Saturday, May 28, 2005
Dry Wood Termites, Subterranean Termites, or Formosan Termites?
This SunHerald article has some good basic info on the differences between drywood, subterranean and formosan termites.
In terms of damage, Formosan termites are the worst. This aNola.com article has a story on ongoing research into the Formosan terimite. Formosan termites are native of the Far East. They've made their way into the US from coastal cities in the last 50 years. They've recently been very bad in New Orleans where major damage is being done in the historic French Quarter.
Early this month, scientists were warning that swarms of Formosan termites could be in the Baton Rouge area soon (from 2theadvocate news). Places in the south like Louisiana are particularly vulnerable to Formosan swarms due to the warm and moist environment. And June is the usual time when they start swarming.
Here are some disturbing facts about Formosans: they have very large colonies, can cause catastrophic damage in only a few months, the damage that they do can be difficult to detect until it's too late, and they can't easily be controled by soil poisons since they can survive without going into moist soil.
Back on the subject of termite identification, Formosan termites tend to be larger than US native termites like dry wood or subterraneans. The Formosans can live underground or just inside wood. Unlike the other ones, they can live in both conditions. Formosans are tan in color like dry wood termites. One important difference is that Formosans swarm later in the spring and only at night where as the dry wood ones swarm during the day.
Most of the subterranean termites live underground. Just a small percentage of them are workers who do the damage. Subterranean termite has a cigar-like black body with wings. And like the dry wood termites they tend to swarm during the day.
Here's a termite photo showing what Formosa termites look like:
Here's a termite picture showing what drywood termites look like:
And here's another picture of termite (subterranean kind):
Tags: termites
In terms of damage, Formosan termites are the worst. This aNola.com article has a story on ongoing research into the Formosan terimite. Formosan termites are native of the Far East. They've made their way into the US from coastal cities in the last 50 years. They've recently been very bad in New Orleans where major damage is being done in the historic French Quarter.
Early this month, scientists were warning that swarms of Formosan termites could be in the Baton Rouge area soon (from 2theadvocate news). Places in the south like Louisiana are particularly vulnerable to Formosan swarms due to the warm and moist environment. And June is the usual time when they start swarming.
Here are some disturbing facts about Formosans: they have very large colonies, can cause catastrophic damage in only a few months, the damage that they do can be difficult to detect until it's too late, and they can't easily be controled by soil poisons since they can survive without going into moist soil.
Back on the subject of termite identification, Formosan termites tend to be larger than US native termites like dry wood or subterraneans. The Formosans can live underground or just inside wood. Unlike the other ones, they can live in both conditions. Formosans are tan in color like dry wood termites. One important difference is that Formosans swarm later in the spring and only at night where as the dry wood ones swarm during the day.
Most of the subterranean termites live underground. Just a small percentage of them are workers who do the damage. Subterranean termite has a cigar-like black body with wings. And like the dry wood termites they tend to swarm during the day.
Here's a termite photo showing what Formosa termites look like:
Here's a termite picture showing what drywood termites look like:
And here's another picture of termite (subterranean kind):
Tags: termites
# posted by Ken @ 12:36 PM 
