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"Welcome to Valley Permaculture Alliance! So much we can learn here and the connections we can make."
"The bed walls and the supports are constructed of pressure treated wood. The inside of the walls and supports are covered with asphalt emulsion. The ends that are cut and exposing the wood I am unsure if this will be accessible to the termites or…"
"Catherine - help! Our community garden of raised beds is infested with termites. What should we do? Do they eat the plants? We want the garden to be organic. Can termites benefit the garden or cause more harm? Scared to death...Carol"
Comments
Dear Carol,
Welcome to the VPA!
Thank you for your interest in volunteering with the VPA. We are having a Volunteer Orientation at the VPA Office on Monday, June 4th at 6:30pm-8:00pm. You can RSVP here. I also encourage you to join the “Volunteer” Group to stay alerted of all the volunteer opportunities we have available. You, the Volunteer, make it possible for the VPA to accomplish our mission to inspire sustainable urban living through education, community involvement, and creative cooperation.
Best Regards,
Kat Farris
Volunteer Coordinator
Kat@vpaaz.org
602-413-5700
Carol, no they only eat 'dead' material. Since your interior wood is treated with the asphalt, you may wish to 1) look and see if you see damage to the ends and if not apply the asphalt. If you are curious, you can dig in an area of your beds which are not in active growth (if you have any) and see if you have 'nests', and you "may" with to dig those out only to keep from having large air pockets. If the bed in contact with the native soil? Did you put a lot of woody compost in the fill mix? You may find that 1) the termites are coming up from the native soil (nothing to be done about that) and 2) they are attracted to a very woody compost mix.
Carol re: termites - don't panic. They really only eat dead wood and plant matter. The challenge would be if they are in your bed walls - were they constructed of wood?
Termites actually benefit gardens by creating channels for water and roots.
Thank you for choosing to join the Valley Permaculture Alliance, a local 501C3 non-profit education organization that offers classes, training, activities, tours, events and demonstrations on various aspects of sustainable living around the Greater Phoenix Valley. You can read more about the VPA on the ‘About Us’ page, sign up for our newsletter, and explore the many groups and resources this Ning “social networking site” has to offer, as well as customize your own Profile Page and connect with new like-minded friends.
You’re encouraged to browse the discussions, blogs, videos, comments to get a feel for our incredibly resourceful community, and to share your interests as well. There are many volunteer opportunities to assist with classes and events, so please let me know if you are interested in helping out when available.
We offer a variety of classes to our members on requested fee basis ($15 or more) that goes toward venue hard-costs, also to our experienced and knowledgeable instructors, as well as to support the non-profit in providing quality education for improving our health, our communities and environment. See what classes you may be interested in attending by clicking our events tab, and feel free to contact us with any questions.
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Welcome to the VPA!
Stacey Lillebo
Outreach Coordinator