'Bugs News

We frequently get questions about the various borate products on the market to control insects around the home. These products are used to control ants , cockroaches and structural pests like carpenter ants , powderpost beetles and dry-rot fungi . General characteristics Borates offer a low toxicity alternative to conventional insecticides, but are slow acting and may take several weeks to be completely effective. Borates are also generally long lasting , if kept dry. And, borates are generally not used outdoors because of they are soluble in water . Borate is primarily an insect stomach poison and fungicide. Stomach poisons must be eaten by the pest to be effective. Borate Products Timbor and Bora Care (and a few others) are products for structural pest control (termites, carpenter ants and wood-boring beetles). Timbor is a powder of 98% disodium octaborate tetrahydrate, a sodium salt of boric acid, and Bora Care is a 40% solution of the same compound plus ethylene glycol . ...

I get many questions about the insecticide Timbor . Rather than answer individual e-mails I decided to post a page at our 'Bugs site about using Timbor for structural pests and to add a link here on the blog. Timbor is made from sodium borate crystals (borax). Borates have many industrial uses in addition to their use as insecticides and fungicides . Borate-based insecticides have been around for a long time. They act mostly as stomach poisons, which means they must be eaten to be effective, as opposed to contact insecticides which are absorbed through the insect's cuticle. In recent years a number of new borate products have been introduced as wood preservatives for dry-rot fungi and for structural pests like termites , carpenter ants and wood destroying beetles . Some products are liquids that contain a glycol base which is believed to help the borate penetrate further into wood fibers. Other products, like Timbor, are supplied as nearly pure borate powders which can ...

Boric acid, or borate salt, is an excellent wood preservative , fungicide (kills rot fungi) and insecticide . It is very low toxicity, has low environmental impact and is relatively cheap. It is an ideal material for treating both hardwood and softwood against attack by fungi ( dry rot fungi ), and insects. The only real downside is that borate compounds are generally water soluble so must be used in dry environments or protected with a finish of some kind that seals them in the wood. Borates are available as dry powders ( TimBor and others) or as glycol-based liquid concentrates ( Bora Care and others). Glycol is intended to improve the penetration of borate into wood fibers but studies have not definitively demonstrated an advantage over simple water solutions. Glycol-based products are also somewhat more expensive than powder forms. Both TimBor and Bora Care should be applied to dry, unfinished wood surfaces with a pump sprayer or paint roller. Two coats are sometimes needed...