Bugs, Baits, and Bureaucracy: Completing the First Termite Bait Efficacy Trials (Quarterly Replenishment of Noviflumuron) Initiated after Adoption of Florida Rule, Chapter 5E-2.0311

Abstract

Sixty-two termite colonies, representing Reticulitermes flavipes (kollar), R. virginicus (Banks), R. hageni Banks, Coptotermes formosanus Shiraki, were baited with 0.5% noviflumuron applied to in-ground stations at 24 buildings in Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee, and Georgia from 2004 to 2007. Microsatellite DNA analysis was used to identify termite species and colonies. Half of the buildings were infested with termites at the start of baiting. The bait efficacy trials were the first started and completed after Rule 5E-2.0311, "Performance Standards and Acceptable Test Conditions for Preventive Termite Treatments for New Construction," was adopted in Florida. Noviflumuron (0.5%) bait, replenished quarterly, met all the performance standards of the rule and eliminated termite colonies, even if bait was depleted before replenishment, auxiliary stations were not baited, and extreme weather conditions occurred. All initially baited termite colonies infesting the properties were eliminated in <1 yr (range, 29–275 d). All infested buildings had structural infestations that were eliminated in <1 yr (range,62–266 d). No buildings showed structural infestation by termites for the remaining duration of the trials, >1 yr after the initial elimination of termite activity (range, 366–732 d). Significant differences in bait consumption and days to elimination by termite species were documented. More than half (54%) of the properties had new termite activity in monitoring stations after the first bait cycle. DNA analysis, which is not required by the regulations, confirmed that termites baited during subsequent bait cycles were new colonies that had not been baited during the first bait cycle. Without DNA analysis, regulators would have interpreted the sites with recurring activity in monitors by the same previously baited termite species as a failure of the bait to control initially baited colonies.