Orange Oil and Drywood Termites
Every so often a “wonder product” comes along, claiming to be a natural way to rid your structures of drywood termites. The verdict is not conclusive when it comes to the effectiveness of orange oil. Some manufacturers herald the stuff as not only an insecticide but also a herbicide. The big question: Is this product effective?
The reason it’s called orange oil is because it’s an extract from the peels of oranges. Don’t drink it though. You’ll get pretty sick if you do. Some folks are allergic to the goo, too. Before considering this as a solution, see if you or anyone living in your house has an adverse reaction to orange oil.
Termite control experts say that using this substance is best applied as just a spot treatment and not something you want to spray around willy-nilly. In other words, they suggest that this is a poor choice for ridding your home of all potentially infested wood. Termites that come in contact with orange oil will die. The key though is they actually have to get some of the juice on their little body parts.
Dr. Michael Rust at the University of California Riverside notes that he doesn’t know of any published studies that deal with the orange oil controversy. He wrote, “The d-limonene (orange oil) will kill termites on contact, but has very little residual effect.” Rust says the treatment lasts less than 24-hours.
Treating a colony of termites’ means that you have to find all of the mini-cities the bugs live in. This is not an easy feat. Sniffing out a colony may be best left to a dog. But, how do you know that Fido has found every nest of wood-eating insects?
Let’s say the canine does find all of the colonies, you now have to drill holes deep into the infected wood. After turning your house into Swiss cheese, the exterminator will inject orange oil into the holes. Once again, the treatment wears off after about a day. So, you’ll probably not want to spackle-up all the drill-points just made throughout your house. A few repeat treatments are usually necessary.
Those of us in the industry have been stewards of ramping-down the toxicity level with the chemicals we employ to rid your home or business of pests. Likewise, we want to practice “green” principles when handling a termite attack. However, there is no universal method to eliminate these beasts. Just because the use of orange oil is promoted to be less harmful to people and pets doesn’t necessarily make it the perfect solution.
While the jury remains deadlocked on the efficacy of orange oil, think about this. Every day that passes, a termite infestation destroys small pieces of your life. While you may want to be as kind to the environment as possible, you’ve got a problem. Drywood termites are eating you out of house-and-home.
Treatment involves more than just one miracle cure. As with an invasion, you need to take a full and complete approach.
Vulcan Termite and Pest Control, Inc have been around since the mid-20th century. Our highly trained technicians provide professional and courteous termite and pest control services for both residential and commercial customers. Vulcan retains a Board Certified Entomologist who regularly updates our training and keeps us abreast of the latest termite and pest control strategies.
And that’s the bottom line: To eliminate termites you need a strategy, not just a bottle of orange oil.