Termidor SC Termiticide/Insecticide - Questions & Answers

Termidor SC has a long lasting residual for treating in the soil or topically. It should be applied twice a year directly up against the structure for ants (once every 6 months). It is safe for people after it dries.

We carry many termite prevention products and all of them are safe for dogs as long as you follow the product label instructions. The animals need to be out of the area while the product is being applied and they should not come back into the area until it is dry. Our most popular termite products are Termidor, Taurus and Dominion 2L.

There is no warranty offered with Termidor.  That is one benefit of having a company treat your home is they do provide a warranty.  However, no termite treatment can 100% guarantee that you won't have termites because termites can enter your home in places that you cannot treat, like underneath a slab, through a plumbing pipe, or through an area you cannot get the treatment to because it is covered or inaccessible. After your home is built, it is impossible to get to every entry point.  Also, Termidor does not guarantee you won't have termites for 10 years.  The 10 year applies to the areas that you apply Termidor, it is guaranteed to stay where you put it and protect and last for 10 years.  But there are always areas you cannot get to which is why you should continue to have a professional company come out every couple of years to do a professional inspection to make sure you have no areas of activity.  Most companies will do free inspections.  You do not need to re-treat the whole house for 10 years.  Another way to look at it is that when you have a company perform a termite treatment and they give you a 10 year warranty, you are paying them usually $150 or more per year to keep that warranty.  If Termidor treatments insured you never got termites for 10 years, then people would have no reason to continue to pay companies year after year to keep their warranty.  One other point is that most of our customers end up treating better and more thoroughly than most companies because the truth of the matter is that no one will take the time to care about your own house as much as you will.  And on top of all that you usually are saving a ton of money.

There is no specific amount, but when treating wall voids, you should apply the same concentration as you would anywhere else, which is a .06% solution. This is .8 ounces of Termidor per gallon of water.  As far as the amount and method, termites will be entering the structure from underground near the floor.  Since we know this, it is wasteful to drill a hole near the middle of the wall void.  This will just wet your sheet rock and potentially cause damage.  Since we know the termites are entering from the bottom of the void, where the studs and sill plate are, you should drill holes about every 6 inches directly above the baseboard so when you apply Termidor in the void, it is going directly on the wood where the termites are, and not being soaked up by sheet rock or insulation.  Typically you should hold down your sprayer trigger for about 7 to 10 seconds per hole and that should be sufficient.

Termidor SC is not labeled to be used all over your property. Termidor SC is only labeled for use directly on or immediately adjacent to a structure which is why your pest control operator is limiting his use to these places. Dominion does have a broader usage label but it is not labeled for use all over your property for ants. If you can find the nesting sites of he big headed ant colonies you can drench them with a cypermethrin product such as Demon WP or Cyper WP. If you cannot find the colonies you should consider using an ant baits such as Maxforce Complete Granules and Gourmet Liquid Ants Bait in ant bait stations. Baits tend to work well because they have a delayed reaction time which allows the ants to get back to the nesting site and share the bait with the colony. It is also very important to remove piles of wood, stones and other debris to discourage nesting.

Termidor SC is labeled to be sprayed twice a year a at .80 oz per gallon, or 4 times a year at .40 oz per gallon. Please let us know if we can be of any further assistance.

Subterranean termites and dry wood termites are two very different insects that require two very different treatments. We recommend that you get your termite infestation identified before you select a treatment method to be sure you are choosing the proper treatment method. Here two articles that can help you learn the differences between the two types of termites: Drywood Termites or Subterranean Termites. If you are still unsure after reading the articles you can always call in a professional company. Almost all termite companies will offer a free inspection and they will tell you what type of termites you are dealing with and how they recommend treating for the. At that point you can choose to hire them or do it your self. Termidor SC is the top termite product on the market. Termidor is completely undetectable by termites and once termites touch it they contact, ingest and spread the termiticide until it eliminates the entire colony. Termidor controls all types of termites including Subterranean, Formosan, and Drywood termites though the application method will be different for each type of termite.

The Termidor is not going to eliminate the entire colony within 2 days of your treatment. It can takes weeks for you to have every last carpenter ant gone. Termidor is a delayed kill product which allows them to transfer it through the colony to get rid of it at the source including the queen. Depending on the size of the colony outdoors will depend on how quickly it will be before you no longer see signs of them indoors or out.

Termidor SC is not known to leech through the soil. You will need to follow the Termidor SC product label which has specific instructions for treating near a well to avoid any contamination issues:

TREATMENT AROUND WELLS OR CISTERNS: Do not contaminate wells or cisterns.
Structures With Wells/Cisterns Inside Foundations: Structures that contain wells or cisterns within the foundation of a structure can only be treated using the following techniques:
1. Do not apply within 5 feet of any well or cistern by rodding and/or trenching or by the backfill method. Treat soil between 5 and 10 feet from the well or cistern by the backfill method only. Treatment of soil adjacent to water pipes within 3 feet of grade should only be done by the backfill method.
a) Trench and remove soil to be treated onto heavy plastic sheeting or similar material or into a wheelbarrow.
b) Treat the soil at the rate of 4 gallons of solution per 10 linear feet per foot of depth of the trench, or 1 gallon per 1.0 cubic feet of soil. Mix thoroughly into the soil taking care to contain the liquid and prevent runoff or spillage.
c) After the treated soil has absorbed the solution, replace the soil into the trench.
Structures With Adjacent Wells/Cisterns and/or Other Water Bodies: Applicators must inspect all structures with nearby water sources such as wells, cisterns, surface ponds, streams, and other bodies of water and evaluate, at a minimum, the treatment recommendations listed below prior to making an application.

