the all aussie dribble thread!

[peter92]

A bit of termite info for those interested...

Out of all the current chemicals Bifenthrin works the best for home use - it is cheap, easily available, and relatively safe. It also works awesome on spiders, millipedes, European Earwigs around the house and sheds. In the old days you'd have laced the posts/soil with any of the now banned organochlorines and you'd be fine for 40 years or more (DDT, Lindane, Heptachlor, Dieldrin, Aldrin etc etc).
Bifenthrin will give you 10-15 years protection. Another good one but very costly at around $300/L is Fipronil (Regent 200SC etc). These two are the main ones used by pest controllers. Most anti cholinesterase chemistry will work on termites.
Also don't get sucked in by the new fangled termite "bait" stations. Termites are forage feeders meaning they don't actually "sniff" out timber, they simply bump into it, yell out to their mates, and bingo dinners on. Because they are forage feeders they can actually slip between the gaps in bait stations and shazzam, they're in your house and you don't even know because you think you're protected. If they have a food source (ie: your house) they have no real incentive to cast the net and forage wider, meaning those bait stations will remain untouched while your house gets chewed down. Bait stations certainly have a place, but pest controllers push them because they then lock customers into expensive annual contracts, and it is guaranteed to bring in a set future income for that particular business.
The specific Insect Growth Regulators (IGR's) used in these bait stations are generally kept pretty quiet - even chemical companies that I deal with at work keep things to themselves as they have different divisions in their company. For example Dow have their agricultural sector and their bait stations are sold via another section of the company. The main reason is that the same "exclusive to pest controllers" IGR's are also found in some grain treatments available to farmers for weevils etc. This is why most of the online information related to termite bait stations does not mention the specific active ingredient. Therefore with enough homework you can potentially make your own bait stations if you were that way inclined and smart enough to get the dosage right. For example "Raxil T" from Bayer that is used to treat grain in silos etc contains Triflumuron which is the exact same IGR used in some termite bait stations. The same active that if you asked your local, friendly pest controller about, will be greeted with an answer along the lines of "Nobody else can get it". Heh heh. Fact is that I bet none of them even know what Triflumuron is.
I've had a lot to do with entomology over the last 20 years and the way pests feed and the effect certain insecticides have on pests is something I find very interesting.

The one thing when treating with Bifenthrin (what I recommend as it has relatively low mammalian toxicity when dry) is to make sure you get good coverage, and make sure it injected deep enough (or covered over with dirt) to avoid UV light. UV light is what lowers the half life of basically all insecticides. For example Chlorpyrifos will provide a lethal dose to insects in the open for maybe 10-14 days. Out of UV light it will remain potent for up to 20 years. If you have a good way of injecting or spraying chemical then there is basically nothing a pest controller can do that you can't do yourself. I just treated a pile of around 6 tonne of cut green Mallee this afternoon with Bifenthrin as it will take a year before it is ready to split and burn and my place is termite central. We have 3 species around my place.

Anyway, my head hurts - it could be from the Bifenthrin solvents...



That works too and helps stop rot to some extent.



Sadly Serge your idea is the only one that I can guarantee WILL work Termites are cagey little bastards...

Hi Matt,
Thanks for the info. well done
The area is the orchid house 9m x 6m
But the is an old gum stump which ive cut down to the ground which they have given a hell of a beating
I have to rebuild the orchid house, so could you give me an idea on what the buy, how much I need , and how the do the job please
Sorry mate, never had to deal with them
Regards Peter

 

[MCW]

Hi Matt,
Thanks for the info. well done
The area is the orchid house 9m x 6m
But the is an old gum stump which ive cut down to the ground which they have given a hell of a beating
I have to rebuild the orchid house, so could you give me an idea on what the buy, how much I need , and how the do the job please
Sorry mate, never had to deal with them
Regards Peter

