Termites? Green Termite Control – Consider Orange Oil
Posted by Norman Fong
Termites are a terrible problem to have. We recently found some dead swarmers near our windows and were reminded of the toxic chemicals used to eradicate termites. Additionally, a house in our neighborhood became tented with a truck labeled with a poison logo – Inhalation hazard # Two. Figuring out termite control can be equally confusing. Traditional house tenting and using poisonous chemicals like sulfuryl fluoride – Vikane is now competing with using Orange Oil (XT-2000) which does not require tenting and moving out. There are tradeoffs with each.
Problems with traditional Vikane Tenting
There are several issues with traditional termite eradication methods.
- Vikane is a poisonous gas
- You need to pack away all your food, pets, and vacate your house for several days
- Vikane released into the atmosphere becomes a greenhouse gas that can last 30 years in the atmosphere
- One kg of Vikane has 4800 times the global warming potential of carbon dioxide
- Modern buildings are so tightly sealed that some areas may go untreated, resulting in repeat tenting
- The number of people that have died due to encounters with Vikane is not public information
- Adjacent homes to ones being fumigated have caused poisoning to their occupants
Orange Oil Treatment
Orange oil for termites contain the active ingredient, 95% pure d-limonene. D-limonene is extracted from the rinds of oranges. Boroscopes with fiber optic technology are used to see through walls looking for termites. Orange oil treatment will only kill termites in the infested areas treated as it is a localized spot application. They will treat the area by drilling into the infested wood and injecting the Orange Oil into the termite galleries. It is effective for drywood termites, not subterranean termite infestations.
Orange Oil vs Vikane Tenting
There is an ongoing battle over the efficacy of orange oil for termite control. This article covers a UC Berkeley Dow Chemical funded study that fumigation companies are using to counter orange oil and push for toxic chemicals like Vikane against termites. If you have used it, make sure you hire a professional cleaning crew to completely clean your home after fumigation. The chemical Chloropicrin is used as a warning agent, before the Vikane gas is used. This is a powerful teargas used to make sure the house is devoid of pets and people, before the actual fumigation. Exposure to it have 119 ppm for 30 min. is lethal. Do you want your home filled with this kind of stuff?
Alternative like sodium borate are also available. We found an old pocket of termite damage when we did remodelling and use Bora-Care on it.
Tenting vs Spot Treatment
Not every house needs to be fumigated. Determining factors will include areas of infestation, level of infestations, size and age of the colonies, type of termites. A trained professional should take all these into account when doing termite control.
Dampwood termites have their entire company inside the wood, so spraying is ineffective. You need to solve the moisture problem first.
If you are considering using Orange Oil for termites be sure to locate a licensed and qualified termite control company that offers traditional treatments and fumigation as well as Orange Oil. This way you can receive an unbiased analysis.
Greenbug for Localized Termite Control
Recently, the Bugman, an expert in eco friendly green pest control, recommended the use of Greenbug pesticide for the control of drywood termites. This will not work for subterranean termites. Drywood termites need soil contact and live in dry, sound wood located near the surface. You can recognize these termites from their fecal pellets which are often the same color as the wood that they consume.
Termite Inspector Licensing
In California, termite inspectors need a state license that is governed by the Structural Pest Control Act. People that purchase homes have to get a termite inspection done from one of these licensed professionals. They will issue a clearance stating that the home is free from infestation.
Licensed Termite companies can perform these inspections, utilize pesticides to eradicate the bugs, and also repair any structural damage done by the infestation.
Be sure to read our articles Orange Oil Termite Pest Control – XT-2000 Orange Oil – Eco Friendly Green Pest Control
Filed under: Cleaning, Eco Friendly, Effort, Environment, Green, Home, Medium, Money, Pollution, Shopping | Tags: Fumigation, orange oil, Termite Control, Termites, Vikane
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10 Responses to “Termites? Green Termite Control – Consider Orange Oil”
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March 5th, 2009 at 5:58 pm
As far as Orange Oil termite control goes, In Southern California we have had great success in killing termites with Orange Oil. With the right training application, Orange Oil boasts a really high success rate in controlling and killing termites. Most often when Orange Oil doesn’t eliminate the termite problem it has to do with mistakes and poor application techniques on the part of the service technician rather than the Orange Oil itself.
March 20th, 2009 at 6:16 pm
DRYWOOD TERMITE CONTROL, writen by Richard Fagerlund, Ask The Bugman Columnist: Orange Oil or Sulfuryl Flouride
Drywood termites are a major wood destroying insect that cost consumers many millions of dollars in damage and control. One estimate suggested Californians spend $250 million dollars a year on this insect.
