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Termite treatments

There are only a few real treatment strategies. They differ in whether they kill the colony or just keep it out of your house.

Two comparison cards. A chemical soil barrier creates a treated zone in the soil that termites pass through, using non-repellent products so they carry the active ingredient back and share it, protecting the structure and potentially affecting the colony as a side effect. Baiting takes the opposite approach: stations placed at feeding or foraging points, loaded with a slow-acting product, aimed directly at eliminating the colony, and needing regular monitoring. A warning card underneath explains the disturbance response: spraying a supermarket insecticide kills what it touches, the colony abandons that route and re-enters elsewhere, and the damage continues out of sight without the evidence that would have led anyone to it.
Kill the colony, or exclude it: the strategies are not interchangeable, and neither one is a DIY job.

Kill the colony, or exclude it — the strategies are not interchangeable

Chemical soil treatment puts a treated zone in the soil around and under a building, so termites passing through it pick up the active ingredient. Modern non-repellent products are designed not to be detected. So termites move through the zone, carry the product back and share it, which can also affect the colony. The work involves trenching around the perimeter and drilling and injecting through slabs and paths, and it is disruptive, precise and entirely a licensed job.

Baiting takes the opposite approach: stations are placed where termites are already feeding or where they are likely to forage, loaded with a slow-acting product that workers carry back and distribute. It is slower, it needs monitoring visits, and it is the strategy chosen when the aim is to eliminate a colony rather than only protect a structure.

Dusting and foaming are applied directly into active workings for the same colony-transfer reason. All of these use products registered by the APVMA for that specific use, applied by a licensed pest management technician who is legally responsible for the application.

Why this is not a DIY page. The single most damaging thing a homeowner can do is spray a supermarket insecticide on visible termites or workings. It kills what it touches, the colony detects the disturbance, abandons that route and re-enters the building somewhere else: and the damage continues out of sight, now without the evidence that would have led anyone to it. It also compromises the treatment a professional would otherwise have used, because the termites you needed to carry the product back are gone. If you find them, leave them completely alone and get someone in.

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Sources

What this page explains is based on these official sources. If you check one and it does not match what you read here, send it to us and the article gets corrected.