Uh oh. This is where I'm meant to tell you to contact your local pest controller
The best protection is doing the boundaries first, providing they aren't inside the perimeter already (sounds like a Vietnam War movie I once watched!). In all honesty mate there are that many variables it's not funny. Despite what I've said about pest controllers above I did indeed get a mate in who is a qualified pest controller to assess my house immediately after I bought it. Those fancy moisture meters are excellent for reading through walls to check for moisture in studs etc. They are however not failure proof and I have seen houses basically written off with termites even though pest controllers have already checked it and given it the thumbs up. If they are already in the framework of the house then contact a pest controller for sure as they are very difficult to get rid of and not something I'd try to advise on over the interwebs or even in person for that matter. If they are in the framework then coating the house in as much Bifenthrin as you want won't knock them out. It is contact chemistry only so they have to touch the chemical to be killed. Pretty hard inside a house frame or under a concrete slab.
As far as chemicals for boundary sprays you'd be looking at Bifenthrin (sold under many names). There are two concentrations - 100 and 250. The 100 strength products are what you'll generally find on the shelf in 1 litre bottles for about $55-60 (you may also see 5L in some cases - I buy the 5L Talstar 250EC product at work but I use a fair bit of Bifenthrin at my place). In a 15L knapsack you'll generally run the 100 strength product at around a 1% solution with water and a soil penetrant/wetter.
There are many termite species that are incidental and do not damage houses. People find them and panic before actually identifying the species. This is one area I have no experience in whereas my mate can tell immediately. You are likely to have different species where you are to my area. In our region we only have 3 main termite species that invade houses whereas in the tropics I believe there are way more species that can cause problems as Dave has alluded to above.

Honestly though mate this isn't something you should try to do yourself if there is any doubt whatsoever. There are so many factors to consider that it's not funny and the repercussions if something goes wrong are serious.

First things first absolutely drown that stump in chemical but remember that to kill out termites that are already in a house you have to kill the nest which is very difficult with contact chemistry such as Bifenthrin Prevention is better, easier, and a lot cheaper than the cure.

 

[ausneil 1]

Well its amazing what comes out in the wash young fella I thought you knew everything but looks like your just a copy cat not that theirs anything wrong with that don't we all there's a lot of saws around some good some not so good so imagine my horror when you said the Twin 3120 was all your idea mate you years too late to be saying that or I suppose history would only make a mug of you I have seen some pretty hairy stuff around some to make your 3120's look like featherweights I had a photo of twin 090's here but I must have deleted it or the twin Macs running twin ignition off one flywheel ... as I said theres little new stuff in saw racing but then I follow a bit of saw history and since your way too clever to ask you don't know ................ so who cares your just too smart for your own good ....

P.S Have a really nice day Neil and I still luvs ya

Is this Keith Fisher he's a Husky fella met him at Eden Bushman's Carnival in 1987 not certain if its him or not from memory he didn't get to beat to many Chris Brown was there as well a lot of the other I don't recall as it was my first time at Eden ............ Gordon was here at home last Friday on his way to some clay target shooting at Singleton .......... Do you know a Neville Jobson I have his saw a 101b powered saw that Gordon built back in the 80's as Gordon worked for Peter Dell as one of his engine builders on Karts what about old Darcy Peck from Sydney long gone now fell off a roof he was really good at copying all the yank engines then racing them



Ya old mate McBob.

Nutty maybe but not senile

Oh for f#cks sake here we go again,,,,, You are a f#cking lier, did you under stand that.
I never ever told you I designed that twin, you will try anything to hide the plain fact you are a frawd.
Hey stupid,,, when I ran the 3120 twin, there were 2 others competing as well, 1 was a twin 056 super (owned by Clive Brabham) and the other was a twin 181 (owned by Keith Fisher).
Of coarse you follow saw racing history, how else the f#ck do you find out anything, and you also copy other peoples pics and add your bull with them. How many pic's have you posted now that were mine.
Anyhow, those saw those men gave you are they any good, how would you even know as you can't and never could even run them properly.

Gordon clark told me a little about you,,,, I will leave that there as I am not about to drag him into this.

Don't know darcy peck but 1 phone call will answer that.

See that man in the pic you posted,,, the only way you could of ever beat him was if he let you.
I very much dou't you have ever raced him or anyone else for that matter, but on the forums you have beaten heaps. I can ring him as well, I bet he doesn't know you either.

Don't call me your mate and don't fu#ken send me a friend request ever again on facebook.

I'll keep ya's informed, this is the Mac i blew the rod out of at Denman a few months ago.

But it's right this time.

There's a tandem huskie 3120 that i might have too frighten a little.

Mc Bob.

