Hay and termites

dhermesc · Dec 21, 2015

Do termites eat hay the way they do paper and wood?

My place must be built on a termite mound. Any wood left laying on the ground is attacked by termites and show visible "nawing" in a month - like the block of wood you might put under a jack on a baler. They even attack my hedge fence posts. I have just built a pole shed to stack hay - will I need to keep it off the ground to keep the termites out of my brome hay?

A couple years ago I left some bales of alfalfa sitting on the ground in my machine shed through the winter - the bales looked like they had been eaten hollow and filled with mud - I burned them rather than feed them.

Geo-TH,In · Dec 21, 2015

Termites serve a useful purpose. Without them this planet would be covered miles deep with wood. They also add to global warming, they fart methane gas, which some say help control the oxygen levels on earth. A good thing. Too much oxygen in atmosphere and burning things would go out of control. Too much oxygen and we couldn't handle it either
all you want to know about termites.

JimS · Dec 21, 2015

I remember reading years ago how the clear cutting of the Amazon rain forest was causing an exponential growth in the number of termites who were releasing too much methane and messing everything up. It is always something.

Essentially, there is something to break nearly everything down. I think this is part of entropy. I know folks who hate vultures, but just like the termite, these scavengers have an important role to play.

Thanks for the link.

Geo-TH,In · Dec 22, 2015

JimS,
I think there is a lot of miss information out there, like plant a tree and save the planet. Yes trees remove carbon but when they die, the carbon goes back in the air. So in the grand scheme or things, trees are really carbon neutral.

Geo
carbon neutral

Hay and termites

dhermesc

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Geo-TH,In

Well-known Member

JimS

Member

Geo-TH,In

Well-known Member

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