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Left to right: soldier, worker, and
swarmer |
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Identification:
Subterranean Termites |
| The worker is the termite that performs all the
daily duties of the colony. The worker collects the
food, distributes the food, cleans, grooms the others,
takes care of the young, etc. You would only see these
if you dug into the ground or the wood they were in. |
| The soldier is the protector of the colony. The
soldier will defend the colony against any thing that
may harm the colony, even if it means sacrificing its
own life. |
| The swarmers or secondary soldiers and queens. These
insects are the only ones that ever leave the colony
into the outside world. The swarmers have only one
purpose, which is to leave the colony to mate and
produce more termite colonies. This swarm will usually
take place on a warm spring day after a rainfall. Some
types of termite do swarm at other times of day and
season. |
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A Little History |
| Termite control had not changed in its procedures or chemical
compounds for many years, then in the late 60's and early 70's some of
the compounds came under fire. The long lasting chemicals such as
chlordane, heptaclor, and aldrin, that had for many years been used and
proven very effective for termite control were removed from use. |
| In the early 70's several new formulations were introduced for
termite control. Most if not all of these products were agricultural
chemicals already labeled for other use. Dursban T.C. was the most
popular of these products. By the 80's and into the new century many new
products have come into the termite control market. Some of the
compounds proved to be less than desirable. |
| The race for a new great termiticide introduced some new compounds
into the industry. With these new products came the varied opinions of
each manufacturer. The one who made the chemical that repelled said
repellency was good, and the other side said it was bad. This debate ran
on for years. |
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In the end it was found out
that what made the old products work so well were as follows: |
| 1) No repellency |
| 2) Slow acting (therefore not repellent, another way) |
| 3) Long lasting |
| 4) Effective at low dosage |
| 5) Transfers from one termite to the other |
| The problems however with the old products were the longevity of the
products in the environment if moved from the target areas. |
| So the search was on to produce a termite control method that was
effective, long term, and environmentally friendly. |
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The Age of New Chemistry |
| The new chemistry has also produced some new and interesting
chemical options for the control of termites. Many of these products
have never met all the needs for a quality termite control product: |
| 1) No repellency |
| 2) Slow acting |
| 3) Long lasting |
| 4) Effective at low dosage |
| 5) Environmentally friendly |
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One of the new
products does seem to come close |
| Termidor |
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Non-repellent, slow acting, effective at low dosage
rates |
| Environmentally friendly? |
| Lets go a little further. Compared to the products of the past,
Termidor is miles above. Very low dosage rate, so less product is
needed. |
| But we still are using the same technology for application and
several hundred gallons are generally used, (as per label) to treat a
structure. |
| Long lasting? |
| Again you decide. Termidor has a great track record so far, around 7
years + in the field. You might ask-well how long will it last? The
correct answer is, we just don't know. |
| This is an excellent chemical option for termite control. We perform
these treatments every day because some people are simple more
comfortable with what they know. We are confident in this product, but
we want to be honest with its limitations. |
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Call our office and we will assist you in the correct
approach to eliminate the Termite problem. |
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