# What's the Straight Dope on orange oil to treat termites?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-straight-dope-on-orange-oil-to-treat-termites/499212>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [June 9, 2009, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-straight-dope-on-orange-oil-to-treat-termites/499212 "2009-06-09T15:39:46Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Moirai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/96bed5/32.png) [@Moirai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moirai)\
**Post date:** [June 9, 2009, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-straight-dope-on-orange-oil-to-treat-termites/499212/1 "2009-06-09T15:39:46Z")

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My MIL has an old wood armoire that has termites, apparently. She has heard all the orange oil commercials and wants to go for it, but I thought I would check with the Dopers first.

Anybody have experience with this?

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**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\
**Post date:** [June 9, 2009, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-straight-dope-on-orange-oil-to-treat-termites/499212/2 "2009-06-09T19:21:58Z")

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My roommate smears orange peels around to repel/kill ants …

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**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\
**Post date:** [June 9, 2009, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-straight-dope-on-orange-oil-to-treat-termites/499212/3 "2009-06-09T20:37:23Z")

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It depends how you’re getting the oil to the termites.

They don’t expose themselves to the outside world. They tunnel in the ground and build mud tubes above ground to get to wood sources.