Cleaning up wood debris after a hurricane or other severe windstorm can spread one of Louisiana’s most destructive pests – the Formosan subterranean termite.
Good link, thanks Joe
Thanks
Mic
This has been circulated around here in Maine:
For all you mulch buyers:
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.
Not sure how much truth to all this but thought it seemed relavent to this post.
I’ve heard that this is a scam.
A notice from Home Depot…
Important Notice Concerning Mulch
SUMMARY
There is a false rumor being e-mailed to the public, which warns that The Home Depot may be selling mulch made from fallen trees resulting from Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans. It states that there is a possibility this mulch will contain a very dangerous termite, called the Formosan Termite, found in certain parts of the New Orleans area. This statement also references an LSU Web site in an attempt to add legitimacy.
Our customers can feel confident that the mulch they purchase from The Home Depot is of the highest quality. The Home Depot does not and will not sell mulch from termite-infested trees. Additionally, The Home Depot does not use any mulch suppliers from the New Orleans area. We have very strict policies and procedures in place to ensure the integrity of the mulch products sold in our stores. In fact, all our mulch suppliers are required to be certified by the Mulch and Soil Council (MSC), who created the industry standards and criteria for mulch and soil certification and inspection. You can find the MSC certification on the back of every bag.
You should also be aware that on Oct. 3, 2005, the Louisiana Department of Agriculture enacted a quarantine on all hurricane-related damaged materials and goods. This includes wood waste from destroyed homes, fallen trees, debris, etc. No such materials or goods are allowed to leave the 12-province area of New Orleans, where this quarantine is being enforced. This essentially assures that the selling and transporting of these fallen trees, either intact or as ground up fiber, is prohibited. Additionally, according to the experts, the practical survivability of a soft-bodied insect - such as the termite - withstanding the violent environment inside the mulch grinding process or the high temperatures (130F -160F) of mulch storage, packages and pallet stacks is extremely unlikely. There are no reported instances of any of this purported New Orleans mulch entering the marketplace.