Effective treatment of Woodborer in Mauritius

DIY Mauritius : How to get rid of Powerpost beetles (wood boring insects) in Mauritius.

Intro :

These insects normally affects yellow meranti wood, but other meranti wood are not safe either.

Symptoms:

You will find small 2-3mm insects digging 1mm hole just like the picture below.



(Picture source : http://www.csiro.au/Portals/Publications/Brochures--Fact-Sheets/WoodBorerInfestations.aspx)



Solution :

Killing the insects in not the solution, you need to kill the larva also.

Well there are lots of solution and all would depend on your budget and urgency

If you can't find a good product you can temporarily kill the insects with Sevin available at Roger Fayd'Herbe. However, these insects are xylophagous and once they lay eggs in the wood their larva eat the wood from inside. That the danger !

After spraying sevin, the insects will die but other may return again as is only a temporary solution against the insects.

The next thing to do is to find a preventive and curative solution.
Research :
Following my research these products can help you :

1. Mauvilac Solignum Colourless (Approx Rs 1200 – 5L) .You will need to order the product from a hardware store or go to Mauvilac at Pailles.

2. Go to Espace Maison, they also has spraying solution but I don't know about its effectiveness.
   
3. Heads up to Bricolage. They have many solution on sale like Inventive(20 years guarantee) and Xylophene ranging from 700ml, 1L, 5L, 20L price ranging approximately from Rs 700 – Rs 5000
   
4. Find a pest control provider
   
   1. Alpha pest control (Tel : 433 2100) – I call them they said its would cost me from Rs 1800-2000 ( 2 visits) but they never came for a site visit.
      
   2. Pest control specialist Tel : 2431966 (Rs 1800)
      
   3. Pest Handlers (Tel : 2490358)
      

My solution :
So what I did was that I bought Xylophene. Its a well know french product and there are many types of Xylophene.

Xylophene M2000 was the most appropriate product for me as my furniture was in construction and it was meant for interior purposes. But due to its unavailability I had to use SOR40.



SOR 40 is meant for both interior and exterior application but is approximately around Rs 1900 that is about Rs 400-500 more expensive than M2000. It is a curative and preventive solution. Once you apply it to the wood it will kill the bugs and prevent other from infesting it again.



Precaution:

• Shake it well before use
  
• Use respirator when using this product.
  
• Use protective clothes
  
• Use boots
  
• Use good quality hand gloves
  
• Read manufacturer’s instructions for application here : http://www.xylophenepro.com/produits-xylophene
  

Efficiency :



Preventive treatment → Around 1L = 5m²
Curative treatment → 1 Litre = 3 m²



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