madgardener wrote:

"Dwayne" wrote in message
...

Your heart was in the right place. You responded to a potential problem
that may have effected all of us. I for one appreciate your taking the
action.

Dwayne


thank you Dwayne. As it turns out, there is good reason not to completely
believe what they're saying to us about the potential for contaminated
mulch. But I'm keeping my mouth shut and waiting for the people who LIVE
down there and are AWARE to keep us informed. I'm up here in Tennessee, and
I know I won't be buying cheaply priced mulch just to be safe. Off to play
in the yard..........
maddie


Well, here you go. I live in SW Louisiana, about 35 miles from the Texas
border. More than 1.1 million trees were blown down by Rita in SE TX and
SW LA. Most of those in residential areas were gathered up by FEMA
contractors and ground up. The remains were then hauled off some place
we're not aware of. Probably 50% of the oak and other hardwood trees in
my area were infested with Formosan termites. I know for a fact that two
of mine were as I saw them when we cut out and ground the stumps. It's
been that way for years and we all spend lots of money trying to keep
them out of our houses.

We mostly buy pine or cypress bark mulch that is taken during logging
operations. The city here does compost stuff they grind up, smaller
limbs, etc. and I have used that on my property but it's not harboring
termites of any persuasion.

I'm not positive but have heard that the Formosan's will only live in a
warm climate. Basically I wouldn't risk it as the only way to get rid of
the Formosa termites that I know of is to tent your house and pump
really poisonous gas into it for a few days. HTH

George