termite problems in the bush

[WantDaChronic]

i just did a quick search on termite killing products and you wont be able to take care of the problem yourself without destroying other plants and wildlife in the area the only options you have are to use termite killing products before you intend on putting the crop out or prevent them from gaining access to the plants in the first place which will be next to impossible

[creature of the forest]

Thanks WantDaChronic

 

I have done a bit of research and it seems that there are two chemicals or products that seem most likely, with a third that may work.

 

TERMIDOR is a non-repellant termiticide, that is it doesn't keep them away but they feed on it or come in contact with it and it kills them later, about 24 hours I think. It has a transfer effect which means that they take it back to the nest and it kill other termites in the nest that they come in contact with.

I'm not sure if the public can buy it but the active ingredient is Fibronil, which is supposed to be found in the flea control products "Frontline". Maybe buy each plant a flea collar.

It has no negative effect on plants.

 

There is another chemical called IMIDACLOPRID which someone posted about earlier.

Some of it's brand names are "Confidor" and "Premise 200 sc".

Aparently is is used by sugar cane farmers to control termites in sugar cane.

This one also has a transfer effect which means that it will be transferred to other termites back at the nest and kill them too.

 

Both of these are pretty safe on humans.

 

Will do a bit more research, got waylaid doing something else so I still have a bit more research to do.

 

With the Confidor it just so happens that I have a pressure spray can of if in the garage, bought it for something else a while back.

However it seems that the best way to apply it would be in a liquid or powder form or a powder dissolved in water, and dug it into the soil before planting, with maybe a watering or two of dissolved Confidor during the season.

The next step will be to find out if it is available in a powder or liquid form and who sells it.

I couldn't find it at Bunnings.

 

PERMETHRIN also apparrently has anti-termite properties, but I don't think it is as effective as the above products.

Permithrin based products are readily available in garden stores.

 

creature of the forest

[TheTreeBoundRat]

I have had termite problems using pots. Ant - termite dust (permethrin) works well spinkled under the pot.

 

They have been much less of a problem in the ground although I have lost the occasional girl to termites.

 

Creature you say you had problems. How bad were they? and what was your style of growing?

[pipeman]

just put a sheet of tin roofing under the pot. the termites will have to crawl across the top of the tin to get to the plant so they will be easy to spot. This is what all termite barriers in buildings are designed to do, nothing will stop the termites all you can do is force their access path to be across a visible surface so you can get rid of them when they appear.

[TheTreeBoundRat]

just put a sheet of tin roofing under the pot. the termites will have to crawl across the top of the tin to get to the plant so they will be easy to spot. This is what all termite barriers in buildings are designed to do, nothing will stop the termites all you can do is force their access path to be across a visible surface so you can get rid of them when they appear.

 

Not convenient to be carting iron out bush and it stands out. Like I said permethrin works fine. Less work the better. I also use grow bags, not pots. Garden city plastics sell them. Color is a good green, they are cheap and they come in 35, 45 ,75 or more liters. Having said that I don't recommend growing in pots guerilla style because keeping up the water is alot harder. Unless it's "out the back, in the bush" (close) where you could set up irrigation from the house or creek. You also may as well use coco coir and run to waste if your going to all this trouble.

[creature of the forest]

Creature you say you had problems. How bad were they? and what was your style of growing?

 

That was several years ago.

The plants were skunk and I planted them out end of winter for a spring crop; the still long night hours cause them to flower and they are ready by about the last week of October to the first week November.

Anything not ready to harvest by the end of the first week of November is usually no good as they start to go back into vegetative growth due to the daylight hours getting to long for flower.

I did have some Norther Lights from KC Brains once that remained in flower mode right up to christmas, with no sign of revegging. The buds were pretty big too. Then at christmas a bushfire came and burnt them.

When I went to check on them just after the bushfire had gone through I could smell burning pot from about 50 metres away.

You need the right strain for winter growing; something that will not re-veg too easily.

 

But anyway the plants were Skunk from Dutch Passion; I was growing them directly in the ground.

After I harvested them I pruned them down to the lower few branches and they revegged quickly.

When they got about a meter tall I noticed that one by one they just fell over.

When I checked the termites had eaten the roots through and also hollowed out the stem.

