Could caulk baits be the future of termite control?
Termite baits are an ideal product for the control of active termites, of most species, being proven to deliver colony control. However, bait placement is not without its problems. Firstly, fixing a bait station or bait pouch to the active feeding site may be problematic. Then, even if you do manage to attach a bait station, it becomes a visible reminder that the homeowner has a termite problem – something that neither the pest manager nor homeowner really wants. Of course, for some homeowners, it also becomes too tempting to open the bait station and have a look! There is an opportunity for a new type of termite bait that overcomes these negatives, which is why a significant amount of development work is currently focused on injectable baits, either in gel or caulk formats.
Ensuring these new formats deliver on the palatability front is key to success. Researchers from the University of Florida have just completed some field trials with a caulk termite bait on Coptotermes gestroi. Placement of standard above-ground bait stations at three sites resulted in colony control between 7.1 and 28.1 weeks later. The experimental caulk bait was applied at seven sites: four houses, two offices and a docked boat. Colony elimination was achieved between 3.1 and 13.6 weeks. Although this appears a bit quicker than the standard above-ground bait stations, there was no significant difference in the time to elimination in this trial. However, it will be interesting to see whether, with a bigger data set, the speed to colony elimination is faster with the caulk bait. Certainly, the ability to apply directly at feeding fronts and at multiple locations means, hypothetically, the time to initial feeding and therefore time to elimination should be shorter, as the termites don’t have to ‘find’ the bait.
Although it’s unclear if or when these types of products will hit the market, if they can deliver on palatability, these products could make a significant difference to termite management. Such products can be injected anywhere the termites are feeding – no need to wait for the termites to find the bait, potential contamination will be minimised and the product can be placed quickly at multiple feeding sites. Together these benefits should allow for faster termite treatments and better results.
A more than interesting side note from this study was the observation that in-ground termite bait stations do not intercept Coptotermes gestroi, but are effective with C. formosanus. Certainly, there has been variation in the performance of in-ground baits against C. gestroi in other countries too, with good interception rates in Hawaii, Malaysia, and some studies in Brazil, but low interception rates in other Brazilian studies and in Taiwan. The reason for this is unclear, possibly partly due to the probability that the colonies were young in Florida following the observation that young colonies of C. gestroi create less complex and more linear tunnels than C. formosanus. Their lack of interception has not been recorded with the Australian Coptotermes species.
More articles on termite baits.
Further reading: A comparison between aboveground bait stations and experimental caulk baits for elimination of field colonies of the Asian subterranean termite, Coptotermes gestroi (Blattodea: Rhinotermitidae). Journal of Economic Entomology, Volume 116, Issue 5, October 2023, Pages 1787–1794.