For many years the primary method of controlling drywood termites was to use sulfuryl fluoride (Vikane) as a fumigant. The house had to be wrapped and sealed and the gas injected. It was and still is a major inconvenience for homeowners as they had to do a lot to prepare for the fumigation as well as stay out of the house overnight. It was thought that once the house was cleared that the fumigant would dissipate harmlessly into the atmosphere. A recent study by the U. of C at Irvine has destroyed that myth. It turns out that sulfuryl fluoride is a major greenhouse gas that can last about 30 years in the atmosphere and may last up to 100 years (http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/01/090121144059.htm). More on this later.
Also homes and commercial buildings are built differently now then when sulfuryl fluoride was in its prime. They are more energy efficient which may prohibit the movement of the gas in the building which will allow some termites to survive.
There have been other methods of control tried but most only allow spot treatments. Microwaves, heat, cold and electro guns are a few. Heat has actually progressed to where it is considered sufficient to control termites in the entire house. There is a lot of preparation needed for heat treatment and the time and labor cost is reflected in your bill for the treatment. It takes six to eight hours to heat a piece of wood internally to 125° Fahrenheit. In addition, the pretreatment preparation required of the homeowner is extensive and, if not completed properly, heat can be extremely damaging to property, such as plastics, electronics, and many other items. and there was at least one instance of a house exploding because of the heat and propane gas. I can’t recommend this treatment.
Approximately ten years ago orange oil became a player in the termite control game and a very good player indeed. While there are several kinds of orange oil available to the pest control professional, one brand, XT-2000 stands out. It is the only orange oil formulation that can be used to treat entire homes. The others are only good for spot treatments. Orange oil is unique in that the capillary action of the product works in many ways like fumigation, but without the same risks! XT-2000 Orange Oil moves through wood like a gas, along the path of least resistance, filling up the treated piece of wood until the termites have no place to hide. Unlike fumigation, XT-2000 Orange Oil treatments are specifically targeted to the area of infestation, so you do not need to move out of your home during the treatment. Because of sophisticated optical equipment such as the borescope, inspectors have the ability to located otherwise hidden termite problems and treat them. Since orange oil has come on the scene, over 500,000 buildings have been treated. This includes homes, churches, schools, apartment complexes and assorted commercial buildings. There has been a very low callback rate with this treatment which demonstrates the effectiveness of the orange oil.
There are several studies that recently came out that are flawed. One, a Technical Release, by Dow Chemical, manufacturer of sulfuryl fluoride (http://www.askthebugman.com/images/Newsletter/2009.pdf) is terrible. That paper cites a study done by Dr. Vernard Lewis of Berkeley. In Dr. Lewis’ study he lists the products they use and where he obtained them. When he gets to XT-2000 (92% d-limenone) he says he got it from Formulated Solutions in Woodside, NY. That isn’t possible as XT-2000 is only made by a company in Memphis, TN and a single distributor has all the
rights to it. They are Xtermite, Inc from San Diego. I went to Formulated Solutions website, http://www.formulatedsolutions.net/index.htm and they don’t mention orange oil of any kind. The third paragraph on their Home page is pretty clear: “Formulated Solutions has the knowledge, creative intensity and manufacturing resources to satisfy your needs. We provide custom chemical solutions for customers in many areas including but not limited to: epoxy, acrylic, urethane, Portland cement, SBR, EVA and PVA”.
It is apparent that Dr. Lewis couldn’t get the real product so he had Formulated Solutions concoct something similar. He then did the study with a counterfeit XT-2000 and attributed the results to the real product.
That is like doing a study on Coca Cola and testing a generic cola and attributing the results to Coca Cola. This is very bad science and he should know better. I can’t believe the biology department or the university would condone this sort of study. Having seen that statement about where he obtained “XT-2000” early in the paper discredits the whole study in my opinion.
I don’t know why Dr. Lewis just didn’t admit he used a similar product or simply refer to it as orange oil instead of labeling it XT-2000 which it clearly wasn’t. This would lead one to believe he had a vested interest in destroying the reputation of a leading competitor to sulfuryl flouride. Who would benefit the most from this misinformation? Dow Chemical and the pest control companies that use sulfuryl fluoride, of course.
The Technical Release offers more bad science. A Certified XT-2000 Orange Oil affiliate did not apply the treatment. Clearly the operator in the photograph was not trained by XT-2000, Inc. In fact, the fellow in the photo works for a company that actively promotes fumigation and has a vested interest in putting the orange oil companies out of business (as does Dow).
They said in the study that “maximum volume of orange oil was absorbed by the wood”. XT-2000 Orange Oil is a contact kill, so maximum volume would mean 100% kill. The only way they can accurately test maximum volume is by using a dye to verify maximum volume was achieved as XT-2000 Orange Oil is transparent. How could it be determined that maximum volume is achieved if dye wasn’t used?
As for XT-2000, the company that distributes it is very selective as to where it goes. Any company that wants to use it has to go through a vigorous training program first and have annual training updates. Very few pest control products are as vigorously controlled by private industry.