 

One thing I was doing then was starting the seedlings in styrofoam coffee cups of potting mix and then planting them in the ground when they got about 20cm tall or so.

I found the termites were eating the potting mix. A lot of potting mixes contain pine bark which termites love; they prefer to eat the softest wood available.

I'm wondering whether the potting mix attracted the termites initially and while they were there they went on to eat the plants.

I want to try starting the seedlings in a mix of perlite/vermiculite and see if that helps, but I don't know if it would solve the problem completely.

 

I did find though that it took the termites a while to find the plants and then destroy them; I think if plants are planted out later in the season then there is less time available to the termites to destroy them before they are ready to harvest.

 

But anyway I'm over using pots and I want to go back to planting in the ground.

Pots require too much effort to set up and water, and lets face it, when there's a high chance of the plants being found and all your work will have been in vain, then I would rather be able to look back and say that at least I didn't waste a lot of time and effort setting up and maintaining the grow.

I had a spot once that took a fair bit of effort to lug the pots and the soil mix to the grow site, only to go there one afternoon and find some asshole hiding in the bushes next to the plants with a big empty backpack ready to load up with my buds. I had to pull the plants early and only got a fraction of what I could have gotten off them.

The dumb prick didn't even know enough to tell the plants weren't ready.

And then when I caught him he wanted to help me harvest them and take some for himself.

 

But the thing was that all that work setting up the spot was in vain because I had to abandon it.

So my philosophy now is minimal set up and maintainance.

 

I have found a spot and have dug some holes for the plants and I'm going to plant out at the start of the season and see what happens; sort of an experiment.

I will be using whatever termite deterrent/poisons I can lay my hands on; if I can't get specific termiticides then I will try the permethrin and see what happens.

Because if they get eaten then I know that I can still plant out new plants in those spots as late as say start February and still get a good yield.

 

I have been a bit busy with other things lately so I have not had time to do more research on the termiticides.

But anyway now I know the main chemicals/products that can be used the next step is to find out where I can get them.

 

creature of the forest

[bush buggered]

Hey all. Been away for a while doing the obvious. Noticed some new postings on here that got my attention. Some advice humourous, some very helpfull. Ihave been using 100 litre growbags this year. i drench the soil wth chloropyrophos [termite zapper] then i put down 2/3 layers of builders plastic. then the growbag on the plastic. with about 12 inches of builders plastic sticking out each side. there can be no overlaps at all or the bastards will get through. works quite well, so far.

as far as growing in the ground goes, i'm still looking. some advice i got off here will prolly help. and no, i don't mean the flea collars. the shit that creature made reference to, that they use on sugar cane sounds the goods. i tried getting hold of fipronil in the past, but they would'nt sell it. unless they applied it.ummmmmm. not an option. If anyone has any update on this subject , would be appreciated. Creature, you sound like your over working your freckle out with pots. How have you progressed with your ground grow... cheers all.. good to be back..b.b.

[creature of the forest]

Yeah the pots were a bit of work, but I used to be more motivated back then, or at least the outdoors was my sole method of growing and so I had to do the work or I would have no pot.

Now I'm starting to get a bit of an indoor thing happening and I think it's making me less motivated to go out and do the hard work outdoors.

I still have a couple of sites with pots set up that I have been using for years.

But I'm looking to phase them out.

 

I have not done much outdoors so far this year apart from one spot where I have 16 plants going in pots; 12 True Blueberries and 4 Sweet Tooth 1.1. I recently lost a batch of clones that were going to be planted in the other two spots I have, one spot with pots and the other is an "in the ground" spot which I have fenced and dug holes for 16 plants.

 

I will take some more clones in the next couple of days and see if I can have them ready to plant out around the end of Febuary. They won't have time to grow very big before they flower but if I get an ounce off each of them then that will be ok; about 43 plants yielding 1 ounce each is better than nothing.

Hopefully I can make a late season comback.

[Kali Mist]

 

All you need is DIPEL®.

 

Mix with water & pour it into the soil - no more termites - non-toxic.

Spray it onto the leaves for caterpillar problems.

[bush buggered]

Hi. The dipel got my interest. Tell me more. Never heard of that one. Was under the impression that dipel was a caterpillar specific, bacterial agent. Have you used it for termites yourself k.mist . cheers..b.b.