Termite Deterrents

Owning a home or a building requires a certain amount of dedication to the maintenance of that structure which means that you will want to find termite deterrents that will help keep these foraging insects away from your valued structure.  Termite deterrents are objects, smells, and/or chemicals that will keep termites from coming into your home and devastating the wood that is the basis of your structure and can seriously compromise its integrity.

The best termite deterrents come in chemical form.  These chemicals are created specifically to keep termites away from structures and they are extremely effective when sprayed in typical spaces where termites are known to burrow.  That means that chemical termite deterrents should be applied around the foundation of a house, underneath the structure in the crawl space, and around areas where termites would be able to crawl into the structure and begin feeding.  This can be tricky since the worker termite is less than a centimeter in length and is able to crawl through a miniscule opening to start gathering food for the colony.

One study done in 2005 has shown some promise that the sap of the sugar pine tree could be one of the great termite deterrents that you can use.  This study showed that the typical termite was disgusted by the sap of the sugar pine making it an advancement in natural termite deterrents like no one has been able to find as of yet.  

The sad reality is that termites are amazingly resilient creatures.  They look for a source of food and then are relentless in their pursuit of a feast for not only themselves but for the rest of their colony as well.  They aren’t especially picky in what they eat as long as it is damp, dank, wet, and stinky.  Oh, yes, and it should be made of wood or a wood product as well.  What is frustrating to pest control experts is the lack of effective termite deterrents that aren’t chemical in nature.

As a society, we are tending toward “green” products in order to combat global warming and saving the ozone layer thus preserving the Earth from all of the man-made damaging agents we are introducing into the atmosphere.  Termite deterrents that are not chemical are few and far between, however, which is frustrating for entomologists and scientists alike.

For now, if you are looking for termite deterrents, your best bet is to go to your local home improvement store and try to find termite bait that you can place strategically around your home that will, hopefully detract the attention of the termites away from the wood of your home and into the bait traps you have set.  Other than that, termite deterrents are going to be chemical in nature and most effective coming from a professional pest control company.
