All are aware of the insects like termites as they are like ants but are white and of different species.
Termites are notorious creatures responsible for the loss of millions of dollars all over the world.
They relish to live and colonise in wooden structures and wood itself serves as home, a nesting site and food for them.
Seen in such light wood itself is a natural source of fulfilling all the demands of termites to thrive upon and naturally it is difficult to separate wood from termites.
There are plants equally notorious for their pungent smell and tenacious properties to keep away wood eating creatures.
These plants strangely are less a matter of every day talk and so escape human attention about their true worth.
One such plant is the castor plant.
Most people know it on account of its oil called the castor oil.
Here the importance of castor plant lies in its leaves and green twigs.
A matter of caution is not to approach it bare handed.
It is strong in causing skin allergy but the same property has a fatal effect on the termites which run from it and avoid contact.
An effective way to prepare a potion or the killer herbal insecticide is not very difficult.
To start with leaves and green branches from soft upper parts of an adult castor plant need to be taken and mixed into the common water in a suitable sized container.
The ratio can be a kg of the castor stuff with leaves and branches and five litre water.
Next mesh the entire stuff like making paste and add to the water taken.
Boil the contents on low fire as on simmering mode.
Keep stirring the mixture occasionally.
Make sure the boiling content is covered well from the top lest the pungency is lost by evaporation process.
Keep your nose,mouth and face masked and eyes covered with protective glasses and hands covered in safety gloves.
After forty minutes of heating the contents on low fire, remove the container and leave for complete cooling.
When the stuff has cooled, filter it into a clean can.
The thick residue removed after filtration can be served as manure to plants.
It is time to apply the prepared insecticide with safety.
Make sure your hands covered in safety gloves, eyes under protective glasses and face masked well to avoid inhaling the pungent smell.
To start with take a clean painting brush commonly used in painting walls.
Apply without dripping the contents onto the surface area affected by termites.
Apply several coatings upto four at a time.
Let an interval in between of five to eight minutes each.
More you apply in turns the deeper the content goes to absorb into the wood.
After six to seven applications, cover the painted area with polythene sheet attached to the affected area choking the termites colonized inside.
Don't let fresh air to them.
They will attempt to run out but they will choke to death.
Don't remove the dead termites but try to bury them back as if paste and apply more of the content in the second phase.
Repeat the process of covering the area again.
After the second phase, leave the area under said sheet for a day.
Next day you can apply the normal paint you like in any color on the wood after removing the poly sheet.
Make sure to keep the contents out of reach of kids, pets and food commodities.
The content which is left after use must be out of reach of kids at home and away from kitchen.
Always wash hands properly with soap after using this content.
The content remains usable upto one month in pungency.
If the period to keep exceeds, pour it out into the plants like watering but keeping a minimum of four to five inches away from main stem of the plants.
It is the best ever tried and tested method and will have the capacity to drive away termites for longer period than any other material.
It is cost effective and reliable but should be carried out with due care and precaution in safe conditions.