By Anna Vaccaro, Editorial Lead — Pest Education · Last updated: September 2026

Green circles in the yard tend to get noticed on a weekend. You are edging the beds or walking the property line and there they are, a ring of flat green discs spaced evenly around the house. They are not irrigation heads, septic markers, or leftovers from the builder. This guide covers what they are, why they showed up, how often they get serviced, and the handful of things worth doing and not doing once you know.

What Are the Green Circles in Your Yard?

They are termite bait stations, also called termite monitoring stations or in-ground termite traps. Each one is a plastic housing sunk into the ground with a lid that sits flush with the soil, roughly the size of a coffee cup lid. They are installed at intervals around the perimeter of a home, usually every ten feet or so, which is why they read as a deliberate ring rather than something scattered.

The green color is not decorative. It makes the stations findable by a technician a year later, after mulch has been turned over and grass has grown in, while staying unobtrusive enough that most homeowners never think about them.

Most stations in the Southeast belong to the Sentricon System with Always Active technology. They target subterranean termites, the species responsible for the large majority of termite damage in the United States and the reason subterranean termites are treated as a structural risk rather than a nuisance pest.

How Do Termite Bait Stations Work?

A liquid barrier treatment puts a chemical zone in the soil that termites have to cross. Bait works the other way around. Instead of waiting at the perimeter, it gets carried home.

• Termites find the bait on their own. Subterranean termites forage constantly through the soil looking for cellulose. A station sitting in their path is simply another food source.
• They share it. Worker termites carry the bait back and feed it to the rest of the colony through normal food exchange, so it reaches insects that never visited the station.
• The colony stops replacing itself. The active ingredient in Sentricon’s Recruit HD bait is noviflumuron, an insect growth regulator that interferes with molting. Termites have to molt to grow. When they cannot, the colony loses its workers and, with them, its ability to feed the queen.

The word “Always Active” is the part that matters for how the system is serviced. Older baiting systems shipped with an inert piece of wood inside the station. A technician had to visit, find termite activity on that wood, and only then swap in the actual bait. Always Active stations contain bait from the day they go in the ground, so there is no monitoring phase and nothing waiting to be triggered.

Why Did Stations Appear at My Home?

Usually one of four reasons.

1. New construction. Many builders include termite protection as standard, and in some markets it is required. If the home is recently built, the stations likely went in before you did.
2. A recent service. Someone scheduled termite protection and installation happened on a weekday you were out.
3. A previous owner. Termite agreements often transfer with the property. The stations may predate you by years, along with a warranty you have inherited.
4. A proactive plan. In areas with steady subterranean pressure, plenty of homeowners install protection before there is any sign of a problem, which is the cheapest point at which to deal with termites.

If you are not sure which applies, the paperwork will say. Our explainer on the difference between a termite bond and a termite warranty covers what those agreements actually commit each side to.

How Often Do Termite Bait Stations Need to Be Checked?

For Sentricon Always Active stations, once a year. That is the interval Northwest works to, and it is what the manufacturer’s label allows. Sentricon states that “label directions for Always Active technology allow your Certified Sentricon Specialist to perform service once per year, though some will come more often.”

That surprises people who remember quarterly visits, so it is worth being clear about why the interval changed. It is not a reduction in protection. It is a consequence of the bait being in the station full time.

Annual is the standard interval, not a cap. If a station shows a hit, if there is a history of activity on the property, or if conditions around the structure change, a technician comes back more often. The agreement governs the specifics, so if you want the exact terms for your property, that document is the place to look.

Alongside station service, a Northwest termite agreement includes an annual interior inspection at no extra charge. That is the visit where a technician walks the inside of the home looking for the evidence covered in our guide to what termite inspectors look for.

Are Termite Bait Stations Safe Around Children and Pets?

This is the most common follow-up question, and it deserves a straight answer rather than a reassuring one.

Bait stations contain a registered pesticide. What makes them a low-exposure option is how and where the product sits:

• The bait is enclosed and below grade. The station is a locking housing installed in the ground. The bait is not loose in the soil and is not broadcast across the yard the way a spray would be.
• The active ingredient targets a process insects depend on. Noviflumuron is an insect growth regulator. It disrupts molting, which is central to how insects grow and irrelevant to mammals.
• It stays where it is put. According to the manufacturer, the active ingredient is not systemic, so it is not taken up by nearby plants, and the potential for leaching is very low. That is the reason stations can sit near vegetable beds and ornamentals without a separate conversation.
• It is EPA registered. Recruit HD is registered with the Environmental Protection Agency under registration number 62719-608. The Sentricon system also received the EPA’s Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Award in 2000, in the Designing Greener Chemicals category.

The practical guidance is the same as for anything else in the yard: leave the stations closed, do not let children pry at the lids, and if a station has been broken open or dug up by a dog, call your provider rather than handling the contents.

What Should You Do If You Have Stations in Your Yard?

Very little, which is the point. Four things are worth knowing.

• Leave them where they are. Placement is deliberate. Stations are positioned to intercept termites along the routes they actually travel, and moving one to tidy up a flower bed takes it out of that path.
• Keep the lids findable. Mulch, grass clippings, pine straw, and soil wash over the lids across a year. A quick clear before a scheduled service saves the technician from probing for a buried station.
• Do not cover or pave over them. Landscape fabric, stacked pavers, planters, and stored equipment all block access. If a project is going to change the grade or hardscape near the foundation, tell your provider first so stations can be relocated properly.
• Report damage. Mower decks, string trimmers, and contractors take out stations regularly. A cracked or missing station is a gap in the ring, and replacing it is routine.

Mowing over a lid is not a disaster. Leaving the gap unreported for a year is the part that costs something.

Bait Stations or Liquid Treatment: Which Is Right?

Both are legitimate. They solve the problem differently and suit different properties.

Which one fits depends on the construction of the home, the soil, the drainage, and what the property’s termite history looks like. Our post on the benefits of termite baiting systems goes further into where baiting has the advantage, and Northwest’s termite control service covers both approaches.

For background on the species these systems are built around, the National Pest Management Association maintains a profile of subterranean termites and the damage they cause.

What If You Don’t Have Green Stations?

No stations means no active termite protection, and that is worth knowing rather than assuming. Subterranean termites do not care how old a house is or how well it was built. They need wood and moisture, and every home has the first.

The economics are lopsided in an unusual way for home maintenance. The National Pest Management Association puts termite damage at more than $5 billion a year in the United States, and that damage is typically not covered by homeowners insurance. Prevention and monitoring cost a fraction of structural repair, and an inspection establishes whether there is existing activity and what the property’s actual risk looks like.

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What to Take Away

Green circles in the yard are not a problem. They are the evidence that someone already dealt with one. Leave them in place, keep them clear, report damage, and expect a technician once a year.

If you are unsure whether your home has active protection, or you have inherited stations with paperwork you have never seen, a termite inspection will tell you where you stand.

About the Author

Anna Vaccaro, Editorial Lead — Pest Education, leads pest education content for Northwest Exterminating, working with senior technicians and service center managers across our Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, and South Carolina service areas to translate field expertise into homeowner-friendly guides. The focus: accurate, regionally-specific answers to the pest questions Southeast homeowners are actually searching for.