While i'm p#ssed off with you, please explain this snott,,,,,the axmen still talk about that day you turned up at that wood chop with a saw.
Why not tell the good viewers the truth of what you did when you saddled up to heat no 1 at bula,,,,,,, you didn't finish but on another forum you blamed a faulty plug, tell the good viewers what you did as several compeditors saw it including me.

 

[peter92]

Thanks for the right up and the advice, Well looks like im calling the termite killer
The orchid house is outside , its not my main house
I recon this will be costly
Regards Peter

 

[husq2100]

Lorsban* 500EC Insecticide it is one of the types that was mentioned

there are more than 350 termite specie and some prefer sapwood of hardwoods. others like soft woods but will eat hard wood if it is damp and then there is out local species giant northern termite that eats wood, pvc, animal, mineral the lot.

you don't need to know which sort you have if you just want to nuke them.

You do need to know what type you have if you want to put wood in the ground as you can use a timber they don't prefer

while I agree there may be better choices of timber species depending on the area and termites, but it is my opinion that timber will always rot and will always get eaten by termites, no matter the species. It is just a matter of time.

I understand why farmers use timber fence posts as fences are temporary in one way or another. I can not understand the logic of sticking structual posts in the ground. Yes it may be cheap at the time, but not in the long run.

 

[MCW]

Thanks for the right up and the advice, Well looks like im calling the termite killer
The orchid house is outside , its not my main house
I recon this will be costly
Regards Peter

Hey once you've been given the all clear then by all means start lacing the place with Bifenthrin but I'd hate to give you the illusion that you can control termites that are already inside the structural timbers as there is a good chance you wouldn't be able to get on top of them.

I understand why farmers use timber fence posts as fences are temporary in one way or another. I can not understand the logic of sticking structual posts in the ground. Yes it may be cheap at the time, but not in the long run.

We see certain dry rots occurring even in our 11" rainfall in timber posts such as Box and Redgum. I'd hate to think what it would be like in more tropical climates. I'm with you on the structural timbers and I've seen termites go straight up the guts of supporting posts and straight into the roof structure. My cousin in the Adelaide Hills is actually a builder and the first time he realised his house was getting chewed out was when he was re-roofing his verandah, stood on a roof support, and fell straight through the roof. They had to pull down half the house and rebuild it. This place was getting regular inspections too.

 

[Aussie Dave]

Hey once you've been given the all clear then by all means start lacing the place with Bifenthrin but I'd hate to give you the illusion that you can control termites that are already inside the structural timbers as there is a good chance you wouldn't be able to get on top of them.



We see certain dry rots occurring even in our 11" rainfall in timber posts such as Box and Redgum. I'd hate to think what it would be like in more tropical climates. I'm with you on the structural timbers and I've seen termites go straight up the guts of supporting posts and straight into the roof structure. My cousin in the Adelaide Hills is actually a builder and the first time he realised his house was getting chewed out was when he was re-roofing his verandah, stood on a roof support, and fell straight through the roof. They had to pull down half the house and rebuild it. This place was getting regular inspections too.

Holy crap Matt settle down,im gunna be up all night checking for white ants now you have scared the hell out of me :msp_ohmy:

 

[peter92]

I know what you mean about the little basterds eating wood, I got sleepers off the HERVEY BAY jetty which were 105yrs old, and they even had a go at them
I was going to make a table out of it ,so when I went the the saw mill to ask him to slab it, he asked how old it was, when I told him he said, NO BLOODY WAY AM I PUTTING THAT THROUGH MY SAW
But any way, I think I found the solution, I have 2'' high preasure poly pipe, so will remake it out of that
Regards Peter

 

[husq2100]

yep they are tricky little buggers with no ryme or reason. At my mums place they ate one of the HWD double floor joists (thankfully the inner one as I could get in the sub floor and replace it, still not fun) made their way up the frame at the other end of the house, mostly via the marantie architrave and up into a pine roof truss. One thing I am in the habit of doing is looking along roof lines. These can tell a whole lot about a structure, from the workmanship, to beam undersizing, to termite activity.

Neil, I think most of us are hearing you loud and clear and I can only imagine the frustration its causing. IMO its been going on way to long!

