A fifty-year-old oak doesn’t keep its roots to itself. By the time a tree planted when Carrollwood Village went in has had five decades to grow, its root system has spread well past the trunk – under the lawn, across the property line, right up against the foundation. Termites didn’t put that network there. But once it exists, they can take advantage of the conditions around it.
Greenhouse is headquartered right here in Carrollwood, so this isn’t a theory we picked up from a training manual – it’s what our technician actually find on a weekly basis in a neighborhood where developed started around Lake Carroll in 1959, with Carrollwood Village following a decade later. Most homes here are 30 to 50 years old, and so is much of the landscaping around them.
What a Fifty-Year-Old Yard Gives Termites
Subterranean termites travel through soil, and mature root systems can contribute to the kind of established, disturbed, organically rich ground termites can take advantage of. A young tree on a newer property hasn’t built that network yet. An old oak in original Carrollwood or a decades-old landscape bed in Northdale has had decades to create those conditions.
Irrigation systems adds another layer. Many Carrollwood properties have been running the same irrigation lines for decades, and small leaks that develop with age – the kind that never shows up as an obvious wet spot – can keep soil near the foundation damp for years without anyone noticing. Combine that with mulch beds refreshed annually for half a century and tree roots already connecting the yard to the structure, and an established Carrollwood lot ends up with more of the conditions subterranean termites can take advantage of than a newer property nearby.
Irrigation systems add another layer. Many Carrollwood properties have been running the same irrigation lines for decades, and small leaks that develop with age – the kind that never show up as an obvious wet spot – can keep soil near the foundation damp for years without anyone noticing. Combine that with mulch beds refreshed annually for half a century and tree roots already connecting the yard to the structure, and an established Carrollwood lot ends up with more of the conditions subterranean termites can take advantage of than a newer property nearby.
