Does Anyone Know If This Is True?

[ktschris]

I've seen this email floating around for a couple of days now and was just wondering if anyone knew if it was true or just another internet myth?


For any of my fellow garden enthusiasts....

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 Lowes 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.


There was a link in the email for LSU AgCenter, but you need a password to get in.

 

[Sheila]

I've seen this email floating around for a couple of days now and was just wondering if anyone knew if it was true or just another internet myth?


For any of my fellow garden enthusiasts....

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 Lowes 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.


There was a link in the email for LSU AgCenter, but you need a password to get in.

I hope not! Think I'll have to stick to pine bark and pine straw though. Thanks for posting this.

 

[kathydwells]

I checked this out on snopes. Here is the link:

http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/household/termites.asp

 

[Jdarg]

Our Lowe's and Home Depots only sell bagged mulch. If you buy bulk mulch by the scoop from local garden centers that aren't big chains, you will have a better chance of finding the mulch's "place of birth". Maybe worth having some delivered or renting a pickup for the day if you don't have one or can't borrow one. As the Snopes article said- who knows? I'm sure that this year isn't the first time diseased/parasite ridden trees have been sold as mulch though.

 

[OhioBeachBum]

I checked this out on snopes. Here is the link:

http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/household/termites.asp

The first place I always go (snopes.com) to answer those "Is this really true ('cause I got this email...)?" questions. ;-)

 

[kathydwells]

The first place I always go (snopes.com) to answer those "Is this really true ('cause I got this email...)?" questions. ;-)

Me too, OBB and anything else that seems suspicious or to good to be true!!!!