termites..lots of termites

[johnmcc6]

A Friend has a small mango orchard ( about two rai ) . All the trees over this large area are being attacked by termites with several dead already. How does one kill such a large infestation? Poison has been sprayed around the base of the trees but to little effect. The orchard was heavily pruned a year or so ago which combined with the drought may have weakened them as well. Any Ideas please.

[cmsally]

http://www.gardeningknowhow.com/plant-problems/pests/pesticides/neem-oil-uses.htm

Not too sure where you can buy large quantities of neem oil here though. The trees grow here, there must be oil for sale somewhere

[kaptainrob]

Fipronil can be applied directly into the soil around trees and is the best termite treatment available.

[Bill97]

Fipronil can be applied directly into the soil around trees and is the best termite treatment available.

You must saturate the soil, not just spray it, right?

[Rotweiler]

It is injected (with long probes) into the soil. And yes, not just sprayed ON the soil.

[kaptainrob]

Pest companies use probe and injection method which is fast and effective. A layman might use the labour-intensive, time-consuming trenching method.

[thrilled]

Termites are bad all over Asia.Don't know about trees.But you don't want to build A house using wood.

[tifino]

I recall there's some very old method used for the placement of your termite oil...

... a pit filled with toilet rolls, which concentrates your attack, and easy to replace and replenish the oil/termite soggen rolls...

but I can't find which old popular mechanics issue it was in. From the 60s

[chiang mai]

Termites very rarely, if ever, attack and kill living trees although they will eat the bark/cellulose from diseased trees but this in itself shouldn't kill the tree, I would therefore look for another cause of the problem. I have over 35 trees in my garden and two of them have seen bark infestation with termites but they are trees that are very old, the trees continue to thrive however despite this. It may be that your mango trees have been seriously weakened because of the protracted drought and were simply unable to recover afterwards, either that or another disease/infestation is at work. Termites love damp condition but because unlike ants, they can't swim, they are easily killed by flooding any nests. It's not difficult to find the nests, especially if you have a lawn mower, termites become hyper active when there's a source of vibration/noise nearby and once a nest is identified, common household bug spray sprayed onto the nest will kill them easily. Another approach is to lay a piece of dead/rotting wood on the ground and wait for a couple of weeks to see what it attracts, termites will often move their nest to colonise a new food source. It therefore follows that all sources of dead wood should be eliminated if you want to attempt eradication, something that is almost impossible to do in my experience.

[tandor]

Termites very rarely, if ever, attack and kill living trees although they will eat the bark/cellulose from diseased trees but this in itself shouldn't kill the tree, I would therefore look for another cause of the problem. I have over 35 trees in my garden and two of them have seen bark infestation with termites but they are trees that are very old, the trees continue to thrive however despite this. It may be that your mango trees have been seriously weakened because of the protracted drought and were simply unable to recover afterwards, either that or another disease/infestation is at work. Termites love damp condition but because unlike ants, they can't swim, they are easily killed by flooding any nests. It's not difficult to find the nests, especially if you have a lawn mower, termites become hyper active when there's a source of vibration/noise nearby and once a nest is identified, common household bug spray sprayed onto the nest will kill them easily. Another approach is to lay a piece of dead/rotting wood on the ground and wait for a couple of weeks to see what it attracts, termites will often move their nest to colonise a new food source. It therefore follows that all sources of dead wood should be eliminated if you want to attempt eradication, something that is almost impossible to do in my experience.

..Sankamphaeng/Bo Sang are historically bad areas..so the locals say.

[johnmcc6]

Thanks for your comments. We will press on with some of the suggestions.

[The Snark]

Snerk. We are living on, essentially, a termite mound. The width and most of the length of our property. Having tried the various poison injection methods as well as a vast variety of experiments, trenches, various noxious chemicals and so on over a 9 year period I can state with absolute certainty the only effective long term solution is localized nuclear explosions.

PS The magma should extend at least 6 feet into the ground to be fully effective.

Edited July 12, 2016 by The Snark