All-Safe Pest & Termite is committed to providing property owners with the information and services needed to guard against termite damage. We share information through articles like this one and also provide access to certified technicians. If you need immediate assistance and would like to speak with one of our professionals about a termite infestation in your home or yard, give us a call or connect with us through our contact page. If you want to learn about termite pest control in Sugar Land, read on. Today, we're looking at early signs of termites in your yard, how to remove things that attract termites, and how professionals address termite problems.    

What Are Signs Of Termites On My Property?

Termites don't damage your home in a day or a week. It takes time. The first step in termite control is to look for early warning signs of termites. Unfortunately, these signs are often subtle. You need to continually watch for them or take the time to explore your property and look in the sheltered and hidden spaces where evidence is typically found.

• Worker termites. It isn't easy to catch termite workers, but it is possible. If you pick up a source of wood and find pale-colored insects that are about ⅛ of an inch long, you've uncovered termite workers. You'll have to keep watch because termite workers hide quickly.
• Winged termites. It is easier to see winged termites because they are black with white wings or orange with yellowish-white wings. These termites (often called swarmers) gather into a group, making them even easier to see. But swarms last less than an hour. These termites select their mates, shed their wings, and disappear into the soil quickly.
• Wings. A termite swarmer is about ⅜ of an inch long with its wing length included. The wings of a termite swarmer are longer than the body. If you find these tiny, shed wings on the ground, they provide evidence that there was a swarm. Inspect spider webs as you search for termite swarmer wings because webs catch these wings and hold them for you to find. 
• Shelter tubes. One of the best ways to detect termite worker activity is to look for the mud structures they create on foundation walls and other surfaces. These tubes often look like thin, wiggly lines of mud. Workers create them in dark humid spaces most of the time. Get behind your landscaping, under your back deck, in your crawl space, and in other secluded spaces to find these tubes. When you find a tube, you can check to see if you have an active termite infestation by breaking a piece off and checking back in a few days. If that piece is reconstructed, you know you have a current and active infestation. 
• Damage. We put this one last because most of the damage termites do is on the inside of wood timbers. It is rare to see noticeable evidence of termite damage before the damage is extensive. Our advice is to check dark spaces that are humid or moist. Check wood that enters the ground or is near the ground. If you find deterioration, inspect the damage and look for grooves in the wood. The grooves are termite tunnels stacked on top of each other. You can also check for termite damage within wood by tapping on the wood to see if it sounds hollow, or by looking for wood that is splintering. 

When you find evidence of active termites, contact All-Safe Pest & Termite for a termite treatment. We use professional-grade products and install them according to strict protocols. Once the products are installed, we maintain them so that termites never have the opportunity to get past your defenses. 

Factors That Can Attract Termites To Your Home

Only two factors attract termites. They are the same two factors that attract all pests to your property. Can you guess what they are? If you said food and water, you are correct. 

Termites are always looking for food. If you identify potential food sources, you will make your property resistant to termite activity. Termites aren't going to thrive in your yard if they can't find food. 

Now, you may wonder, "Isn't my home food for termites?" Yes. Your home is a food source for termites, but most homes aren't an easy source of food. Termites live in the ground and prefer not to come out into the air because it dries them out, and they could die. They also have an aversion to light—even moonlight. So, worker termites that stumble upon your home may not immediately attempt to get at the wood because they are first greeted with a foundation they must traverse.

Subterranean termites create above-ground tunnels made of soil and saliva to go from the soil to all of the delicious wood in your home. That takes work. It also takes energy. The worker termites that enter your yard won't have the energy they need to build mud tunnels on your foundation walls if they don't find food sources in your yard. Do you see how it works?

What do termites feed on to get the energy they need to attack your home? Let's take a look at the most common sources of food that feed termites in Sugar Land, and how you may remove that food.

• Remove stumps and logs. These are natural food sources termites are always searching for in nature.
• Nurse dying trees back to health. Termites don't prefer living trees, so a healthy tree is resistant to termite damage.
• Store dead branches in a receptacle or remove them from your property. When you place natural wood on the ground in a pile, you can expect termite activity.
• Refrain from putting scrap wood on the ground or burying it in the ground. While termites don't prefer pressure-treated wood, wood sources like this become food over time as they sit on or under the ground and the protective coating wears away.
• Address wood-to-soil contact on structures. A wood fence, wood deck posts, and wood skirting are all examples of wood that may touch the soil. Find ways to address these, and you'll deter termites.
• Consider stacks of cardboard, piles of clothing, and other junk. Termites eat anything that has cellulose. If you create a junk pile that is out of sight and out of mind, termites may lock their sights on it.

Once you've addressed the food, take a moment to consider moisture. Remember how termites need moisture to stay hydrated? They will have more success exploring your foundation and creating mud tubes up your foundation walls if they are hydrated. They're also more inclined to tunnel in soil that is moist. Here are a few quick tips to reduce moisture.

• Clean your gutters. Your gutters collect rainwater and guide it away from your home. Obstructions or gutter breaks can cause soil saturation near your foundation walls.
• Clear out your landscaping. Dead leaves, branches, dead flowers, stems, and other organic clutter can trap moisture in the soil and invite termite worker activity.
• Trim your plants. Dense vegetation holds moisture and will increase humidity.

If you roll your sleeves up and do the hard work needed, you can significantly deter termites. When you combine these tips with routine inspections, you'll have some protection from termites. Some protection is better than no protection. 

Can I Prevent Termites On My Property?

Once you take steps to make your yard less interesting for termites, you may wonder if it is possible to keep them out of your yard altogether. The sad truth is that there is no way to keep termites from entering your yard. The best you can hope to do is reduce the number of termites and limit their ability to find food for energy and moisture for hydration.

Some Sugar Land residents turn to termite control products to stop termites because termite products offer the promise of colony elimination. Unfortunately, there are many ways over-the-counter termite control products can fail, and when they fail, you're not likely to realize it. There are few things as frustrating as paying money and putting in the hard work to control termites only to have them damage your property anyway.  

 The Best Way To Protect Your Sugar Land Home From Termites

We already pointed out that contacting All-Safe Pest & Termite is the best way to get rid of termites, but what is the best way to protect your property before termites enter your yard? Our answer is the same. The termite control we put in place doesn't just arrest current termite activity, it creates a barrier that continually protects your property against termite damage. We use the two top names in termite control: Termidor and Sentricon. Termidor works quickly to address a current infestation. Sentricon can do this as well but is best for ongoing protection and termite monitoring. Contact us and find out what will work best for your property. We look forward to helping you find the perfect solution for your specific needs.   

I have been with them for several years. They are always responsive if any issues arise, and are completely on top of our quarterly treatments. I love it, because I don’t have…

Joanna P.

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