How to Treat Termites on Trees

Trees can be tall, majestic additions to a yard or property. But extremely small creatures such as mites and termites can damage these giants. Termites build large colonies and can overrun a yard, burrowing through wood to find food and causing massive amounts of damage. Termite damage can cause trees to grow weak and brittle, and it can even kill them. Worse, termites can spread from the trees in your yard to the walls of your home, where they will continue to do damage. If you have termites on your trees, take steps to eliminate them before they become a big problem.

Pruning shears

Liquid termite treatment

Termite traps

Slow-acting termite pesticide

Prune off wood that termites have damaged. Cutting these branches off reduces the chance of wood breaking off and falling on someone or something, and can also cut back on the areas that the termites habitually travel.

Locate the termite colony if you can. The quickest way to get rid of termites is to eradicate the termite colony immediately. Termites build their colonies in trees, wood piles, underneath buildings and even in the ground.

Apply liquid termite treatment directly to the colony. This will kill the termites currently inside the colony, and make the colony unsafe for future termite habitation. Follow manufacturer directions for safe insecticide use.

Apply liquid termite treatment to the trees and around the perimeters of your yard to kill termites that were out of the colony when you sprayed it.

Set termite traps, equipped with slow-acting termite pesticide, around your yard. The poison in these traps will stick to the legs of any termites that enter the traps. They will track the poison back to the colony, where it will act on the larger population.

Although you can use any one step to get rid of termites, combining them gives you more ammunition.

Termite fumigation will not work outdoors.