a wide range of variables:

• The size of the colony
• The species of termite
• The level of activity where the dust is applied
• The type of dust used
• The application method and skill of the technician
• The time of the year – winter, spring, summer, autumn

With such a broad range of variables, 1 – 3 grams per 100ml of termites is a reasonable approximation, though on the job, in the field, it would be impossible to measure, especially when you are trying hard not to disturb the termites.

In the end, only one thing matters...  Did it work?

At Green Pest Control, we have seen even small applications of Termidor Dust (appear) to work brilliantly in some very difficult circumstances.  It’s hard to be absolutely conclusive, hence the word ‘appear’, but all the evidence indicated that it was successful and this has been substantiated by inspections on follow-up visits that show the termites never returned.

In fact, the key to success with all dust applications is ‘Follow-up Visits’.  It’s vital to see if the termites are gone and to ascertain if they are actually gone (because the nest is dead) or temporarily gone/repelled only to return at a later date.

Here’s what we do.

Whenever possible, we dust 80% of the available galleries and try to leave some isolated galleries undisturbed to act as our control and follow-up point.  With Termidor Dust we return after 4 – 6 weeks and check all the galleries for termite activity.  If the untreated area is also free of termites, it’s reasonable to assume that the treatment was successful.  Where possible another appointment is scheduled for 6 – 12 months to inspect the whole property to double check that the termites have not returned.

Sometimes the suspected external entry point (where the termites actually entered the home) is revealed after trenching the soil away from the foundations.  Once again, if there are no active termites sited at the entry point, then it’s reasonable to assume that colony elimination has been achieved.  Now we are sure that some purists (puerile-ists – more likely) will argue with this for the sake of argument.  Comments will be based around the difficulty of locating remote termite nests and the words “How can you know for sure that the nest is dead without finding the actual nest?”

Well it doesn’t hurt to look at other supporting evidence.  For example, at one site we treated a single Green Termite Bait.  There was a retaining wall riddled with termites nearby.  The retaining wall was deliberately left untreated.  Six weeks later, not a single termite could be found in the wall.  You don’t need to be Einstein to draw a sensible conclusion.

The post-treatment supposition that, no termites = dead nest, is a logical conclusion when based on supporting evidence, set controls and proper follow-up.  In the end, the dead termite nest may never be discovered.  The only question that really matters is, “Are the termites gone and have they been prevented from returning?”

After using Termidor Dust for the initial treatment in many homes, the answer in the vast majority of cases is, “Yes, correctly applied Termidor Dust has a high success rate at eliminating termites – most likely achieved by nest elimination.”

Of course, other termite precautions should also be implemented to compliment the initial dusting:

• The suspected external entry point should be treated wherever possible.
• A long term prevention system should be installed, either:
  • Full chemical treated zone
  • Green Termite Bait System

Now that we have broadly covered the use and application of termiticidal dusts we hope that the majority of people who need this form of treatment for their homes will contact a professional to carry it out.  It may look easy, but it can be tricky and the best results are far more likely to be achieved by professionals with experience rather than a D.I.Y enthusiast trying his hand at it.

Just a quick note, if you accidentally pop open a termite gallery while cleaning house and discover live termites, quickly tape over the damaged section and then book a pest controller.  If the termites are still active when he arrives then he will have more to work with and a greater chance of successfully treating them with a dust.

Whatever you do:

• Don’t spray them with anything – fly spray, diesel, hair spray, etc.
• Don’t open up more areas to ‘check it out’ – you’ll scare them off.
• Don’t go around banging on your walls trying to find more.
• Don’t panic.  The termites are not going to do a lot more damage in a day or two, so book a professional and be patient if he can’t get there straight away.
• Don’t allow a pest controller to treat it with Arsenic-trioxide.  Seek out someone who is more up-to-date.

In next month’s newsletter, we will be discussing the following ‘hot topic’ bouncing around the pest control industry: Are termite baiting systems safe for D.I.Y use or should all baiting systems be restricted to professional service only?

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The Greenpest News is Published by J & A Furnell Nominees P/L; Shop 23a Franklin Square, 60 Railway Street, Mudgeeraba, Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia. The opinions expressed in this newsletter are those of Jerry Furnell. The reader is encouraged to seek further information from appropriate government and statutory departments before taking any action based on this material alone.

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Always... At your service,

Jerry Furnell
Green Pest Control & Green Termite Bait Systems.
Phone 1800 6 12345.

Copyright 2008 Green Termite Bait Systems & Green Pest Control. All rights reserved.

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