Heads Up For Homeowners!

honeychile · #1 03-31-2006, 01:46 AM

I got an email on this, and am assuming it's true. If so, it's something to consider!

FYI...

Be careful if you plan to buy mulch this summer...

If you use mulch around your house, be very careful about buying mulch this year. Hurricanes Katrina and Rita blew over many trees in New Orleans. These trees were then turned into mulch. Louisiana is trying to get rid of tons and tons of this mulch to any state or company who will come and haul it away.

It will probably start showing up in Home Depot and Lowes at cheap prices. There's just 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 where the Formosan Termites have gotten a strong hold and most of the trees blown down were already badly infested with these termites. These termites can eat a house in no time at all and we have no good control against them.

Tell your friends that own homes to avoid using mulch that doesn't state where it came from or if it came from New Orleans.

Louisiana agricultural dept. web site http://www.agctr.lsu.edu/termites

kddani · #2 03-31-2006, 07:10 AM

www.snopes.com is your friend: http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/household/termites.asp

Really, anything you get forwarded via email like this is about 99 out of 100 times going to be totally ridiculously wrong.

AchtungBaby80 · #3 03-31-2006, 07:14 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by kddani
Really, anything you get forwarded via email like this is about 99 out of 100 times going to be totally ridiculously wrong.

Like the one about how freezing your plastic water bottles makes chemicals from the plastic leak into your water and give you cancer?

honeychile · #4 03-31-2006, 02:06 PM

The funny thing is, when I received this, I completely panicked because about 1/2 of my (3/4 of an acre) yard is mulched! Something told me to check snopes, but noooooo.....!

But be sure to read the WHOLE of the article, as it never says that it doesn't happen, but that the larger stores such as Home Depot, Lowes, etc are less likely to have the termite problem.

Also, the last time I got mulch, my batch had TONS of morning glory spores in it, which I'm still trying to destroy. My mother got a different batch, and it has a tough, prickly weed in it that causes a nasty rash when picked. I will NEVER get untreated mulch again!

Please also remember that one store's "very strict policies and procedures" are another's lack of any policy at all. One of the better examples I could use would be that of the use of the word Oraganic. Organic by whose standards? The government's? Or Farm Aid's (which doesn't allow pig or other raw sewage to be used in organically grown vegetables)?

AlphaFrog · #5 03-31-2006, 02:44 PM

My mom is a sucker for "OMG TEH PLANT WILL BLOW UP IF YOU DON'T SEND THIS EMAIL TO 291561 PEOPLE IN 13 SECONDS" emails. Not only that, but she sends them to her ENTIRE address book including her boss and my dad's boss, etc..so not only does she look like an idiot to her friends and family, but basically everyone she's ever met in her life.