Termites (was "non-treated wood)
The system that Terminix uses is much more complex than described here. The "stakes" do not kill termites, but rather hold a slow-acting bait that is carried back to a colony and spread throughout. Termites are "smart", and simply killing them at specific locations (ie: with chemical insecticide in the soil) will only make them move to a new food source, whether it is a few inches, or many yards away. The only way to completely eliminate termite activity at a home site is to eliminate the entire termite colony, which can be extremely large, covering a surprisingly extensive underground area. Termites continuously hunt for new food sources, so using any kind of immediately effective insecticide can actually make a problem worse by scattering them further. Christina D.