Review of a Green Termite Bait System

Soil treatment, wood treatment, barriers, sprays foams…so many methods to fight one small, but malicious insect.

Termites are constant headache for the homeowners in many countries.

One of the solutions offered on the market is baiting systems and one of the companies producing reputable termite fighting baits is Green Termite Bait System from Australia.

Why the creator thinks his baits are better than any other existing on the market, how to use them and are they worth buying, I’ll tell you in this material.

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• How does baiting work?
• Why choosing baiting over soil treatment?
• What’s the main difference between Green Termite Bait System and others?
• How to place the baits?
• How to maintain the baiting system?
• Useful articles
• Helpful video
• Summary

How does baiting work?

First, let me tell you what is the general idea behind baiting.

The basic strategy for all the monitors and baits you can find on the market is the same:

1. You install the monitors in strategic places.
2. Cardboard or other cellulose material is attracting termites inside the bait.
3. Together with their precious cellulose they are getting a portion of insecticide with delayed action.
4. Foragers share their findings with other members of the colony, including the queen.
5. The whole colony dies.

Sounds great, huh? But not everything is that simple, some things to think about are:

• Where to install monitors?
• How to attract enough termites to destroy the colony before they figure out the bait is poisoned?
• What insecticide to use?
• How to know if the baits have to be changed?

Now, let’s see what is so interesting about the system offered by Green Termite Bait Systems and how do they answer these questions.

Why choosing baiting over soil treatment?

First of all, the Green Baiting System is positioning themselves as a more graceful way of protection against termites than the traditional soil treatment.

They give you an example that for putting the chemical barrier around the house you will, probably, need to drill the holes in concrete (like driveways) that are not only ugly, but also not as efficient as they should be.

Important! In Australian standards it’s said to cut and remove the concrete for proper soil treatment. Which is, by the, way, the most efficient way to do it, but, frankly, a big inconvenience.

The outcome of the chemical soil treatment also largely depends on the type of the soil you have, so some companies even advise to replace the soil around your house with better one, which, of course, adds a large sum to the money you’ll spent on treatment itself.

Here you can learn more information about another termite bait systems: Advance, CSIRO, Nemesis, Exterra, Firstline, Terminate. Also find out how to make baits by yourself and how to refill them?

What’s the main difference between Green Termite Bait System and others?

The brochure of Green Bait System explains that, surprisingly, the main threat of the baiting process is interruption of it by ants.

Usually the stakes with baits are plastic boxes with the cut holes for the termites to be able to enter and the cardboard bait inside.

And, of course, where termite can enter, the ant might as well. So the ants start living inside those stakes and termites pass those over, because they not willing fight with ants for the place.

The green termite bait station states to be ant-resistant.

The baits are made of solid wood and the entry holes inside the cap have a special ant and moisture seal.

Important to know that the termicide is not inside this bait system yet. When you buy those stakes you’re basically buying a wooden termite monitor with specially sealed cap, that needs to be treated with insecticide by yourself at the time of need.

The company also recommends to use the traps before the infestation as a prevention method. In this case they promise high efficiency and even money back policy.

But if you already have an active infestation, they advise you to use their baits as one of the methods of fighting, but not the only one.

How to place the baits?

This baits are perfect treatment against the subterranean termites, that are foraging inside your house but have their nest somewhere unknown place in the soil around the house.

The idea is that you will need to install about 20-30 traps around your house (for the average size building) and this will be your protection barrier, that you can renew once in a while. Now, how will termites find them and will they at all?

The manufacturing company admits that there’s nothing special about the traps that would attract termites to them, no smell or anything like that. So, basically, insects just stumble on them if the baits placed in strategically good places.

The best thing you can do to increase the chances is to place the baits as close as possible to each other.

2-3 meters is a good distance, over 6 – will be stretching your defense line.

They should be installed close to the house, but at least 20 cm away.

The best is to place them next to wet and drainage areas that are especially attractive for subterranean termites.

The Green Baits System promises that the baits will last for 3-5 years depending on the wetness of your soil. They get more and more attractive for termites with time – cause this species prefer old wet timber, and this is also a plus, in comparison with plastic baiting stakes.

