Expert: Long Island Gardener - 2/26/2007

Question
My newly-purchased house has had termites, nad the neighbors on both sides have had termites.  We live on sloped land that seems to have a water problem, though we do not get water in our basements.

I LOVE the idea of organic gardening but I have a question or two:
Is organic as effective against termites as chemicals?
Is organic REALLY less expensive and more easy?

Answer
Good question!  Because I think it articulates our darkest fears - how effective is something if it is cheaper, new, and associated with people who smoke marijuana, only eat vegetables, and wear lovebeads?

You just bought your house - this is a very serious problem you've discovered.  I am truly surprised that the Bank did not see this first.  But my own sister bought her first house in West Virginia and the Bank gave them a mortgage too - and the house turned out to be on the brink of collapse due to Termites.  In the end, she and her husband actually abandoned the house.  And moved to Minnesota.  Where he took his refrigerator-selling skills and got a job selling white goods at a tiny little outfit called Best Buy Co.  And eventually became vp of marketing.  So if it hadn't been for those West Virginia Termites, who knows where he would have ended up.  See how things work out sometimes?

But right now, I have found that I too have Termites - in a back room extension.  There is major damage back there caused by these Cockroach relatives.

Do I want to use every weapon of mass destruction on that part of the house?  Am I disturbed about this silent housewrecker?  Well, I should say yes, but my understanding of chemicals is such that actually deciding to use them right inside my own house freaks me out even more.  I do recall the days I used to pour Malathion like it was Kool-Aid back in the laundry room to get mites out of the impatiens, un-gloved hands immersed in the pesticide solution, breathing it for months when I knocked over a bottle of the stuff in the garage under my bedroom. Ignorance is bliss.  Most people still do put their faith in Science, the U.S. Government, fair advertising and their own education.  We should all able to do that.  But somehow it isn't working out that way.

So I do hear what you're saying.

But remember... this is not the tree you are dealing with down by the driveway and the curb.  This is your house.  Where you live and breathe.  So keep that in mind.  I think you are more aware than the typical homeowner anyway.  Three cheers for you.  Every voice counts.

Your neighbors... they will probably be using some serious chemicals for this, because that's what people do.  And I think frankly it's bad enough to have them next door.  It is absolutely necessary that you know exactly what kind of Termite you are dealing with -- or even if you are dealing with flying Ants and NOT Termites.  Termite species vary from state to state; they are vulnerable to different treatments, and there is also the matter of individual licensing and what treatments are approved by each State to get rid of them.  Me, I must worry about Reticulitermes flavipes, the most prevalent Long Island termite, a favorite of ants and natural predators, slowly eating my house from the ground up.

One thing you ought to remember about Termites: They are a necessary part of the food chain.  They'll devour that stump of wood that you didn't completely remove for free - over years, perhaps, but it doesn't get cheaper than free.  And they do that thanks to microscopic bacteria in their digestive system that break down Lignin.  Anything that kills those bacteria will also destroy the Termites they live in.

An organization called the Northwest Coalition for Alternatives to Pesticides collects information on these things to make them accessible to more people.  They post some serious, honest data on their Termites Pages (http://www.pesticide.org/factsheets.html).  You'll need Adobe Acrobat to read some of it.

It does seem that the West Coast is still ahead of the pack when it comes improvements in green pest control.  California's Environmental Health Coalition posts a very detailed, comprehensive page on the state of the art in Termites treatment.  Many of these treatments are organic (http://www.environmentalhealth.org/fs-termite.html): Microwaves, Boric Acid, Electrocution and Fungal pathogens for the ones in the walls of your house (Dry- or Damp-wood Termites); Nematodes, Dry Sand particles and Metal Mesh Screens for the ones in the garden (Subterranean Termites).

Subterranean Termites depend heavily on sources of moisture to thrive.  These are the ones that build tiny mud tunnels on the surface of your foundation or in corners - the ones Termites inspectors look for.  Their colonies number in the MILLIONS and the damage they do can be very hard to find.  Sometimes they just inhabit an old tree stump or felled tree branches.  And sometimes they just move right into your house.

The University of California/Santa Clara Coop Extension (http://www.mastergardeners.org/picks/termites.html) explains the termites problem in California - bear in mind this may vary from your own problem: "Control of the Subterranean Termite consists primarily of destroying the tubes and then preventing the Termites from reaching the foundation by physical and/or chemical barriers. Fumigation is never used as a control."

Colonies of Dry-/Damp-wood Termites are much smaller.  They work a little slower - fortunately for me - and are harder to find because they actually live INSIDE the wood of your house.  You'll find them in the Floors, the Walls, Doorframes, Chimneys Roofing, Shingles, even along Hot Water Pipes. USC Extension experts say: "Colonies start with a single king and queen and develop slowly over the years.  It might take seven years to grow to a population of l000 nymphs, soldiers and the king and queen. A colony of this size might eat only one-half pound of wood in a year. It takes many years before Drywood Termites do significant harm to a structure."

Thank heaven for small favors.

Now, if you could identify these insects on your own, if you knew where to find them and exactly where to treat them, and you had all the state of the art equipment at your disposal, in this case, well, of course, it might be cheaper to do this all yourself.  For this problem, however, in my own house, I want to find an Intelligent Exterminator.  Someone who did not do this because he dropped out of high school and could not drive a bus.  Someone who is highly skilled in this field.  I think you will find that, just like Contractors, Exterminators come in all shapes and sizes.  And I want one who knows more than I do about this.

But I also want to know everything there is about these bugs and the options out there for getting them out of my house as long as possible.  Preferably forever.

Even Bug Clinic, the online diy extermination supply store (http://www.bugclinic.com/termites.htm), points out that your Intelligent Exterminator will get you something you can't give yourself: A Guarantee.

Not to make a long story even longer, but in your search for the Intelligent Exterminator, make a point of checking Lexis/Nexis and/or Westlaw at your public library and find out what kind of lawsuits the company has faced in its lifetime, as well as the names of responsible parties who may be working somewhere else by now.  Terminix for instance has a rotten-to-the-core reputation in New York State thanks to sloppy pesticides applications that have even killed people, and under-application in other situations, falsification of records, and the most cursory punishment.  Why is this company still in business?  Maybe they're just too big to get rid of.  They do plenty of advertising; these lawsuits get very little attention, if any.  Part of a free press means taking responsibility to find and read the FINE PRINT.  It is not the job of Newsday and The New York Times to make me an Intelligent Gardener.  It is my own.

Thanks for writing - I hope this will be of some help to you.  Any questions, I'm happy to answer.