Voracious invader damages home
By Jim Hunter
Staff writer
Citrus County Chronicle

  The presence of the feared Formosan termite in Citrus County appears, unfortunately to be not so isolated.
  James Witherow, who lives on Milwe Lane off Dunkenfield Road, can attest to that.
  He’s facing what he fears could be up to $20,000 damage to his home.
  The voracious invasive species was first identified in the county about two years ago in a house west of Meadowcrest near the intersection of State Road 44 and County Road 486 and then later in a second house nearby.

  While it had been hoped that the appearance in Citrus was isolated, the Formosan termite has been identified Witherow’s house more that a mile south of the first location.
  University of Florida Entomology and Nematology Department scientist Phillip Koehler, who inspected the Witherow home Tuesday, said that most likely the occurrence there is a result of wood that was infested with termites being sold in the area five to ten years ago.
  Koehler said because of that, more infestations would likely emerge.
He said that is was probably a big load of landscaping lumber that was shipped to the area and sold, but it’s only now that the results are surfacing and starting to be recognized.
  The reason the invader is so feared is that it eats lumber four times as fast as the two common types of Florida termites, the subterranean and the dry wood species.
  Also, if the Formosan termites are not recognized as such by pest control workers who are usually unaccustomed to identifying them and dealing with them, the wrong treatment can be used.
  Though they will be knocked down for a while, they will be back, Koehler said.
  In witherow’s case he had been battling termites for some years. He had episodes with subterranean termites a dozen years ago and the more recently in spring 1999, had dry wood, which don’t live in the ground but in the wood.
  The treatment for dry wood termites is tenting, which his termite control company, Florida Pest Control, did in 1999after a swarming, and then again this spring after termites swarmed at a number of places in the wooden framed, cypress-sided home.
  The dry wood termites swarm in the spring at night, but so do the Formosan termites, which can lead pest control workers to mistake the uncommon Formosan termites for dry wood termites. In this case their were both, further concealing the Formosans.

But when Witherow had swarming this April, the control operator noticed some signs that didn’t seem right for just dry wood termites.
  He kept looking, and began to find indications of something more ominous. A company entomologist and University of Florida officials were called in.
  As Witherow watched Tuesday, they found more and more signs. He had showed them were the termites had eaten some large exit holes in the interior and exterior walls, and the evidence began to mount up until Koehler was sure the house also had Formosans.

  Witherow had already taken some siding off and knew there was damage, but when more of the exterior siding of the house was removed, the extent of the infestation and damage was evident.
  Witherow watched grimly as in one place near the front door, where there had been a 2x4, only paper-thin wisps of were left in its place.
  As they surveyed the home, the group could see that the tenting had killed the dry wood termites and Formosan termites in the structure of the house, but without special treatment for them around the slab in the soil around the home, the Formosans would be back, Koehler said.
  The bad news for the Witherows was that all the walls of the house will have to be opened to inspect the damage, and extensive repairs will have to be done. 
  Witherow said his wife at one point had wondered only half in jest if it wouldn’t be better to scrape the structure away and star over. The damage assessments will be done in the coming weeks.
  The good news, if it could be termed as such, was that they at least knew what they were facing, and the Florida Pest Control workers could utilize the most advanced technology to rid the house of the Formosans and keep them out.
  Company representatives promised to pull out all the stops to do the job, and Koehler said that with the right techniques and chemicals, the Formosans can be controlled.
  The critical thing for termite control workers not used to dealing with them is knowing to look for them, he reiterated, because it’s easy to confuse them with the native species.
  At one point in the inspection when the extent of the infestation was being realized, Witherow groaned and said he will now probably be the pariah of the neighborhood.
  But a Florida Pest Control representative said that on the contrary, he may be their savior. He knew that there were others in the area already having termite problems, and he said workers will now know to look for and treat for Formosan if they’re present.
  Identifying them at the Witherow home may have bought others with Formosans infestations some time, he said, and time is of the essence when dealing with Formosan termites because of the speed at which they eat wood.
  Witherow said he is fortunate and can afford the repairs, but he worried about some homeowners who find themselves in this position who can’t afford extensive and costly repairs.