1. Prior to treatment, if feasible, expose the water pipes) coming from the well to the structure, if the pipes) enter the structure within 3 feet of grade.
2. Prior to treatment applicators are advised to take precautions to limit the risk of applying the termiticide into subsurface drains that could empty into any bodies of water. These precautions include evaluating whether application of the termiticide to the top of the footer may result in contamination of the subsurface drain. Factors such as depth to the drain system and soil type and degree of compaction should be taken into account in determining the depth of treatment.
3. When appropriate (i.e., on the water side of the structure), the treated backfill technique (described above) can also be used to minimize off-site movement of termiticide.

The trench is supposed to be directly against the foundation for a reason.  If you leave a foot gap in between the foundation and your trench, and termites come up from under ground directly against the house, they will not come into contact with the termiticide barrier and your work will be for nothing.  Typically wires and sprinklers are more than 6 inches deep.  I myself have treated around hundreds of homes and my company has treated thousands of homes in the South, and sprinklers and wires are rarely an issue when trenching directly against the house and digging only 6 inches deep.

Termidor is the best product for termite treatments, hands down.  It is odorless, and not only that, but it is made to bond to the soil and it will not run off or leach through the soil, so it is perfect for treatments in wet conditions. on a crawl space house,  you would trench and treat around the exterior of the structure, and you also need to trench and treat around the piers under the crawl space.  As long as you are using Termidor, you are not required to treat the inside perimeter or inside the hollow block, but of course if you want to you can. 

Termidor SC is not labeled for bedbugs or for use indoors at all. We do not recommend using Termidor Sc for bedbugs as it has not been tested for bedbugs or for use indoors. We do carry a wide variety of products that are tested and labeled for bedbugs. Please see our BEDBUG PRODUCTS page or contact us for more advice 866-581-7378.

Termidor SC is NOT labeled for indoor general pest control. The Termidor SC product label only allows indoor applications to wall voids (behind sheetrock), unfinished attics, unfinished basements, and crawlspaces. Termidor SC could be harmful if used in violation of the product label. We would recommend using Phantom indoors for non repellent ant control.

While we cannot comment on the services done by a professional we will say Termidor is not labeled to spray in the yard, it is only labeled to be applied next to the house as a spray for ants or in the ground for termites.  As long as your fruit tree is not directly sprayed with the Termidor or so close to the treatment area that runoff or overspray comes in contact with the fruit, Termidor is safe to use and is not a systemic.  General rule of thumb is that you should keep Termidor treatments at least 10 feet away from any edible vegetation and you should discard anything that may be contaminated with a direct spray.

You can spray Termidor SC on the studs but it will only stay active for 2-6 weeks and it does not penetrate the wood. Termidor SC is not meant to be used to provide long term protection for wood. Boracare is usually chosen if you need to protect the wood for long term control of wood infesting pests. Boracare penetrates into untreated wood and will eliminate current infestations of termites and it will prevent infestations of termites, carpenter ants, powderpost beetles and wood destroying fungus when used as directed on the Product Label.

Unfortunately, Termidor SC is only labeled to be used up against a structure. Therefore, we do not recommend you use it on firewood, or anyother inseccticide if you would be using the firewood for burning. 

One 20 oz bottle of Termidor SC will treat 60 linear feet of trench so you will need 2 bottles.

After applying Termidor for a termite treatment, you would want to give a full 90 days for the termidor to transfer through the colony and eliminate all the areas of the activity. After 90 days anything that would have been there should be dead and gone and you can then start replacing wood in the home. 

Suspend SC will only kill the ants that contact a treated surface and would need to be applied every 30 days outside and 90 days inside.  Termidor is the # 1 choice for ant control around the home. Termidor is a non-repellent insecticide that works with a delayed reaction amd also has a transfer effect. That means that ants cannot tell that the Termidor is there and will walk right over it and then pick the product up on their bodies and inadvertently carry it back to the colony, then through normal social interaction the ants spread the Termidor and wipe out the colony.

Termidor only needs to be applied two times per year and is effective for a wide variety of insects including ants, centipedes, roaches, spiders, silverfish, wasps and many other nuisance insects. You will need to apply Termidor SC 1-2 ft up the foundation and 1-2 ft out onto the ground, around door frames, window frames, places where cables, pipes or wires go through the wall and any other crack or crevice where the ants can gain entry into your home.

You cannot use Termidor inside for ant control so Suspend would be the better product if you needed to treat inside.