Termites in the mulch.

[Hutch68]

Got termites in the mulch around some of my trees.... is this a problem? They don't seem to be harming the trees but they munch my mulch quickly.

Any tips or advice anyone?

 

 

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[cooked]

If they really are termites you don't want them anywhere near your house.

Chaindrite has a product in powder form containing permethrin, I buy in Makro. 

[farmerjo]

Just blow on them Hutch.

[Hutch68]

Will that work?


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[drtreelove]

Not a problem until it's a problem. Not going to the trees is a good thing. Protecting the wooden components of your building structures is always an essential.

 

Are you sure it's termites and not ants?  How course or fine in texture is your mulch? Termites will usually only go to solid wood, not fine textured mulch. The common subterranean termites will go to tree stumps and other solid dead wood, not to living tissue of the growing layer of trees. But they can weaken the tree's structural integrity when they invade and devour heartwood. 

 

Keep an eye on possibility of "mud tubes" (raised tunnels on the tree trunk surface) that termites form to advance up the tree trunk under protection from sunlight and predators, looking for habitat and cellulose to feed on; dead wood, stubs, cavities which expose inactive heartwood. They especially like to do this on mango trees.  I had a small orchard with 55 mature mangos and walked it several times a week with a stick to knock off the mud tubes before they got a good start up the tree. 

 

 

[Hutch68]

Yes I've had them up my mangos.
I'm 100 percent sure they are termites, had them around for years, as for the house we are all concrete and steel they never come anywhere close to home
Mulch, I was just using leaves before but just recently changed to the coconut chunky stuff... they seem to like to get in there when it's damp as it dries up under the mulch they bugger off.


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[Damrongsak]

I saw a crop of hot peppers where termites had chewed up the roots and killed the plants.  It was in a field so I guess they had to make do with whatever they could find.

[drtreelove]

On 1/8/2018 at 11:06 PM, Hutch68 said:

 just recently changed to the coconut chunky stuff... 
 

There is your answer. Not a problem, nature's way to break down the chunks.

[jvs]

Get some chickens,they love termites.