Termidor SC Termiticide/Insecticide - Questions & Answers

Drywood termites are all contained in a piece of wood.  They do not go back to the ground like subterranean termites.  For Termidor to work on drywood termites, you have to drill directly into the piece of wood the termites are in and inject Termidor into the wood.  Termidor does not penetrate into wood, so you have to inject it into the center.  It has to touch the termites to work, but the benefit is that it only has to contact a few termites, and then they can pass it on to the rest of the colony.  To treat for subterranean termites using Termidor, you will need to trench all around the skirt just like you would around a home's foundation, and then you will need to trench around all of the blocks that are holding the trailer up, just like you would a home's piers in a crawlspace.

Termidor SC does need to be applied directly to soil.  If you have concrete up against the foundation around the home you would need to drive every 10-12 inches through it and inject/spray ½ gallon into every hole as outlined in our Prevention guide here

If concrete such as a carport slab or sidewalk is against the foundation in the area where you need to treat, you will be required to drill through the concrete to apply the termiticide solution to the soil. Using the hammer drill with a 1/2" x 18" concrete drill bit, drill holes every 12" into the concrete along the foundation wall.

You are not only drilling through just the concrete here, but also as deep as you can into the dirt. The deeper the better. Once the holes are drilled, you fill at the same rate you did the trench, 4 gallons per 10 feet. If you drilled the holes 12 inches apart, then you would have 10 holes over 10 feet that you are trying to fill with 4 gallons. This works out to be a little less than half a gallon per hole. To fill these I would recommend using the one gallon sprayer on a "pin stream" setting so you can force the liquid down the hole and not splash it everywhere. You can also use a funnel and pour the termiticide down the holes. It is difficult to get 4 gallons per 10 feet in the holes, so it is important that you use a long drill bit, at least 18" long so you can bore out enough dirt to hold the termiticide. Sometimes the ground is slow to soak up the termiticide you place in the holes. You may need to fill the holes, then go work on something else for an hour, come back and fill them again, go work on something else... 3 to 4 times to get the proper amount down the holes. Once the holes are filled all you need to do is patch them with a concrete patch filler you can buy at a home improvement or hardware store or you can use our Trebor plugs that will close the hole with no concrete mess.

Termidor SC is not labeled for use on any bearing fruit trees.  We would not recommend eating any fruit grown on the treated trees for at least 1 year.

Termidor SC is a very safe product and widely used by professional companies inside homes every day across the country.  Termidor SC is odorless and does not have any fumes. You only need to wear a face mask if you will be doing the application in a poorly ventilated or enclosed area. All other applications will require you to wear long sleeves, long pants, shoes and socks and gloves. Be sure to wash your hands after the application before you eat, drink, chew gum or use the restroom.

The trench around the exterior of the house only needs to be 6 inches deep.  It is not realistic to dig a 5 foot deep trench and no company would do this either.  On the inside of the basement, it would probably be a good idea to drill through the slab of the basement along the wall that is below grade and apply Termidor SC through the slab and/or treat the termites directly in the wall where the activity is.

Termidor SC is labeled for black widow spiders specifically but it cannot be used on play equipment. Termidor SC can only be used on or immediately around the foundation of a structure. We do not recommend using any type of insecticide on the play equipment. We do recommend sealing the holes so that spiders cannot nest there. You can treat the areas around the play equipment with a product such as Talstar P to keep crawling insects from making the play-set their home. Knock down any spider web as soon as you see them to discourage spiders from nesting in unwanted areas.

No. Termidor SC can only be used on or immediately around your home. Termidor SC is not labeled for use in your yard. You may want to consider using an ant bait granule such as Advance 375A or an insecticide granule such as Talstar PL for ants in your yard.

Both Termidor and Bora-Care are good for treating dry wood termites.  They do it in different ways though.  Termidor is considered to be one of the best treatments around, however it is typically meant for subterranean termites and it is poured into the ground.  When using Termidor to treat dry wood termites, you have to drill holes into the wood and get the Termidor directly into the void where the termites are for it to work. Termidor will not penetrate through the wood, you have to get it in the right place.  Also, Termidor SC does not have any long term protection qualities in the wood.  Bora-Care is a wood treatment product and will penetrate through the wood. When applying Bora-Care you do not have to get it directly where the termites are.  You would typically just spray it on the surface of the wood and the Bora-Care will penetrate through the wood and kill the termites inside.  Also, since Bora-Care is a wood treatment product, it will stay in the wood forever and protect it forever.  The down side is that Bora-Care can only be applied to normal raw wood.  It cannot be applied to wood that has been painted, stained, or sealed.  So, if you are exposing the studs or normal wood anywhere on the house or replacing any wood then usually Bora-Care is what you want to use since it will protect the wood long term.  If you have an infestation in wood that is painted and you will not be replacing it, then typically you would drill holes into the wood and use Termidor SC.

