Termite Control in Greer, SC

The Local Threat

Why Termite Control in Greer Isn’t One-Size-Fits-All

A lot of pest control companies sell every homeowner in the Upstate on Formosan termite protection, regardless of whether that species has actually been documented in the area. Clemson University’s Home & Garden Information Center, which tracks Formosan termite distribution from research and citizen reports, documents established colonies in sixteen counties — Aiken, Bamberg, Beaufort, Berkeley, Charleston, Colleton, Dorchester, Georgetown, Horry, Jasper, Lexington, Orangeburg, Pickens, Richland, Sumter and York — concentrated in the coastal counties from Charleston south to Beaufort. Neither Greenville County nor Spartanburg County, the two counties Greer spans, appears on that list. Clemson says drywood termites are most common along the humid coast; inland, its statewide survey found the powderpost drywood termite only occasionally in structures, Spartanburg County among the counties named, and the survey's new state record of the western drywood termite came from a couch in Greenville County. Clemson also notes that a county on the list does not mean the species is spread evenly through it, and that Formosan could expand into counties adjacent to those already named. The two inland finds it has documented, in York and Pickens counties, both appeared to be isolated infestations carried in on old railroad ties reused as retaining walls; both were treated, and follow-up surveys have not found Formosans in either county since. Reclaimed crossties set against a foundation are worth pointing out to your technician.

What is genuinely well-documented across Greer is the native Eastern subterranean termite, one of the two termites Clemson's statewide survey found most commonly, and found throughout South Carolina. The conditions that attract it differ meaningfully from zone to zone. The seasonally moist shoreline of Lake Robinson, Lake Cunningham, Apalache Lake, and the South Tyger River gives this species exactly the damp soil conditions it favors. Around Greer Station and the historic downtown, aging construction has accumulated wood-to-soil contact points typical of older properties, even though citywide Census Bureau survey estimates put only 698 of Greer’s 17,551 homes before 1940 and the median home at 2003. Irrigated landscaping common to the newer commercial and industrial development near the BMW manufacturing campus and I-85 corridor retains moisture close to structures. Similar irrigated landscaping near the GSP Airport corridor carries comparable risk. And on the rural outskirts in Spartanburg County and in former mill villages, outbuildings, sheds, firewood piles, and old tree stumps create far more wood-to-soil contact than a typical in-town lot.