It's that time of year when maybe you have seen a swarm of flying ant-like critters - I HOPE not near or even worse, IN your house or garage. Those would be termites, in all likelihood, and if they are inside your house or garage or other building, you need professional help.
Watch the landscapers who come to your home and pile up mulch everywhere. Make sure there is no mulch piled up to any part of your house that is made of wood. If the mulch is up against the shingles, you might as well have put a big Welcome! sign out for any neighborhood termites.
More mulch is not better. You only need an inch or two to hold in moisture and keep weeds down. (And remember to keep the mulch away from the trunk flares of your trees and shrubs. Professional landscapers don't necessarily mulch correctly - or they have employed people who are not well trained in proper mulching techniques. URI has some Factsheets on Mulching:
Lots of other info is available on the web, for instance, U of Minnesota's Sustainable Urban Landscape Information Series Paper on Mulching and Watering.
Termites do not come with the mulch, but they like moist conditions and they are in the ground all over the place, so they may make their homes under mulch. Rhode Island was their home a long time before any of us showed up, and actually, we build our homes on top of theirs. From a termite's perspective, we're in THEIR way. Wood is wood, after all, and the more the better if you're a termite.
Another place I have seen termite nests is under rocks. (Click on the picture to enlarge it. I had just moved a rock from under an outside faucet before taking this shot.) I was talking with Ron Campellone from New England Pest Control about termites recently, and he suggested that homeowners also keep rocks away from the foundation of houses - especially near outside spigots that tend to drip water and keep the ground under them wet. He suggested digging down 6 inches or so and out a foot or so away from the house under the faucet (and maybe under low-lying wood frames of windows as well) and filling the spaces in with gravel. That way the moist spaces will be less attractive to those hungry little beasts. Go check around your house today, and if you see any wood touching the ground or mulch, eliminate those attractive termite-nesting sites.
