What about Orange Oil?

One of the most common questions our customers ask is about orange oil treatment for termites. Orange oil treatment has been heavily marketed by a few companies for about the last 10 years or so.

Some of the claims made have stretched the effectiveness of the orange oil product.

Facts about Orange Oil:

Orange oil is not a new product. Power Plant, the 1st Orange Oil product for termite control, was registered in 1997.

Any pest control company can apply orange oil. It is not a proprietary product or treatment method.

It is only used for localized spot treatments. It is not considered to be whole-house treatment and will not eradicate termites in hidden or inaccessible areas.

Kills on contact and repels termites from treated areas. This may sound like a good way to get rid of termites, but this is actually NOT the desired quality. The problem with orange oil is that while it will kill the termites it reaches, it will repel other termites colonized outside the treated area so they will avoid it and continue to thrive elsewhere.

Low residual effectiveness. Orange oil degrades by 93% in three weeks.

Low toxicity, BUT other products have even lower toxicity.

Citrus aroma. The smell lingers and can be overpowering and irritating.

Finally, Orange Oil is NOT a Green-Rated product

Franz Termite Control has been in business since 1971. In the nearly 50 years we’ve been in business several methods of termite eradication have come and gone. Some examples of this are the “Electro-gun”, the liquid nitrogen freezing method, and microwaving. Freezing and microwaving were heavily promoted drywood termite local treatment methods that didn’t have the effectiveness needed to control drywood termites and both were discontinued after a few years.

Power Plant, the 1st Orange Oil product for termite control, was registered in 1997.
We had used this product when it initially came out in 1998, but had enough call-backs that we discontinued using it. In addition to continued termite activity some of the complaints included strong odor and fumes.

Orange oil is “old-fashioned” in the way it kills termites. It performs the way that older pesticides used to perform; it will kill the termites on contact and repel other termites from the treated area and cause the termites to move to another part of your house.

Here you can see a jug of PowerPlant orange oil that has been sitting oil our storage locker for about 20 years when we last used it.

Modern, new-generation products are designed so that they do not immediately kill or repel termites. Rather they allow the termites to come into contact with the treated area and transfer the product back to the colony. This has a much higher chance of eradicating an entire colony and not moving them to another area of your house.

One measure of the effectiveness of any termite treatment method or product is to see how many companies are using it.

Orange oil products can be used by any licensed pest control company and have been for years. If it was as effective as some advertisements may lead people to believe we (termite control companies) would all be using it. While orange oil can kill termites, there are other products that do a better job of local treatment.

The main thing to consider is that orange oil treatment is a local treatment that, like all local treatments, will only be effective in and adjacent to the treated areas. The method of application is the same as our normal local treatment process and involves injecting into the infested areas of a structure.

While local treatment is always an option it may often be more of method of “control” of termites as opposed to eradication – something that is guaranteed when it comes to termite fumigation for drywood termites.