Ground termites, anyone?

[DoryGray]

Lots of people say ground termites are rare here in Hawaii.  However fire ants, coqui and albezias had that status at one time in the past.  Formosan ground termites can destroy a house in short order, nothing like drywood termites.   I'm dealing with this now and wonder if anyone else has; to commiserate with and share info.

[ChunksterK]

Sorry to hear you have this to deal with. I recently had my home tented for a minor dry wood infestation, and the inspector also looked for evidence of ground termites, telling me that "they're unusual, but not impossible to get around here." Fortunately he found none. Is your home in an area with deep soil? I've been told (not by a professional) that the only places in Puna that get ground termites are the old sugar cane lands with deeper soil than the usual pahoehoe.

I had ground termites at my last home on the mainland, and the treatment involved injecting chemicals into the ground around the home, but there was no fumigation required in that particular instance because we caught it early. That injection treatment would be very hard to do in most of Puna. Please let us know how this goes since it is something others will no doubt experience.

[HereOnThePrimalEdge]

As ChunksterK noted, ground termites need soil.  The only instance of ground termites I’ve heard about in HPP was years ago when a new homeowner wanted a beautiful lawn around his home.  He brought in truckloads of old cane soil from Hamakua and got more than he bargained for.

I think he managed to eradicate them as his house is still standing.

[eightfingers2.0]

Then why do you have to treat for ground termites prior to concrete pouring?

[DoryGray]

I've researched this so much I could teach a class about it.  No kidding.  It's costing a fortune.  Ground termites don't need soil, they need moisture. Therefore if your home has any water leaks, they can then become an "aerial" colony, getting the moisture & cellulose from the structure.  They can only be eradicated then by "super tenting" with 4 times the amount of Vicane gas than they use for dry wood termites.  I only have a couple inches of soil here, but the house is 40 years old, so probably never had a pre foundation pour treatment. That treatment is now required on all new slabs, I believe.  My situation is ground was treated near the mud tunnels, which they use to access the house from the ground.  Sentricon stations were placed around perimeter of house.  When there was still activity after 2 weeks, meaning they didn't need the moisture in the ground any longer, it was determined they converted to an aerial colony.         
So $2K for bait stations.  Then I already was treating for drywood by tenting, $2K, with an additional $1K for 4x the gas.  $5000. for a dual termite infestation + framing and roof repair.  They are going to spread, I'm in Upper HPP.  Puna Hongwanji in Keaau had them also. It's the luck of the draw.  Luckily being from FL, I knew about subterranean (ground) termites & noticed the mud tubes, the nest we removed was 48" X 16" X 4" thick, they said a supercolony.  Be forewarned.

[Or1on]

If ground termites don't need soil and just need moisture then why aren't they more prevalent in Puna? We definitely have moisture. No shortage of it.

[terracore]

Does the Hi-Bor slow them down at all?

[kalakoa]

Hi-bor is water-soluble. If it rains on your framing ... well you should have thought of that before using wood in the jungle.

[DoryGray]

So no one else here has had, or knows of someone who had ground termites ?  Lucky me  : (