 

[husq2100]

I know what you mean about the little basterds eating wood, I got sleepers off the HERVEY BAY jetty which were 105yrs old, and they even had a go at them
I was going to make a table out of it ,so when I went the the saw mill to ask him to slab it, he asked how old it was, when I told him he said, NO BLOODY WAY AM I PUTTING THAT THROUGH MY SAW
But any way, I think I found the solution, I have 2'' high preasure poly pipe, so will remake it out of that
Regards Peter

youd be suprised how that old stuff comes up. The picture I posted earlier of the square post and steel bracket, the post was reclaimed from brisbane wharfs. Not sure how old but Id guess 60-100? They sawed alright I used 288 and 2100 to do the cuts for the metal brackets. The posts were supplied to the builders already dressed, so someone had to run them through machinery.

 

[MCW]

Holy crap Matt settle down,im gunna be up all night checking for white ants now you have scared the hell out of me :msp_ohmy:

Take that You'll be hearing chewing in the walls all night.

yep they are tricky little buggers with no ryme or reason. At my mums place they ate one of the HWD double floor joists (thankfully the inner one as I could get in the sub floor and replace it, still not fun) made their way up the frame at the other end of the house, mostly via the marantie architrave and up into a pine roof truss. One thing I am in the habit of doing is looking along roof lines. These can tell a whole lot about a structure, from the workmanship, to beam undersizing, to termite activity.

My mum told me a story not that long ago where a retired couple were moving from their farmhouse into a new house in town. They put all their antique furniture in a 20' shipping container on their farm where the son had taken over and covered them with sheets and blankets. A few years later they open the container up, pull the tarps off and their bloody antique furniture basically fell into a pile of dust. The termites had flooded in through one tiny hole in the steel floor and wrecked the lot.

 

[husq2100]

bloody modern technology my arse:

I just finished up an asignment for my studies. I have to send it to my tutor as Im doing open learning. Just a simple maths asignment, 14 pages of workings, including a couple graphs. I scan it on a new scanner with my new awesome iMac (not) It saves all scans as one file. Yes I see the advantages in this. I then attach it to my email and it gets bounched back! exceeded server limit ie to much info in the one email. Its only 8mb of info wtf!! in this day and age, you would think a TAFE tutor would have a decent email account that could handle that amount, it really isnt much in the scheme of things. So now Im going to have to figure out how to split them up or some bloody thing.

grrrrr what a joke!

 

[gmax]

bloody modern technology my arse:

I just finished up an asignment for my studies. I have to send it to my tutor as Im doing open learning. Just a simple maths asignment, 14 pages of workings, including a couple graphs. I scan it on a new scanner with my new awesome iMac (not) It saves all scans as one file. Yes I see the advantages in this. I then attach it to my email and it gets bounched back! exceeded server limit ie to much info in the one email. Its only 8mb of info wtf!! in this day and age, you would think a TAFE tutor would have a decent email account that could handle that amount, it really isnt much in the scheme of things. So now Im going to have to figure out how to split them up or some bloody thing.

grrrrr what a joke!

You could upload it to a free online storage provider such as "MediaFire", then email your tutor the download link.

 

[deepsouth]

On termites, I once had a contract on a unit in Brisbane, 2 bedroom at Taringa.

Was an unusual construction, had a rooftop terrace garden, nice interior, nice deck downstairs as well.

Price was very good, eager seller.

Property had an active termite nest on the roof and a mud track down the external brick wall... Into the bathroom walls. Further moisture meter testing was horrid.

Agent was being difficult, didn't want to return deposit. I went right to town. First of all, the finance fell over after I told the friendly bank manager, so deposit was refundable.

Then I decided to publicize it, so it got into the body corp minutes and the works.... That whole unit complex owners group would have had a huge communal oh crap moment....

As apparently, in a counter offer presented by the agent that took about 30% off the contract value, rectification was a body corp responsibility..... And there were 1/2 dozen or so of this style of unit, all potentially with this problem.

However.... I wasn't going there.... As it ends up as a special levy on the owners.

 

[deepsouth]

bloody modern technology my arse:

I just finished up an asignment for my studies. I have to send it to my tutor as Im doing open learning. Just a simple maths asignment, 14 pages of workings, including a couple graphs. I scan it on a new scanner with my new awesome iMac (not) It saves all scans as one file. Yes I see the advantages in this. I then attach it to my email and it gets bounched back! exceeded server limit ie to much info in the one email. Its only 8mb of info wtf!! in this day and age, you would think a TAFE tutor would have a decent email account that could handle that amount, it really isnt much in the scheme of things. So now Im going to have to figure out how to split them up or some bloody thing.

grrrrr what a joke!

