There are any number of characteristics and behaviors that make the Formosan termite such a formidable enemy: colony sizes potentially in the millions, with hundreds of thousands of workers and tens of thousands of swarmers.
But it’s the Formosan’s propensity for forming aerial colonies that make this species such a nightmare for home and property owners, and such a challenge for pest control professionals.
Generally speaking, an aerial colony refers to a colony that doesn’t have a direct connection with the ground. An aerial colony might be found in a wall or under a roof, where Formosan termites can live, feed and reproduce undetected for years1. According to studies by the University of Florida’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, only 1% of colonies formed by native subterranean termites are aerial. In contrast, up to 25% of Formosan colonies may be aerial2, with that number approaching 50% in Formosan hot spots like Hawaii.3
Compounding the problem are the challenges associated with treating an aerial infestation. Liquid termiticides are obviously not suitable; foaming and fumigation are time- and labor-intensive and may not result in total colony elimination. But for Certified Sentricon Specialists® (CSSs) like Jeremy Logsdon, the news is better.
Logsdon, owner of Preventive Pest Control, Houston, Texas, has seen enough Formosan infestations to know how insidious aerial colonies can be … and how difficult they are to eliminate.
“If you have a leak anywhere in the house, it could be from a window, chimney, it could be anything, that’s enough,” he says. “Formosans just need drops of moisture to sustain an aerial colony.”
Once an aerial colony is established – behind a wall, for example – detecting it can be near-impossible. The first signs of infestation may not be visible for months or years, after the colony has grown to hundreds of thousands of individuals, and after doing considerable damage. Here, according to Logsdon, is where the treatment chosen by a pest control professional can potentially make the problem worse.
“Sometimes companies will just do a liquid perimeter treatment, and it can literally trap termites in the house,” Logsdon says. “Even though liquid termiticides are supposedly undetectable, our experience tells us that termites don’t want to go through that barrier. So essentially, they’re just locked in.
Logsdon recalls one specific infestation in a home in Pearland, Texas. The homeowner had seen swarming termites in an upstairs bathroom, and had called in another pest control company.
“They did a liquid treatment,” Logsdon says. “They even foamed in different places throughout the house. But all they did was lock the termites in that upstairs bathroom.”
Logsdon and his team installed Recruit® AG FlexPack® bait stations before shutting and sealing the door to prevent swarming termites from spreading to other areas of the home. In-ground Sentricon® bait stations were also installed around the home to prevent future termite damage.
“Because it was such a heavy and established population, we came out twice a week,” Logsdon says. “I would vacuum up the termites with a hand vac each visit, and the volume of termites was incredible for about three weeks. It took about five weeks for them to quit swarming altogether.”
That experience helped convince Logsdon that Sentricon truly is the “standalone solution” to tough termite infestations.
“At first, we were doing in-ground stations and foaming aerial cartons,” Logsdon says. “But once we had some experience with Sentricon and saw how it worked, we quit foaming and started using the Recruit AG bait stations, because we felt like it gave a more thorough elimination.”
Logsdon says that in addition to providing total elimination of the colony, the Sentricon system offers peace of mind for both the customer and the technician.
“If we have active termites, especially active Formosan termites, I want them eating product right away,” Logsdon says. “Customers will be so flustered and anxious because they’ve got these termites coming through the wall, so sometimes my inspectors will just sign them up and get a Recruit AG station started right there on the spot, because once termites start eating that bait, it’s just a matter of time before that colony is eliminated.”
1 Gold, R.E, Keck, M., Brown, E., Schofield, K., 9/10, Formosan Subterranean Termites, Texas A&M AgriLife Extension.
2 Su, N-Y & R.H Scheffrahn, 1987, Current status of the Formosan subterranean termite in Florida, pp 27-31.
3 Tamashiro, M., J.R. Yates & R.H. Ebesu, 1987. The Formosan subterranean termite in Hawaii: problems and control, pp 15-22.
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