Monday, August 29, 2005
When To Use Tents for Termites
St. Petersburg Times reports that their county in Florida is experiencing the worst termite problem that they have seen in years. This looks like another case of warm and wet weather causing high termite activity.
What I find interesting is that it mentioned the people that do tents are booked up for months ahead of time. This makes me wonder how often tenting is used as a treatment for termites? From my research, I've noticed that tenting is really only effective for drywood termites. It's not effective for subterranean termites.
Subterranean termites make up 90% of all termite populations in the U.S. In addition, subterranean termites, unlike drywood termites, are very dependent on moisture. So when there has been a very rainy season, I would think the new termite infestations would be subterraneans. So I wonder if tenting is being oversold?
I found some research into this issue of tenting for termite control. In addition to making the point that fumigation tents are not useful for subterranean termites, it also includes several negatives about tenting. One issue is that for the gas to kill drywood termites, it has to penetrate the pours of the wood. If it can penetrate wood, it's going to penetrate the carpet, matresses, sofas, and clothing. Also there are a lot of logistical problems with tenting. There's the cost of moving yourself, your pets, plants, and food for up to 5 days. And the tenting process can damage your roof and landscape.
What I find interesting is that it mentioned the people that do tents are booked up for months ahead of time. This makes me wonder how often tenting is used as a treatment for termites? From my research, I've noticed that tenting is really only effective for drywood termites. It's not effective for subterranean termites.
Subterranean termites make up 90% of all termite populations in the U.S. In addition, subterranean termites, unlike drywood termites, are very dependent on moisture. So when there has been a very rainy season, I would think the new termite infestations would be subterraneans. So I wonder if tenting is being oversold?
I found some research into this issue of tenting for termite control. In addition to making the point that fumigation tents are not useful for subterranean termites, it also includes several negatives about tenting. One issue is that for the gas to kill drywood termites, it has to penetrate the pours of the wood. If it can penetrate wood, it's going to penetrate the carpet, matresses, sofas, and clothing. Also there are a lot of logistical problems with tenting. There's the cost of moving yourself, your pets, plants, and food for up to 5 days. And the tenting process can damage your roof and landscape.
# posted by Ken @ 6:48 AM 