8mb isn't large, but can you lower the resolution in dpi? That would reduce file size.

Also which file format? PDF? Some have compression and others not.

Presumably you can't lose the colour to reduce size?

Worst case, scan as 2 and send each part separately.

 

[husq2100]

Thanks for the IT help guys. Res has to be pretty good as the Tutor has to print them out to mark and then mail back to me. I just scanned again using the iMac scan option, the first time I used the Brother scan driver. Brother = PDF, iMac = jpeg. atleast the iMac did them individual even though both time they were inserted in the auot feeder. Seems there are so many ways to do these things it just gets confusing. I will have to send mulitpile emails as per before....

Now my tutor asked me last time if it was possible for me to scan more than one document at a time so she could save paper???? Now I may not be the sharpest tool in the shed, but when each doc, ie page is, well, 1 full page worth (A4) I dont know WTF she is on about??? to me if I have written out 15 pages of workings/answers then she will have 15 pages of print out....unless of coarse she would like it reduced in size to fit 2 or more to a page and she has a monical or something.....

 

[husq2100]

Ok guys, stop stressing and you can all get a good nights sleep. I was able to go into my scan settings and save as a compressed pdf. total being 1.1mb. Just emailed it, hopefully it wont bounce back.

 

[ausneil 1]

Ok guys, stop stressing and you can all get a good nights sleep. I was able to go into my scan settings and save as a compressed pdf. total being 1.1mb. Just emailed it, hopefully it wont bounce back.

Good show Serg,,,, bed time for me, so I can dream all about little critters chewing wood in the night.

 

[sun64]

With termites, up in Darwin we have the big Masto's that will eat through cracks in concrete , tyres etc.
I don't think posts in the ground is a good solution but if you were to do it, try to soak the bottom of the post in sump oil for a few weeks.
Just that stuff alone will keep things plus rot out for a while or use creasoak , not sure of its spelling.
If you can get hold of some stainless steel fly screen material and wrap around the post and bend the top end back down on itself should create a barrier they cannot penetrate through.

I used to have heaps of Myrant paste but it was taken off the market.
As Matt said Regent from my memory was originally used to treat weavels but then they found out how good it was on termites.
There are other products on the market , Regent has a high concentration and is costly where as Termidore or Terminade have about half the active ingredients but half the price. I just put it on at double the rate..

With sump oil, if you can also pour it down the sides of your septics leach drain, or into the inspection holes , it will help stop tree roots from growing into your realm drain and blocking it up.

I have drilled holes in my mango trees and when hollow, used a funnel and poured chloripirfos into the tree to get rid of them .
No reason why you cannot do this to a beam on a house etc and use a pump and then plug up hole with a piece of dowel or coloured mastic etc

yeah, they are the unseen bastards that you spend years growing a beautiful tree plus the labour or make a house etc and along they come sight unseen till its too late.:bang:

 

[ausneil 1]

I know what you mean about the little basterds eating wood, I got sleepers off the HERVEY BAY jetty which were 105yrs old, and they even had a go at them
I was going to make a table out of it ,so when I went the the saw mill to ask him to slab it, he asked how old it was, when I told him he said, NO BLOODY WAY AM I PUTTING THAT THROUGH MY SAW
But any way, I think I found the solution, I have 2'' high preasure poly pipe, so will remake it out of that
Regards Peter

In natural hardwood stands where mixed species grow and the ants have a choice which tree's they move into, they will move into iron bark and black butt first for some reason.
Iron bark is a royal species and black butt is not but both tree's see more activity than any other natural hard wood growing on the east coast.
Other species cop them as well like red and white mahogany, spotted gum, grey gum sometimes blue gum ect ect.
In the same stand where a few turps grow the ants will be nesting in something else and leave the turpentine alone.
The old timers recon blood wood is termite resistant and it was used for piers under old houses, however in natural coastal forests termites nest in them also.
What I am trying to say is hard wood makes no difference to them, I recon they can eat anything except steel if they want to.

Up here on the table lands where I am milling now, termites are few and far between but they are here and a totally different version to the coastal variety, these are much bigger but for some reason the nest's are smaller than the coastal ones.