On Thu, 07 Aug 2008 20:05:47 +0000, len gardener wrote:

g'day terry,

can i ask wher the nest is situated?

Between two houses. They were into the trunk of a Melalueca amaryllis that
I lopped off as it was filling mine and the neighbours gutters. Bad
mistake as it was really great shade for that partof the house.

Every so often I test the 7' stump by rocking it, or trying as I expected
it to take a decade plus for the roots to rot out and I could pull it
down. Meanwhile, it was great support for tools, hoses, plants, etc as
the area was made a shade house.

So, I wasn't surprised when it didn't moved when I pushed, but oh oh when
it moved when I pulled it and it craked at the base and I suddenly had
100kg+ of tree stump/trunk to gently guide somewhere.


it is probably going to be unlikely that it is the termites main nest,

That is what I thought actually. Probably too late now, but I'd like
something they'd take back to the nest.

so something to consider if you do anything to cause the termites to
move on, which is what they may likely do they could move on to you home
or some place else out of sight but not out of you life.

This whole area is termite country. so you'd have to consider them as
always there. Yes, they have already visited the house.

it may just be best to chat to a termite expert they have ways of
poisoning the nest and the main nest as well by setting baits or
whatever.

Sorry, but I see no reason to ask a clueless **** with their eyes on "how
much $$$$ can I milk the situation for". Almost 99.99% sure that there
line will be "they are in that tree there and you'll have to get rid of
it, or they'll offer to spray my yard with another toxic chemical. I am
still wondering if the white substance all over the soil under the
house is arsenic or something else.


the main nest could be a couple of k's or so away and hidden from sight,
especially if you have bush near by.

Then they have come past a lot of possible targets.

not all termites attack timber and not all termites attack our homes the
best defence is to have a well maintaned termite barrier around your
home and out buildings, better still if you ever get the opportunity to
do so build an eco' friendly termite resistant home then you have no
worries.

Yep, know all this. Just a bit lacking in the regular inspections around
all the piers under the house as it involves a low of crawling under very
low joists.


keep us informed

I suspect that this nest is well hidden in the local streets and has
fairly extensive burrows. They have hit the house once and we fixed the
problem source; valley gutter too small by replacing the entire roof
($$4ouch). The gutter now goes into a small tank and the overflow runs
along the fence down to the back of the yard. we extended the overflow
when they came up into some vertical boards stacked on a gravel base.

The problem about putting down a barrier is that I'd have to completely
circle the whole house to considerable depth as they have hit other houses
all around (but xoo metres away).

What i really want is some liquid that I can have on hand and pour on the
soil where & when I discover them that they will pick up and take back to
their nest. Loosing this nest isn't going to affect the local bushland
(next street over), if that is where they are coming from.

The local bushland is very healthy with mound building termites and I love
taking the local kids down the bush to show them the new ones being built
and educating them about the different termites. which reminds me,if I
ever get the Tv capture card working again, I can use it to try
and identify what might be a little white termite that turns up in my
cool-style compost bins. I built the "microscope" that was a project in
Silicon Chip sometime ago, which uses alittle matchbox cmos camera and a
lense from an old slr camera.


Okay, procrastinated enough. Nowe I have to go and meke SWMBO a cuppa.