Ground Termites

In the US, there is an estimated 13 to 14 number of ground termites colonies for every acre of land. This means that a typical home may have three to four colonies of ground termites under or around it.

Now, with each colony containing as many as 1,000,000 ground termites, infestation in your homes becomes a very real possibility rather than a remote threat. How do you get rid of them?

Well first, we need to understand how these colonies work. And to do that, we need to find out more about that subterranean species of insects better known as “ground termites.”

Ground termites, like ants, tend to live in intermingling groups that cooperate with each other. Eventually, the group becomes so large that they comprise of multiple nesting and feeding grounds connected by millions of interconnecting tunnels.

Now, ground termites, as their name implies, are subterranean species. That is, they live underground. Colonies are highly variable in terms of dimensions. However, among the larger ones, they could occupy up to half an acre of land, under which live hundreds of thousands, and sometimes even millions, of ground termites living as they please.

Each termite colony has thousands of worker termites, whose job it is to forage for food. Basically, they excavate the ground, looking for wood – e.g. decaying tree roots, logs, stumps, woodpiles, and plant debris. Sometimes, ground termites encounter the wood in your home. And that’s where the problem of infestation sets in.

Once the ground termites find wood, they leave an invisible imprint similar to an odor trail so that other termites that belong to their colony would be able to follow it. And so begins the long march, gathering food, which is actually wood within your home.

The ceaseless foraging that termites do will eventually result in damage to the structural integrity of your home. And because termite infestation can go for years without detection, by the time you do notice it the damage would have been too great to repair.

How do you prevent ground termites from invading your home? That is the primary question every home owner is concerned with. The standard solution is liquid pesticide. Called “termiticide” by some, this termite pesticide is applied to the soil, because that is where the ground termites actually live.

Ground termites that attempt to penetrate the pesticide-treated soil will die. Ideally, the pesticide has to be applied to soil around the home in order to prevent the termites from seeking another passage in order to get in. So hundreds of gallons of termiticide are applied to the ground near the foundation of your home, beneath concrete slabs, and even within foundation walls. This way ground termites are completely barred from entering the home and causing damage.