Customer Reviews

Termite Detection & Killing Stakes - 20 Stake Kit

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4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

When I bought this product I thought I could replace the stakes by simply buying new ones as needed. Unfortunately, United Industries decided to stop sellig replacement stakes. Now you must buy the entire kit when you need new stakes. I now have 3 steel augers, 60 plastic stake markers and 3 hard plastic carrying cases which are of absolutely no use to me. When I phoned United Industries to find out how I could order stakes only, I was told that the company decided it was not "cost effective" to sell replacement stakes. "Cost effective" for whom? It is simply their way of increasing their bottom line by forcing customers to buy items that are totally useless after the first kit purchase. Meanwhile, I'm looking for a replacement product.

I have been using these spikes for about two years, and admittedly it is going to be impossible to tell if they work until termites do serious damage. Otherwise, you are just basically hoping the things do their jobs. Of course, even regular termite services can fail, but in that case a good service will have a contract with you to make required building repairs. Basically, a commercial outfit is offering you insurance and betting that their procedures will work. No such deal with the Terminate spikes, but they may work as well as most other bait systems, provided one uses them carefully.

One problem some have found with the spikes is water damage. The cardboard inside goes to pot fairly fast if it stays wet for a while, and that probably nullifies the effectiveness of the poisoned bait.

My solution is to go to Home Depot or Lowe's and purchase lengths of 1.25-inch dowels. I cut them down into 9-inch lengths and then insert them into pre-drilled holes around the house perimeter made with the Terminate drill bit. (Incidentally, for hard soils a powerful drill is not a bad idea and I use a 9-amp Hitachi model that is strong enough to drill holes through solid rock.) Anyway, I check the dowels monthly (rather than every three months) and if I see termite activity I then replace the dowel with a Terminate spike. This has happened several times since I started the program, and when I check later on some of the bait will have been eaten and no live termites can be found.

The advantage of this is that you do not waste spikes and the ones that are inserted are interacting with active termites right then and there.

In addition, while the Terminate instructions say that you need not use more than 20 spikes with a house of 2000-2500 square feet (my place is 2100, with a garage), I drilled more than 30 holes, with dowels in each initially, and drilled a dozen more around my workshop out back. Over time, I have replaced a number of dowels with spikes, but in no way did I have to deal with false alarms (popped up indicators that resulted from soggy cardboard), nor did I have to spend big bucks on scads of baited spikes. The dowels are not expensive, and if they get a bit worn for wear over time, just reinsert them upside down. Keep spares on hand to replace worn versions or bait spikes that have done their jobs.

Finally, the instructions warn the user to not depend upon the spikes as the only defense. I followed that lead and have done two more things. First, every spring I use Bayer termite-killing granules around the perimeter to kill any activity working under the slab. Second, some time back I used Great Stuff hard-foam sealant around all incoming water pipes and under the bathtubs (which normally are open to the soil under them on the ground floor) to make it harder for invasions from that direction. (The main reason for this was to reduce radon-gas intrusion, but it works to decent effect for termites, too.) Doing the incoming pipe sealing work did require cutting into the walls from the inside or outside, following up the work with decor-friendly covers. I also have a radon fan on one side of the house ventilating the concrete block frame around the slab, and that may keep the area there dry enough to further discourage infestations.

No telling if this all will work, but it probably is as effective as most professionally done termite baiting programs.

Howard Ferstler

We had professional pestr control who service our house every quarter for the past 2 years. Last year, two houses down, our neighbor had termites. We always thought termites will not affect us since we have professional service done. This spring, they detected the flowerbed borders the neighbors had termites. I paid $160 extra for that treatment. I was pretty upset that the pest control service doe not cover the termites treatment, it needs another $119/quarter. We decided to do the pest control ourselves.

