Stations placed in the soil around the home and checked on a schedule, as an alternative to a liquid soil treatment.
Fastest: call (855) 974-4733. Or send this and we call you back.
Termite baiting places monitoring stations in the soil around a home and checks them on a schedule. Termites that find a station can feed on a slow-acting bait that is carried back to the colony. Baiting suits some homes better than a liquid barrier. Charlotte Pest Control connects Mecklenburg County homeowners with a local technician to compare the options.
A bait system is a different route to the same goal as a soil barrier. Instead of treating the soil along the whole foundation, a technician installs stations in the ground around the house. Termites that find a station feed on the material inside, and the stations are checked to see whether activity has been found.
In Charlotte, both older and newer homes can be monitored this way. Older houses in the inner neighbourhoods and newer subdivisions on graded clay lots both give termites ground contact to work with, and both can be watched over time. Monitoring suits a home where a continuous barrier is hard to place, or where an owner wants an ongoing record.
Baiting is not a shortcut. It needs regular station checks and a clear written record, and the technician explains what each visit shows. This page covers how the system is built, what the checks involve and when a liquid treatment may still be the better choice. (855) 974-4733 is the way to ask whether baiting suits a particular property.
Do not dig up, open or move a station yourself, and do not place a bait or a product in the soil near one. A disturbed station can lose its record and its bait. Mow and water around stations as normal, and report any damage to the housing. For questions about a station, call (855) 974-4733.
The technician maps the foundation, the landscape beds, the wood against the house and the spots where a station can sit undisturbed. Stations go where ground contact exists, not in a random ring around the building.
Stations are set into the soil at intervals around the perimeter, each with a number and a position on the plan. Placement avoids paving and drainage paths where a station would be knocked or flooded.
Each station is opened and inspected on a set cycle. The technician records whether termites are present, whether the bait has been taken and any change since the previous visit.
When a station shows activity, the technician can replace the bait, change the material or move the station. If a colony is established inside the structure, the plan may move to a different treatment.
Monitoring is most useful with its records in one place. The technician also notes moisture, gutters and vegetation, because those conditions keep a site attractive to termites.
A bait station is a small housing set in the soil beside the foundation. It holds a cellulose material that termites feed on, and the bait is designed to be carried back to the colony over time. A technician checks each station on a set schedule to see whether feeding has begun.
The station sits in the ground because termites are already travelling through the soil to reach wood. The housing keeps the bait from drying out and shields it from weather, and a lid lets the technician open the station without digging.
Feeding is slow by design. The bait works through the colony rather than through one termite, so a station may show activity over several visits before it is cleared. A dramatic change in a single visit is not the expected result.
Stations are placed where termites are most likely to reach the building, usually near the foundation, the wood in the soil and any path a colony would take. Each position is part of the record, so the next visit can compare like with like.
Baiting suits some homes better than a liquid barrier, particularly where the soil is hard to treat or an owner wants ongoing monitoring. A liquid barrier suits a home that needs a continuous treatment line along the foundation. The technician compares both on site before one is chosen.
Landscape and access shape the choice. Dense beds, paving against the foundation or a steep slope can make a continuous soil treatment hard to place, while stations can sit where a trench could not be dug.
A home with a past termite finding may suit monitoring. Ongoing checks show whether activity returns, and they leave a dated record that an owner, a lender or a buyer can read later.
Neither method replaces the site fixes. A station will not help a house whose gutters pour water against the foundation, so grading, gutters and wood contact belong in the plan whichever method is used.
A monitoring visit opens each station, inspects the bait and the wood inside, and records the result. The technician also looks at the foundation and the landscape for changes since the last visit, then updates the plan and the record. The visit schedule is set when the program begins.
The technician checks for termites, for feeding on the bait and for any other insect that has entered a station. Each finding goes on the record against its station number.
The visit also covers the house itself. New mud tubes, a change in the landscape, a new pile of wood or a leak can all change the risk, and the technician notes them for the owner.
Keep the monitoring records in one folder. They are the history that a future inspector, lender or buyer is likely to ask for, and a gap in the visit log is hard to explain later.
Stations are placed and checked without bait, so the technician can see whether termites are moving through the ground near the house. It suits a home with a past inspection finding that needs a watch rather than an active treatment.
Stations are placed with a bait, and the bait is replaced when feeding is found. This is the route used when activity is confirmed in a station and the colony needs to be reduced over time.
A treatment applied to the soil along the foundation, in trenches and with rods where needed, forms a continuous barrier. It can be the better fit where a continuous line is wanted or where the ground is too disturbed for stations to stay undisturbed.
Older houses in Charlotte's inner neighbourhoods often sit on crawl spaces or low foundations with wood close to the soil. Dilworth, the first streetcar suburb, dates from the 1890s, and Myers Park grew out of the same early streetcar era. Their yards, walks and porch steps have been changed many times, and a station can sit where a liquid treatment would have to work around them.
Newer subdivisions on clay lots present a different case. Red clay that has been graded and built on is often disturbed soil, and the fill around a young foundation can give termites a route. Monitoring lets the technician watch the ground beside a new house while beds, irrigation and grading settle.
Most termite baiting and monitoring calls are scheduled the same day when a technician is free, and you approve the price before any work starts.
Not sure if you're covered? Check your ZIP code.
Inspection for eastern subterranean termites and their mud tubes, with treatment options explained before any work starts.
The state's WDIR-100 statement on wood-destroying insects, issued only after an inspection, explained for buyers and sellers.
Pest and moisture inspection of the crawl space under a Charlotte home, covering termites, spiders, rodents and the damp that draws them.
Year-round household pests in Charlotte homes, from ants and roaches to spiders and the fall invaders that come indoors.
No honest price for pest control in Charlotte, NC can come from a web page, so this guide does not give one.
NC State Extension says subterranean termites in North Carolina swarm from late winter into September or October, mostly in daytime and often after warm rain.
In North Carolina, structural pest control is licensed by the NCDA&CS Structural Pest Control and Pesticides Division.
In North Carolina, a written statement on wood-destroying insects in a structure offered for sale must be made on the WDIR-100 form, after an inspection, by a licensee.
It is designed to reduce a colony over time by working through the nest. Results depend on the colony, the site and the bait, and the technician reports what is found at each check.
The stations sit sealed in the soil, and the technician explains the materials and any precautions for the yard. Ask about the product label before the first visit, and keep children away from any station that has been opened.
The schedule is set when the program starts and depends on the site and the activity found. Ask for it in writing so each visit is planned in advance.
No. Stations are a form of ongoing check, but they do not cover the framing, the attic or the interior. An inspection looks at the whole structure and the conditions around it.