Sentricon is a termite bait-station system made by Corteva Agriscience. (Plain disclosure: this site is a dispatch service with no affiliation with Corteva — we’re describing the system factually because Mobile homeowners ask about it constantly.) The idea is simple and genuinely different from spraying: instead of putting a chemical between the termites and your house, bait stations put a slow-acting bait into the colony itself.

Here’s the mechanism, step by step:

• In-ground stations circle the house. Cylindrical stations go into the soil around the foundation perimeter at regular intervals set by the product label, sitting flush with the ground.
• Foraging termites find the bait. The stations hold a cellulose bait matrix laced with noviflumuron — a chitin-synthesis inhibitor. Termites feed on it and, because colonies share food mouth-to-mouth, carry it back and spread it through the nest.
• The colony fails at molting. Noviflumuron doesn’t kill on contact; it quietly prevents workers from molting. Over weeks to months the workforce collapses, and the colony declines toward elimination — the queen included. That colony-level action is the whole point of bait.
• Monitoring continues. The operator checks stations on a scheduled cadence — typically an annual service visit, with closer attention when a station shows a hit — and the stations stay in service as a long-term monitoring ring.

A liquid termiticide treatment — the Termidor-style approach — works on the opposite philosophy. The operator trenches (and on slab homes, drills) to place a treated zone in the soil against the foundation. Termites that tunnel through it are affected and the structure gets immediate chemical protection, but the treatment targets the termites that come to the house rather than setting out to take down the colony as a whole. Both approaches are legitimate, label-regulated tools that ADAI-licensed operators use across Mobile and Baldwin County every week. Neither one is automatically the right answer — and any pitch that says otherwise, in either direction, is a sales pitch rather than an inspection finding.

Mobile isn’t a neutral market for termite decisions. A few local facts push bait systems into more conversations here than in most of Alabama:

• Formosan colonies are enormous. Mobile has carried heavy Formosan subterranean termite pressure since the species arrived through the port decades ago, and Formosan colonies run several times the size of native colonies — into the millions. A colony-elimination approach is attractive against an enemy that big, which is why bait systems earned their reputation in Gulf Coast Formosan country.
• The water table is high and the rain is heavy. Roughly 65 inches of rain a year and low-lying, sandy-to-loamy coastal soils complicate everything below grade. Saturated soil is a real consideration when an operator weighs how a liquid treated zone will establish and persist — and it’s a big part of the “slab and soil” question only an on-site inspection answers.
• Slab construction cuts both ways. Liquid treatment on a slab home usually means drilling through the slab or hardscape at intervals; bait stations go into the soil outside without drilling. On the other hand, a bad drainage pattern or constant landscaping disturbance can argue against stations. Trade-offs, not absolutes.
• Bonds and paperwork matter here. In Formosan country, lenders and buyers care about continuous termite coverage. Whichever system is installed, the service agreement — what Alabama calls the termite bond — and the annual inspection that keeps it current are as important as the chemistry.

None of this makes bait “the winner.” Plenty of Mobile homes are well protected by liquid treatments, and operators here install both, often choosing differently from one street to the next. The point is that the choice is a property-level engineering decision, not a brand-loyalty one.

• “Bait or liquid for this house — and why?” The answer should reference your slab type, soil, drainage, and inspection findings, not just what the company prefers to sell. Make them show their work.
• “What’s your ADAI license number?” Every legitimate Alabama operator has one, and the Pesticide Management Section in Montgomery — (334) 240-7240 — can confirm it. Termite work has its own certification category, so ask about that specifically.
• “What’s the station spacing and the monitoring cadence?” If bait is proposed: how many stations, how far apart per the label, when they get checked, and what happens when one shows a hit.
• “What kind of bond comes with this?” Alabama service agreements come in retreatment-only and repair-and-retreatment flavors, and the difference matters enormously at claim time. Get the category and the renewal terms in writing.
• “What happens if I sell the house?” Ask whether the agreement transfers to a buyer — in Formosan country, a transferable bond is a genuine selling point at closing time.