Termites from N.O. Mulch Warning

[Jeff Silvey]

To All:
Just got an email from our county health department warning about mulch that is being shipped from New Orleans that are infested with Formosan Termites. They are turning trees that were blown down during the hurricane in August. These trees were already dead. This mulch is going to be dirt cheap, they said that it will be avaliable at Lowes,Home Depot, in bags or who ever wants to haul the junk away from N.O.
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 freinds & familys. I hope I dont affend any one that lives down in that area.
Jeff

[Don McCombs]

Better read this before you react:

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

[John *.?-!.* cub owner]

There was an article about that on the local news, and one other thing they mentioned was you would need at least a partial colony with the QUEEN for them to be a problem.

[Jeff Silvey]

Don:
I guest I should have do some research . You know the goverments.

John:
I know that they need a queen & king. I have subterrain at my house .

I was just trying to help. I know some firefighters that is on a Task Force team that went down their to help. They said its was a mess.
Jeff

[400lbsonacubseatspring]

Well,

It's always better to be safe than sorry, Jeff.

In my opinion, decorative organic mulches imported from other areas are a good way to bring all manner of insects and disease onto your property.

There has to be something local that almost everyone can find to use, that at least isn't downright hideous.

Remembering that virtually everything that annoys us on a regular basis was once imported from somewhere, including rats, gypsy moth, english sparrow, japanese beetles, and now emerald ash borer, I'd rather that everyone erred on the side of caution.

It occurs to me that if they took all of that deadwood from the New Orleans area, and added it to all the wood from the demolition that will be ongoing, they could make a lot of charcoal, with which we could sequester a whole lot of carbon, instead of making mulch out of it, which breaks down within 5 years, releasing all of its constituent carbon back into the atmosphere.

The world likes the "chip and rot" method of dealing with wood waste, however. No diseases or insects could survive the pyrolization conversion to charcoal.

It's time for a bit of improvement in our global housekeeping, I think, if we ultimately wish to control the spread of agricultural diseases and pests.

[cowboy]

Tom

How right you are. When I was running a trash compactor in the landfill. I would end up with a "cold" seems like every three weeks We used demo builings to cover the top of the dump to drive on. All the molds and fungus it them were horrible. Ten minutes after the waterwagon went by their would be clouds of dust agin covering the machine. Turning it to charcoal would stearilse it too.

Billy

[Russell F]

Well,

Remembering that virtually everything that annoys us on a regular basis was once imported from somewhere, including rats, gypsy moth, english sparrow, japanese beetles, and now emerald ash borer, I'd rather that everyone erred on the side of caution.

I wonder if my Isuzu falls into this catorgory, it was imported and it annoys the hell out of me sometimes.

And my underwear is imported, it's itchy and annoying sometimes...and my china socks have holes in em...and my taiwan work boots stink... i guess all imported things do eventually become a annoyance...

And we havn't even mentioned Kudzu yet...I had some i sprayed with round-up, till it took the sprayer from me and chased me off... thats some mean stuff


Russell

[Ron L]

Russell. I guess the american indians can say that about us, too ....

[400lbsonacubseatspring]

Russell. I guess the american indians can say that about us, too ....

I think they do, constantly.

Except for the ones who own the Casinos now.

If the native americans had turned the earliest explorers into charcoal, like Columbus, and the other spanish in the 15th Century, the thought that the earth was flat would have persevered for centuries more, and they would have been safe for some time.

Eventually, someone would have figured it out, though, I suspect. Oh but how the history of the world might have been changed, though. Maybe not for the better, however. Modern man has a long list of extinctions under his belt. The near extinction of the aboriginal peoples of North America, Australia, and New Zealand are at least that -- near extinctions. small consolations, but consolations nonetheless.