When building a structure you should apply Termidor to the entire area under where you are going to pour the slab.  You should apply Termidor at the rate of 1 gallon per 10 square feet.  You should apply slightly more around the perimeter edges and around any plumbing pipes or expansion joints that will be in the slab.

Termidor does not leave a residue and so what you saw was normal.  Unfortunately there is no real sign that you will see to know that it is working other than the fact that you will not have any new termite activity.  If you treated correctly and the termites did come into contact with the Termidor SC, then it will work.  You have to trust that Termidor is the best termite control product for a reason.  Since it does not kill the termites right away and it allows them to take the product back under the slab where the rest of the termites are, it takes up to 90 days to kill all of the termites.  So you should not disturb the area or check to see if there is still activity until after 90 days.

Termidor is not labeled to treat mole crickets and Termidor is not allowed to be used in the yard at all.  For mole crickets we recommend Advion Insect Granules which are specifically labeled for mole crickets.

 Termidor is only labeled for use around residential and commercial structures and should not be used away from a structure.  So we are not able to recommend it as a treatment method.  Most termiticides are only labeled for use around structures.  Termidor does take up to 90 days to kill a termite colony.  It is recommended when having a wood pile to build a structure for it or place it up on blocks or on a metal stand so it does not come into contact with the ground.  That being said, a 6 x 6 inch trench would work, IF it was labeled to be used away from the house.

Termidor is not a wood treatment product and will not penetrate into wood.  It is meant to be applied to soil.  So spraying Termidor on fascia boards or any other surface will not do much.  If you are trying to take care of termites in wood, then you have to drill holes into the wood and inject the Termidor directly.  It has to come into contact with the termites in the wood to be effective.

You can do that if you choose, but it is not as effective as drilling the slab inside the garage.  This is because the garage is a separately poured slab, meaning the termites could come from deep underground and come up to the surface under the garage slab, and enter the wall where your door is going into the house untouched.  You don't have to drill every wall in the garage, just the walls that are not exterior walls, where you have living space on the other side of the garage wall.  So it is a personal choice, but drilling the garage walls is the best way to protect all entry points.

The usage rate is 4 gallons of solution for every 10 ft of trench. Be sure to read our Liquid Termite Treatment article for full directions.

Termidor Foam is not labeled to treat roaches. We recommend using our Roach control kit to treat roaches. Roach Control Kit #2 includes 1 packet of Demon WP Insecticide (which makes 4 gallons of finished solution) for spraying the outside perimeter of the home and inside underneath appliances, behind cabinets, under toilets and sinks, etc. You'll also get 4 x 30 gram tubes of Advion Roach Bait Gel--one of the best roach baits on the market. Advion can be applied up high in the kitchen in the corner of cabinets and in cracks and crevices in kitchens and bathrooms. The bait contains a slow-acting poison that attracts and kills feeding roaches, who also spread the bait to other roaches by contact or by sharing food. Finally, 20 Gentrol Point Source stations provide an IGR (Insect Growth Regulator) that will stop roaches from laying eggs, helping to halt the infestation. Please find our article on roach treatment tips and prevention.

When using Termidor SC to treat carpenter ants it may take anywhere between 30 to 90 days to eradicate the colony. Termidor kills by transfer. The foraging ants will come out and make contact with the active ingredient. The kill is delayed long enough for the ant to transfer the active ingredient throughout the colony producing a domino killing effect and ultimately killing the queen.

Termidor is a high moving item so most bottles dont spend more than 1-2 weeks in our temperature stable warehouse. We are unsure how long it sits from the time it is placed in the bottle before it comes to us, but you can always contact the manufacturer with the code printed on the bottle which will tell them when it was produced. Most of the time it is no more than 6 months from time it is packaged to the time you receive it. If you want to check your batch code, contact BASF at 1-800-526-1072.

If there is a doubt if some Termidor SC got to the soil of the garden area you can remove the soil and replace it with fresh soil to avoid any contamination issues.  Any tomatos that you suspect have been over sprayed would need to be discarded.

If you do not currently have termite activity, then you only have to treat the outside perimeter of your home.  If your home is on a crawl space foundation, there may be a few places that you need to treat under the home.  You do not have to treat in the walls unless there is a specific place that you have termite activity already that you know about.  If so, then you can apply Termidor SC directly to the area as a spot treatment inside in addtion to all of the perimeter treatment outside.  If you have not read our "How To Do A Termite Treatment" article already, it will completely explain how to do the outside treatment.