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Localized Treatment of Termites
updated: Jan 28, 2013, 8:26 PM

By Edhat Subscriber

Does anyone have any experience with using localized treatment of termites using Premise brand termiticide by Bayer instead of tenting? According to the pest-control person, Premise has incredibly low toxicity to mammals and is derived from the tobacco leaf. Does it work?

Comments in order of when they were received | (reverse order)

COMMENT 368420P	2013-01-29 02:41 AM
http://www.termite.com/premise.html Tenting is bad news. I hope it is out-lawed soon. All I know is, we have spot-treated in our 1904 house (mostly redwood), using "Termiteprufe." (Get at Home Imp. Center.) AND we made sure to get all the wood up off the soil. No problems for a long time.
COMMENT 368429	2013-01-29 06:15 AM
Nothing works but tenting and using vicane.
COMMENT 368435	2013-01-29 06:59 AM
The redwood that went into old homes was nothing like the spongy crap that passes for redwood today. In the old days the sills were made from old growth redwood with 80+ years/grain to the inch. This wood has almost no spongy material between the tough lignin layers and it is the spongy stuff the termites love. Redwood is no longer the same, but termites are. I have always wanted to try nematodes for termite control; I was told of a company, Arbico, I think. This might be an environmentally sound way of dealing with subterranean termites, the ones that come to your house only for meals.
COMMENT 368452	2013-01-29 07:39 AM
There's a product that I discovered while living in the mid-west (before living here) which ironically is manufactured in Santa Barbara. It's a powder TermiteProof you mix with water and then spray onto the wood. I've found it to be very effective, non-toxic, and easy to use. Look for a yellow quart size can. OSH sometimes carries it. However, the downside to an application like this vs. tenting is that you can only treat exposed areas. Tenting seeps through crevices and into interior pockets of the home.
STRAY	2013-01-29 07:52 AM
How is it possible for localized spot treatments to be more effective on termites than tenting? Just from a common sense perspective, there is far more wood in your home than you ever hope to see, and termites will simply survive in those untreated corners. Tenting seems like the only way to kill termites that you cannot even see.
COMMENT 368477	2013-01-29 08:34 AM
Boiron is environmentally friendly. It treats the wood and is also fire retardant for up to 5 years
COMMENT 368490	2013-01-29 08:55 AM
Check out ecolatermite dot com. I used them and have been very happy. No tenting, no poison, took them 4 hours to do my whole house while I was home.
COMMENT 368500	2013-01-29 09:40 AM
How much did ecola termite cost? And what was square footage more or less of your house? Anyone else have experience with this company?
COMMENT 368502	2013-01-29 09:50 AM
We live in a townhouse and share a wall with a neighbor, so tenting is pretty much out-of-the question. After noticing some holes in our bedroom wall, we called Hydrex and they drilled small holes (about the size of a larger nail to hang a picture) in our walls and injected a foam called Termidor. Terminex also offered this service, but they were way more expensive, so we went with Hydrex. Hydrex then patched up the holes. Since then, we haven't seen any new evidence of termites and it's been two years since the treatment. The best part was we didn't have to vacate our house and our house didn't reek of chemicals.
COMMENT 368514	2013-01-29 10:16 AM
@502, if you live in a townhouse you likely have a homeowner's association that would be responsible for that type of repair or maintenance, including tenting the buildings.
COMMENT 368688	2013-01-29 03:28 PM
Ecola uses poison.

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