Hello Ion,
I think I found termites in a peach tree in my back yard. I attached the video so you can confirm if they are termites and advise how to treat them for short term and set long term monitor stations. This tree is still alive but the video taken from a dead branch I removed to see what inside when I suspected it is hollow and I spot the trace of nesting outside of the bark.
Thanks,
Chinh
Yes, Chinh,
That is a termite worker in the video.
I can’t tell the species unless I see a brown-headed soldier but here are some comments. It is eating the solid dead wood of the branch so it is likely to be a termite that would eat the solid dead wood of a building which means it would be a serious threat. The Coptotermes are the main pests around Perth and they will nest in hollow trees if they can.
I have three suggestions:
1. Drill and flood insecticide into the tree as described below (taken from our website) and any other hollow trees within 50 metres of your home (If they are on your property)
2. Check your home for termites following suggestions on our Inspection page
3. Put TermiTraps around your property to intercept any scouting termites that come by over the next decade or so.There is not much need to do anything about those big brown nests up in the branches of trees.
These termites are either feeding on the decaying interior of the tree or they build tunnels down the outside which then radiate out in many directions (often on top of the ground) to grass and leaf litter. If you can easily reach the nest, physically destroy is as for mounds built on the ground, otherwise, you can keep breaking their tunnels and maybe spray bifenthrin around the base of the tree to eventually ‘starve’ them out. If in your view, any termite is a bad termite, you could get an arborist to climb up and cut the nest out. You could even drill into the trunk of the tree and inject bifenthrin by following the instructions in this section.
The queen and the nursery are at the base of the nest, use 20-30 litres of the dilute insecticidal mixture of chlorpyrifos or a bifenthrin concentrate which can be purchased from a local hardware store. They may be known by various brand names but the active ingredients are on the front panel of the label. Although not highly toxic, they are poisons and you should read the label for dilution and safety directions.
I hope this is helpful for you
Best wishes
Ion
