The Story of Sentricon®

To understand and appreciate how far termite control has come since the introduction of the Sentricon® system, we have to go back more than 30 years. For much of the 20th century, subterranean termite control meant liquid termiticides placed around and underneath the treated structure. And while liquid products are still used in certain circumstances, liquid treatments have had challenges from the beginning, and still have challenges today.

First, it’s difficult to ensure a gap-free treatment perimeter. Weather, shifting ground and the specifics of a given structure can all result in “holes” in the treatment — holes that can allow termites to pass through. In addition, the liquid termiticides used for much of this century tended to break down over time, further reducing the effectiveness of the treatment.

And then there’s the intrusiveness factor; at best, liquid treatments involved trenching around the treated structure; at worst, treatment required drilling through a concrete foundation.

With all that said, termite control prior to 1995 left a lot to be desired. But the entire industry would soon change, thanks to a dedicated researcher working in a lab in the southeastern United States.

DISCOVERY… Dr. Nan-Yao Su, an entomology professor and researcher with the University of Florida, had been studying termite activity for years in an effort to discover and develop more effective termite control products and methods. It was Dr. Su who first documented the process of termite “self-recruitment,” or the tendency of worker termites to leave pheromone trails to lead other workers to a food source; he knew this natural process could be used to more effectively deliver a termiticide to the colony.

The challenge? The product would have to be both undetectable and lethal to termites, and would need to be slower- acting, so as to allow the natural biological processes to distribute the termiticide throughout the colony. And, ideally, the product would be more environmentally friendly than the products used in liquid treatments, and therefore more readily accepted by homeowners.

Enter hexaflumuron. Originally developed for agricultural usage, hexaflumuron proved to be the secret weapon Dr. Su was searching for. Why?

• It uses self-recruitment against termites. As termite workers leave pheromone trails that lead back to the bait, foragers continue to feed and bring it back to the colony.
• It disrupts the termite molting process. Hexaflumuron is an insect growth regulator that stops termites from molting. When termites can’t molt, they die.
• It’s slow-acting and undetectable by termites. Foraging termites feed and carry the bait back to the nest to share, delivering a lethal dose to the colony. Because foraging workers feed the rest of the colony, when they die off, the colony starves and dies — including the queen.
• It’s an environmentally responsible termite treatment. Because hexaflumuron is an insect growth regulator, it is harmless to people and pets. Plus, it doesn’t take a lot of the active ingredient to be effective.

… AND DEVELOPMENT. But the discovery of hexaflumuron as a termiticide was only the first step in the development of the Sentricon® system. Working with researchers from Dow AgroSciences, Dr. Su developed the original Sentricon baiting system, designed to deliver a lethal dose of hexaflumuron to the entire colony using an in-ground, tamper-resistant bait station.

To say the Sentricon system revolutionized termite control would be an understatement. In addition to being the first product registered under the Environmental Protection Agency’s Reduced Risk Pesticide Initiative, Sentricon gave termite control specialists the option of using a system that required no liquid products, no trenching and no drilling; an entire house could be treated in a fraction of the time required for a liquid application. In addition, the unique mode of action of hexaflumuron meant that the entire termite colony — not just a few workers — would be eliminated.

The Sentricon system was brought to market in 1995, boosted by an aggressive consumer marketing effort designed to help drive name recognition and educate homeowners on the dangers of termite infestation. In 2000, Sentricon was awarded the Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Award for replacing “widespread applications of pesticide in the soil around houses and other structures,” reducing “the use of hazardous materials” and reducing “potential impacts on human health and the environment.”

But, as it turns out, we were just getting started.