How to Protect Your Flowers During Household Termite Extermination

For most homeowners, “termite” is a four letter word. The first sign of a termite infestation is likely to strike fear in the heart of any homeowner because it could mean that serious property damage has already occurred.

The good news is that if you are on a regular pest control schedule, your exterminator will likely check the inside and outside of your property for signs of termite damage. If termites are detected early on, they can be eradicated with a perimeter treatment or a spot treatment in high risk areas.

In more extreme cases, termite tenting may be necessary to get rid of subterranean termite colonies that could wreak havoc on the structure of a property. While household termite treatment has been deemed safe for humans and pets, many homeowners are concerned about how a termite tent could affect their landscaping and backyard garden.

Will a Termite Tent Kill Your Flowers?

Now to answer the important question. Complete termite fumigation is performed with a tarp or tent covering a home to kill termites that have already infested in the property structure. To achieve this, a chemical gas called sulfuryl fluoride is most often used for total extermination.

Unfortunately, this chemical can also affect plant life surrounding a house, according to the National Pesticide Information Center. This means that plants in a backyard garden may die due to exposure to poisonous gases as fumes are ventilated from a home during extermination.

Protect Delicate Plants from Termite Fumigation

The National Pesticide Information Center recommends taking precautionary measures to protect flowers and plants surrounding a home during termite extermination. This can be done by adding water to soil around the fumigated area to protect plant roots from exposure to toxic chemicals.

If possible, consider hiring a landscaping company or moving garden plants yourself away from the foundation of your home with temporary replanting. In fact, many Alabama pest control companies recommend preparing for termite fumigation by raking, trimming, or removing flowerpots, plants, bushes, and branches from the perimeter of a property by at least 12 inches.

While sulfuryl fluoride can effectively kill termites upon contact, most plants and flowers surrounding a house should remain safe if they are protected from direct contact with the gas. Once the termite tent is removed, gas in the house will escape straight up into the environment and is less likely to affect surrounding soil.

For this reason, the most important precautionary measure to take to prevent direct exposure is to wet soil surrounding a flower bed to create a protective barrier around plants.