In the fight against a termite infestation, you might hope that you can use borax or boric acid to kill termites on your own instead of calling an expensive exterminator.
In short: Yes, Borax does kill termites effectively. The boric acid it contains destroys the termite’s digestion when eaten, causing them to die.
However, wiping out the entire colony with boric acid is not as simple.
As long as the termite queen is safe in her royal chambers, she will continue producing eggs, and the colony will continue to eat away at your house – even if you keep killing worker termites.
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How to use Borax/Boric Acid against Termites
Borax, also called sodium borate, is a salt that is usually sold as a white powder-like substance, but can also be an active ingredient in liquid products.
It’s a common pesticide/insecticide because it disrupts the digestive systems of insects (1), making it impossible for them to absorb nutrients from food. Essentially, once a termite eats borax, it will starve to death, even if they keep eating.
But how do you get termites to eat the borax and die?
For that, there are usually two options: You either inject the borax into an existing colony, or you use borax to treat wood as a preventative measure against termites.
Key Takeaways
- Borax (sodium borate) contains boric acid, which kills termites when they eat it
- It can be injected into a termite colony or sprayed on wood to kill termites
- Treating wood with borax can kill termites that try to eat through it
- Borax alone is not an effective way of exterminating termites
Exterminating Termites with Borax
Against drywood and dampwood termites, you can inject borax into their colony to kill them. This does not work against subterranean termites, as their colonies are underground, rather than inside your walls.
Keep in mind that such a borax treatment will not usually wipe out the entire termite colony. You will need to do multiple treatments for it to work – and even then, it might not have lasting results.
Additionally, you need to have found the exact location of the colony for this type of treatment. In other words, you need a professional assessment first.
Finally, since borax can be harmful to humans, too, it’s best to let a professional do this treatment.
Treating Wood with Borax
Another option is to treat wood with borax, which will stop termites that try to eat through it. In one study published in the Journal of the Indian Academy of Wood Science, wood treated with borax led to roughly 60% less damage, but more importantly, killed 100% of the termites that ate it.
Long-term, borax treatment can be a great aid to stop termite infestations effectively. However, it should be one of the tools used, not the only solution. You can’t treat the entire house with boric acid, after all.
Since borax isn’t broken down naturally, wood treated with borax will continue to be effective for years to come.
However, one limitation is that water can wash borax away, so soil treatments won’t work well. Treating patios or decks will also have limited effectiveness, since the wood will be in contact with water regularly.
Effectiveness of Boric Acid Treatments
Because borax needs to be injected into the right places to spread through the termite colony, borax treatments should be done by a professional. Not only for safety reasons, but also to make sure it has any real impact.
But even then, termite treatments with boric acid are not a guaranteed success – it works slowly, and rarely affects the entire colony. Especially bigger colonies will need many treatments.
This makes borax a decent tool in fighting active termite infestations, but not a complete solution.
Experts may recommend a borax treatment, but only along with other supplementary strategies to wipe out the termite colony.
Additionally, not all structures and wood types respond well to borax treatment – the wood needs to have a certain level of moisture for the liquid to spread well, but can’t be too moist. The density of the wood can also play a role.
Instead, borax is best used as a preemptive wood treatment to repel termites before they infest the wood.
DIY Termite Treatments with Borax
For small infestations, especially in small or thin pieces of wood, you may want to employ some DIY treatments.
Both for indoor and outdoor treatment, you can apply borax as a spray for topical treatment.
Dissolve the sodium borate in lukewarm water – follow the instruction on the product’s label carefully for this.
Then put the solution in a spray bottle, and spray/soak the wood that is affected by termites. Repeat this process every 3-5 days.
Very hard/dense or treated wood may be resistant to the solution, but softer wood can soak up the solution, leading to ingestion by the termites.
Keep in mind that this will not solve your termite problem in most cases. Until the termite queen is killed, she will continue to produce eggs and expand the colony.
Conclusion
Termites are one of the few pests that are best left to professionals because they are notoriously hard to get rid of while also capable of inflicting massive damage to homes and structures over time.
Borax or boric acid can be used as a treatment to kill termites, but should be one of the methods used, rather than used in isolation. Additionally, it’s best to let the exterminator decide the exact treatment methods, and let them apply them.