Trim back all the bushes and shrubs, got rid of all the mulches in the flower bed. We put in this Bait System around the house, everything is all good until 4 month later where the bait pop-ed in the veggie garden (about 10 meter from the original site). Termites has eaten away the two baits within two week (The two bait poped within a week of each other). We monitor the progress of how fast they eat the baits. In the instruction, it says every 2 - 3 month and check, but I think it is a good idea to check on it every other week. Once it has poped, the bait will be gone within 2 weeks and they will move on.

I am going to Home Depot and purchase more of the baits. Many people would put the chemicals trying to kill the colony themselves, NOT recommended through my research. If you are not sure you can kill the WHOLE colony, just leave it alone. Add more baits to the site. Once you know there is a problem, just check for mud tunnels around the house to make sure that they are not enterring the house. The little bait are like a little biology experiement, you can see the progress of how these little creatures are doing. Many are scared of the termites, DON'T. They will eat the wood only. Learn their pattern.

Spectracide Terminate Stakes (53336). I have been using this product for atleast 5 years and so far no termites. These newer stakes contain twice the amount of chemical as the older version and they have a pop-up indicator when they need replacement. The kit also contains a drill bit to make the hole in the ground.

I have been using these things for over 5 years, first in the early versions, and in the last two years, the ones with the pop up indicator.

The pop up indicator seems to have been designed by the marketing department to maximize revenues. As others have written, when a tube stays damp for a while (i.e., in the environment the termites like) the cardboard inside fails and the indicator pops up. My recommendation: pull up the popped tubes, brush off the dirt and see if the cardboard inside is gone or severely depleted. If so, replace it. Otherwise, put it back in the ground. It would be easy to design one that didn't pop so easily.

On a more positive note, they seem to work. My home has had termites, and now clearly has termites around it, but no new infestations since I started using these things. At about $50 a package now at Home Depot, you can put a lot of these out for the price of one month of "protection" from a termite company--one of the most unethical industries in operation today.

This system is useless. The main reason is the element inside it is not wood, it is cardboard. If you live in a wet climate the stakes will trip as the moisture softens the cardboard. Not the fun part, if you have a sprinkler system or water your lawn THEY WILL FAIL! Oh BTW they don't make/sell individual replacement stakes, you have to buy an ENTIRE kit once you trip one to replace it. Save yourself the money & aggravation, buy termite traps with the wood inserts.

This system will fail if you live in a wet climate. Heavy rain causes the spikes to "trip" as the cardboard inside
gets wet and cannot hold the spring down. This occurred on multiple stakes arfound our house over a 3 month period
after install.

I bought one big kit (15 sticks) and placed around the perimeter of the house. The first set of sticks to pop within 3 months is my flower bed attached to house (duh). The second batch to pop within 4 months is the dirt where the wooden fence is planted. These were about 6 sticks out of 15. The area worried me the most is the flower bed attached to side of the house, and I bought 5 replacement sticks to place in this bed that originally started with 2 sticks.

Within 3 weeks the first of the 5 replacements popped, and the rest popped within 1 week. I first was suspicious since it does get wet of the sprinklers. However, the rest of 10 that didn't pop, are all in planters with flowers, fruit trees, and cypress trees that get watered on daily basis. So if doesn't quite fit the explanation of popping while getting wet constantly...

Anyhow, I decided to get another 5 replacement sticks as third replacement batch, but this time no flower and no watering in the attached flower bed. Just dry dirt. Within 2 weeks all popped. Looking inside the sticks I see some empty parts. No termites found while I pulled these sticks (perhaps I reacted too late and they moved on!)

While it takes simple intuition to guess where the termites might live, it's nice to have confirmation. I'm going to have the dirt removed from the flower bed and check for any possible penetration through the stucco into the house. Will provide update.

In the meantime, I recommend these as a mean to detect on your own. (No idea how many bugs they really can kill) Probably works best during dry season or stop any sprinkler/flower planting. But again the 2/3 majority of areas with non-popping sticks and sprinklers seem to suggest the poppers can withstand wet dirt.