Mulch Warning Not a Valid Concern

**SafariAng s*@yahoo.com**

From the Purdue Extension office, Indianapolis

Subject: Mulch Warning Not a Valid Concern (06-008)
Date:	Fri, 3 Mar 2006 00:07:07 -0500
From:	"Mayer, Steve L" 

Dear Master Gardeners,

The following mulch warning is being circulated via e-mail.  Note the
reply from a Purdue entomologist who specializes in urban and industrial
entomology.

Steve Mayer
Extension Educator-Horticulture
Purdue Extension-Marion County
6640 Intech Blvd., Suite 120
Indianapolis, IN 46278-2012
Phone: (317) 275-9305, Ext. 290
Fax: (317) 275-9309
E-mail: MayerSL@purdue.edu
Website: http://www.ces.purdue.edu/CES/Marion/HortCon.htm

**********************************************************

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 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.

**********************************************************

Reply to Mulch Warning

"I do not feel this is a valid concern.  The process of turning wood
into mulch would kill the termites.  If a termite or two did happen to
survive the process, they would die quickly because of the lack of the
social system (workers, soldiers, reproductives, etc. present in the
colony system that they maintain) so vital to termite survival."

Gary W. Bennett, Dept. of Entomology, 901 W. State Street, Purdue
University, W. Lafayette, IN 47907-2089.  (765) 494-4564
http://entm29.entm.purdue.edu/directory/entm/51.htm

**********************************************************

For More Info on Formosan Termites

The following contains information related to moving wood, not mulch:
http://www.agctr.lsu.edu/en/environment/insects/Termites/formosan_termit
es/

**********************************************************

Purdue University is an equal opportunity/equal access/affirmative
action institution.

---
angela herrmann
safariang@yahoo.com
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