Re: termite mulch

yes, its been making the rounds heavily.
Poisoned mulch--made using CCA treated wood and railroad ties damaged in storms--showed up in large amounts in Florida last year and was reported on brilliantly by the Miami Herald. That's the biggest danger after a big storm--toxic debris being chipped up and sold for landscape use.
Don't know how real this danger is. The part about Formosans only being well established in New Orleans is totally wrong, which makes me wonder if this is just one of those hoax emails. (Originally from Asia, Formosans are a plague all though the Southern US; they are ubiquitous, I hear, in Florida.)
And I don't think they especially do trees; being subterranean, like the only Northeastern species, they tend to live in the ground until they find a nice house to chew.
Even so, one would likely see eggs, adults and such visible in the mulch; and I don't think the Queens would enjoy the chipping experience much.
Plus these termites can't survive Northern winters, and I 'spect they're already pretty well established in areas warm enough for winter survival.
Better to remember that ANY mulch--even stone--can lead to termites like this entering a home if the mulch goes right up to the side of the house.
---Mike McG

PS: I just read the subject line again and thought "Gee--you'd sure need a lot of termites..."


----- Original Message ----- From: "Sunnye Dreyfus" <wormjava@gmail.com>
To: <community_garden@mallorn.com>
Sent: Friday, March 03, 2006 1:32 PM
Subject: [cg] termite mulch


Has anyone heard about this?

Sunnye

Click here: LSU AgCenter . Formosan Subterranean Termites Portal
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 cou ntry
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.


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