The day you discover a way to get rid of termites permanently, you can get rich! In India, insecticides are still used commercially. However, many years ago, we rid a bungalow of the invading termites by following the burrow until the queen was located. Once the queen was destroyed, there has been no further attack on that bungalow in the 40 years since then. You could try that, even though it is not as simple as it sounds.

Nothing will happen, plaster of Paris will be detached from mound because the loam soil which is processed by the termites become harden than plaster of Paris. Mound ecology is not so simple, termite habitation, rebuilding of mounds, population adjustment, digging and foraging few important adaptations by which termites are surviving in open pastures, forests and hard to soft soils.

Dear Grace Charles,

There are endless method to remove termite but ???  Termite can survive in the termite prone area even in those areas where chemical treatments have gone.

If you really want to find some sound and ecological manner, please find biological procedure  like inclusion and exclusion  of some organisms ( e.g. spider, ants, lizards, some insects which they prefer termite  as a food). Another technique, I have used for some trees, add some salt and biochar as a mixture  in the rhizosphere of tree. If you want to remove termite from soil then find out some information about soil feature then apply some chemical (not insecticides). Addition of sugar also reduces the population size of termite.  As Mr. Peter explained about killing of queen might be another way of procedure.

However, I do not  like   more technical and complex knowledge  if the problem is being a serious and warranting seriously to the nature and environment. For example, In India, few ares of  Punjab region is  termite affected. I have seen, some native tree species  (Dalburgia sissoo, Shisam, Mango,) as well as some exotics like  Silver Oak, Acacia auriculiformis, Cassia siamea etc. are highly affected with termite. Loss of significant  forest wood production by termite is an alarming  for ecologist and soil scientists to find a satisfactory methods for termite  removal. However, I am also waiting for a good method.

My Best wishes with you for good research on termite.

Consider a vacuuming approach (Meyer et al. 2000) – see attached.

Fumigation as done by Jo Darlington (1984) is also referenced in the paper.

Article Intracolonial demography of the mound-building termite Macro...

To remove termites you can use organophosphorus pesticide in the form of  chloropyriphos spray or Mix. chloropyriphos formulation with soil or infected area.

Destruction of termitoria and destruction of queen is the only way to control termites

I dont think it is a good idea to remove termites from the mound to study cascading ecological impacts. Even if you are successful in doing a long term research on that, it would be very difficult to prove that the ecological impact observed was due to removal of termites alone. Ecological observations are made on large extent of area and you cannot keep all other things unchanged in this large area to prove that the impact is due to removal of termites from the ecosystem. It is not even possible in a small area like the premises of a termitorium to keep everything else unchanged.

Yes I have removed queens from mounds of Odontotermes badius, Microtermes haviland and many mactrotermes species including Macrotertems michaelseni. Check data on my RG page. Excavation of the mound below the main turret (moistened with new build-up of soil) to reach the fungus comb shaped like umbrella. Below this type of fungus comb the queen and king are located in royal chamber. care should be taken not to smash the queen. In Botswana, I have used wood of Combretum imberbe to burn the curvature. There is indigenous knowledge that ash of C. imberbe has insecticidal properties.

I have used a mixture of chemicals to kill them and then sealed all crevices with PoP. It is working for the time being.