Learn more about subterranean termites: signs of their activity; best methods of treatment and DIY methods. Eastern subterranean termites and their tunnels and tubes with photo.

How to maintain the baiting system?

The monitors, that are the top of the bait, will help you to detect the right time to add the insecticide. If it’s done from the beginning, there will be only few workers bringing the poison to the colony and results can be less than promised. So first you need to get the termites to really like your wood.

The monitor has a Ec2 Termite Window, which brings the light inside the bait. Termites like privacy and once they are plenty inside the bait, they will seal the windows with mud across specially designed termite tubes.

When you see both windows shut – that’s the time to poison the apple. You need to take off the lid and add the termicide. The products recommended by Green Baits System are:

• Termidor and Termidor Dust;
• Premise;
• Intrigue.

Here you can learn more information about effective termite control remedies: Bora-Care, Boric acid, Borate, Fipronil, Chlorpyrifos, Chlordane, Borax, Timbor, Termidor, Terminator, Phantom, Lorsban, Biflex, Terro. You can choose different forms, such as – foam, liquid, powder.

Here you should pay attention, because while monitoring and installing the baits is DIY thing, application of those termicides has to be done by licensed professionals. So, if you read that these baits are DIY method, it’s related only to stakes themselves which kind of makes it not a DIY method.

Well, let’s say you hired someone to add Termidor to the baits, how often you will need to call this guy back? If the first application did not eliminate the colony you have to put the fresh bait in after 4-6 weeks.

But the company states that most probably after 2-4 weeks the colony will be fully exterminated (depending on its size, type of termicide and so on). Sounds complicated…

Ok, let me simplify this for you. Here’s what you do step by step:

1. You get about 30 of those traps and place them all around your house with 2-3 meters’ distance between.
2. You check the round holes on the tops once in a while.
3. If you see both holes closed by mud – termites came. Call the exterminator to put termicide inside your baits.
4. Normally, soon they will be all gone.
5. When this wave of termites is done with – replace the baits that were eaten and keep checking.

You see, actually it’s not complicated at all!

Useful articles

If you interested in more information of termites we recommend you to read the following articles:

• All types of termites. Are they harmful to humans? Can they bite you? And what is the difference between drywood and subterranean ones?
• What does swarmers of different species look like: drywood, subterranean, formosan?
• Signs of infestation outside and in the house: in walls or furniture.
• How to treat them at home and in the yard: in wood or in fence. How long this process lasts and what is pre-construction and soil treatment?
• What does termite holes look like? What is droppings and is it toxic to humans? Do termites make noises?
• Posible termite damage, how does it look like? Examples of damage in walls and wood floors.
• All about flying termites: how do they look like, swarming season and what to do if there are swarmers in your house?
• How do they do nests and mounds? How to find it in your garden or inside the house?
• Termite life cycle – from egg to larvae. And social hierarchy: workers, soldiers, queen.
• Did you know that termites can infest living trees, for example a palm or a pine tree. They also like to live in stumps.
• You can prevent the infestation by using barriers, such as: HomeGuard, Physical systems, Safeguard, Stainless steel mesh, Kordon.
• If you want to get rid of termites naturally, learn more about such methods as: heat or cold treatment, orange oil, using nematodes.

Helpful video

Testimonials about Green Termite Bait System:

Summary

Let’s go through the key points of the Green Termite Baiting System:



• It is positioned as a DIY method, but the insecticides that are recommended should be applied by licensed pest control professionals…so what is DIY about this, exactly?
• It has a special protection against ants, that can invade your stakes and not let termites to eat their poison.
• It’s not too pretty and really doesn’t add to your landscape design.
• Even with the cost of a professional coming to place insecticide in the baits, the price of the whole system is not high and if you are using it as a prevention method can last quite long for this price.
• There’s a word “green” in the name, but don’t make a mistake, yes the stakes themselves are perfectly eco-friendly, but recommended termicides are not. For example, Termidor is based on fipronil, that is highly toxic to fish, bees and has other side effects.