Formosan termites are cellulose eating subterranean insects that build colonies in the soil and cause billions of dollars of damage every year. They invade buildings from beneath by cracks in the foundation or by constructing mud tubes over concrete foundation walls to reach wood. Anti-termite treatment under and around building foundations with persistent pesticides was effective and long-lived. Many environmentally safe substitutes are being tried, but most seem to be shorter-lived, less effective, and/or more expensive. Borates are effective inexpensive natural termiticides that are relatively non-toxic. Their major defect is that they are soluble in water and therefore are not persistent in the environment. The purpose of this project is to make time release paints that can be used to release termiticidal amounts of borates over a long period of time. If successful, our proposed approach could eliminate soil treatment with toxic persistent chemicals. OBJECTIVES: The objective of this project is to produce paint designed to degrade slowly and release boron insecticides for a sustained period of time. A five year target life or longer would be desirable for the consumer. Polymers for time-release paints will be created and formulated with boron containing powders at Texas State University. Environment Products and Services will coat concrete foundation blocks, place wood test pieces on them in a known termite infested field, evaluate the painted foundation/wood test pieces in the field against termites, and compare them to unpainted control blocks. The objective of this test is not to measure the amount of wood eaten, but to stop subterranean termites from building mud tunnels to reach and infect the wood on top of the concrete. The research emphasis will be on polymer modifications that are commercially feasible, have the potential to be produced by low cost processes, and will provide a variety of erosion rates in natural surroundings. APPROACH: Formosan termites are cellulose eating subterranean insects that build colonies in the soil. They invade buildings from beneath by cracks in the foundation or by constructing mud tubes over concrete foundation walls to reach wood. Anti-termite treatment under and around building foundations with persistent pesticides was effective and long-lived. Many environmentally safe substitutes are being tried, but most seem to be shorter-lived, less effective, and/or more expensive. Borates are effective inexpensive natural termiticides that are relatively non-toxic. Their major defect is that they are soluble in water and therefore are not persistent in the environment. This project will overcome this major defect of borates by making time release polymers and coatings that can be used to release termiticidal amounts of borates for a long period of time. The proposed borate time-release polymer/paint will add an inexpensive, safe, and easy-to-apply weapon to the arsenal used to defeat termite attacks on buildings. We will create paints with four mechanisms for controlling release of borates
