Termites and Mulch?

Question

I am worried about using mulch around some off my gardens near the house as we have lots of termites in the area, what are some mulches that may deter these bloody things, I know there is rocks, gravel but can be expensive as I want a native look. Thanks

Answer 1

Depends where u are.....In Australia all mulch is a termites next meal. We could see the mulch surface moving, they will only eat to just under the surface as they need the dark, we ended up spraying it all with kerosine and burned  it, it smouldered for a day and killed the lot !

Only gravel etc will work.

Answer 2

as far as i know there is no termite resistant much, i was worried about the same thing, and was told not to use mulch, we used white landscape gravel, very pretty and i know termites won't eat gravel, (there is also peagravel, very pretty)

Answer 3

Termites tend to stay away from cypress and redwood mulches.

There are two other woods that proved to be a termite resistant mulch. The melaleuca wood mulch was not eaten by the termites at all. Cypress heartwood was found to be extremely resistant to termite damage and the termites stayed away from this type of mulch as well.

Answer 4

Cypress mulch, is good it doesn't attract bugs, but the best is the plastic mulch, but very expensive. I would also check with your exterminator, some companies won't cover termite damage if you use mulch!!! I have put a load of river sand in a long hosta bed, great, looks pretty, cheap, keeps the weeds out, the slugs out and I think I'm going to use it instead of any cypress much!!