This field experiment was installed four years ago (March 1992) to evaluate the effectiveness of graded crushed granite stone, commercially marketed under the name, Granitgard, as a physical termite barrier when retrofitted around 'mock-up' buildings. The field site is located at Walpeup in the semi-arid mallee region of north-west Victoria (360 km from Melbourne), and there are eight common indigenous subterranean termite species at the site. This paper describes the results of the field evaluation after four years in test using Granitgard as a retrofitted termite physical barrier. No termites penetrated the Granitgard barriers, with and without chlorpyrifos treatments. We discuss these findings and their implications in the protection of timber structures in areas in which there are naturally foraging populations of subterranean termites.

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