Termites repelled by ...( NEW ORLEANS LA - Known for its intoxic...)

Peterson, a researcher with the Forest Service Southern Research Station (SRS), and fellow researcher Janice Ems-Wilson, a chemist at Valencia Community College in Orlando, FL, presented the results of their research at the national meeting of the American Chemical Society held March 23 27 in New Orleans.

An entomologist with the SRS Wood Products Insect Research unit in Starkville, MS, Peterson has been testing essential catnip oil as a possible replacement for the more toxic pesticides presently used to control termites. Probably the most common termite control method is treating the soil next to wood structures with chemical compounds: some of the active ingredients of traditional termiticides, such as chlordane and chlorpyrifos, have lost their registrations in the U.S. due to their toxicity. New, more eco-friendly compounds are being sought to fill the void.

The search for new termiticidal products is active. "The USDA Forest Service routinely tests about three new termite formulations for effectiveness every year, with a new active ingredient tested about once in every two years," said Peterson. "Natural compounds from plants, bacteria, and fungi could provide new commercial products that are less toxic to humans and the environment."

For their termite study, Peterson and Ems-Wilson infused sand with catnip essential oil--the kind routinely sold in pet stores--to test the effectiveness of the oil as a barrier to termite tunneling. To test vertical tunneling, the researchers placed yellow pine sapwood in the bottom of a test tube filled with sand. A two-inch barrier of catnip-treated sand separated the termites in the top layer of untreated sand from the pine. To te
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Contact: Chris Peterson
cjpeterson@fs.fed.us
662-325-0199
Southern Research Station - USDA Forest Service
25-Mar-2003