Years ago we had DDT, chlordane, aldrin, dieldrin and many other pesticides that were thought to be ideal in how they controlled pests. I have used all of those products myself and I have fumigated many homes with sulfuryl fluoride. As time went by these products were determined to be far more detrimental to use than previously thought and they were eventually removed from use. Sulfuryl fluoride is in that category. It has been used in thousands of fumigations, most of them successfully, but we now know that sulfuryl fluoride is a serious greenhouse gas as noted earlier. The chemical’s annual use in California creates emissions equivalent to the carbon dioxide produced by 1 million cars and California accounts for 60% of the sulfuryl fluoride used in the world. If this isn’t bad enough they are contemplating expanding its use to farming. I think it is about time that Dow Chemical pulls Vikane off the market. Dow is not a bad company. They have a lot of very good products and services, yet like any company they have made mistakes. They would be doing their customers, society and the environment a service by removing sulfuryl fluoride from use and putting it in the museum alongside DDT, chlordane and the others. Sulfuryl fluoride is the past in drywood termite control and orange oil is the future.
August 17th, 2009 at 4:37 pm
XT2000 is a direct rip-off of Powerplant (the first and original orange oil treatment manufactured by Blizzard systems inc). Xtermite immulated Tallon Termite and changed the D-limonene percentage and called it xt2000. The product has been marketed very well. I am a stste licensed wood destroying pest and organisms inspector in Ca. I have 12 years experience in southern ca. and I think xt2000 is crap. I have fumigated several houses that have been treated with orange oil over the years.(I am not praising fumigation I am just explaining the ineffectiveness of xt2000.) You have to drill alot of holes in wood to applicate the product and then the acid from the oil melts most of the wood fillers they patch holes with. If you called and asked most any termite inspector they will tell you they dont use it very often.
The fiber optic borascope is a joke also. Xtermite drills large holes in your drywall at the bottom of the wall to look inside. Here is the problem with that, There are studs every 16-18 inches. There are cripples or fire blocks placed randomly in the walls and some houses have insulation in the walls making it almost impossible for termite pellets to fall all the way to the bottom of the wall. It is a great marketing gimmick! I believe it leaves their customers with a false sense of security.
November 23rd, 2009 at 12:02 am
[...] have covered termite pest control in the past and alternative treatments including Orange oil. There are radio commercials running [...]
December 8th, 2009 at 4:39 am
November results from UC Berkely and Riverside drywood termite treatment tests showed olive oil superior to orange oil. There are better local treatment options.
January 18th, 2010 at 10:03 am
I like to look at the diamond certified website to find reputable firms but that covers only San Francisco bay area.
January 18th, 2010 at 12:46 pm
In the bay area, The Hitmen Termite Control will do O oil with realistic warranty info or do traditional treatments.
Diamond certification is pretty easy to get,it costs $550/mo
February 5th, 2010 at 8:22 am
I am a Pest Control Operator and have been using d-limonene since the early 90′s. We have treated over 2000 homes with this product. There are two ways to treat drywood termites, Local and whole structure. The only way to effectively treat a whole structure is fumigation. All other methods, heat, electro-gun, micro-wave, drill and inject, are local treatments. All these methods are “approved” and efficacious under optimum conditions. The choices isn’t just orange oil and fumigation. There are many, low toxic, highly efficacious methods of localized treatment.
All d-limone products come from the Florida Chemical Company. There is industrial grade d-limone (industrial solvents) and food grade (92%)which includes XT2000, Orange Guard, Power Plant and several others. They sell for around $10-12 gallon.
First of all orange oil is not orange juice. It is a distilled product, a very volatile organic compound, it will kill fish and birds. If ingested it will make you sick.
Terpene (orange oil) is very toxic to drywood termites with low toxicity to humans, however, has no residual qualities. If you drill into the wood and a termite happens to be in the area you drilled, it will kill termites. If the termite is not there it will act as a repellent and the termites will move to another area. It is not the best method for treating drywood termites, it is not the least toxic as well.
I don’t have a problem with the product (orange oil) what I have is a problem with the marketing, chicanery and “green washing of the product. The orange oil people that are pushing this product are high pressure sales people, that will charge you as much or more than the cost of a fumigation (for 2 hours of work and $5.00 of product), they are not necessarily eco-friendly companies. In fact, most orange oil treatments also include the use of synthetic pyrethroids — they claim they use these product to kill the queen. Anybody with a modicum of knowledge about insect biology would know this is B.S.
There is more common sence involved in treatment than magic. If your house has had drywood termites for many years with multiple infestations and damage, you are probably looking at a fumigation, If the problem is localized to a specific area, any localized treatment could be efficacious.
June 16th, 2010 at 9:15 am
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