Posted on 03/27/2006 1:34:52 AM PST by Global2010
A friend sent this and I thought it was a good idea to pass this on. Subject: FW: very important, make sure you read this Mulch warning If you use mulch around your house be very careful about buying mulch this year. After the Hurricane in New Orleans many trees were blown over. These trees were then turned into mulch and the state is trying to get rid of tons and tons of this mulch to any state or company who will come and haul it away. So it will be showing up in Home Depot and Lowe's at dirt cheap prices with one huge problem; Formosan Termites will be the bonus in many of those bags. New Orleans is one of the few areas in the country were the Formosan Termites has gotten a strong hold, and most of the trees blown down were already badly infested with those termites. Now we may have the worst case of transporting a problem to all parts of the country that we have ever had. These termites can eat a house in no time at all and we have no good control against them, so tell your friends that own homes to avoid cheap mulch and know were it came from. http://www.agctr.lsu.edu/termites/
Our local television news network made a comment about this so-called warning. There is no need to worry about termites or anything else they may not may not have been living in any of the trees from New Orleans. More than likely during the process of shredding and even the build up of heat would kill anything that was living in these trees. If you're truly concerned, buy your mulch from a local nursery.
I've been hearing of this for weeks. Add "mold" to the mix too. I use leaves for mulch anyhoo and things grow like weeds around here. *~*
Great, I can trade some bark beetle infected mulch from NM. The bark beetles only survive where it's dry. Let's see if the formosan termited like wood with a moisture content of 6% (our live trees - fyi, kiln dried lumber is ~15%).
Oops, Eucalyptus (sp)
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.