WOOD YOU BELIEVE IT? E-MAIL SPREADING TALES OF MULCH-MUNCHING TERMITES

Friday March 24, 2006

They are as welcome as a head cold, and setting them straight is as easy as putting fog in your pocket. Urban legends. Like ghost stories told in the dark of night, the scarier the better, and the fabricated warning about the threat of invasion by the formidable Formosan termite is a winner.

The hoax arrives by e-mail, a dire warning that the Formosan termite – an extremely destructive species with a voracious appetite – is leaving hurricane-hammered New Orleans in bags of garden mulch. According to the anonymous missive, infested trees downed by Hurricane Katrina, as well as tons of debris, are being ground into mulch, the contaminated products are going to show up in retail centers at “dirt cheap prices,” and the hitchhiking termites will go home with unsuspecting buyers.

The facts: There really is a Formosan termite, and it really has been identified in New Orleans and the surrounding areas. But the appearance is hardly news. New Orleans was a main port of entry for the invader that arrived after World War II. Shortly after Hurricane Katrina hit the Louisiana coast, the infested parishes were quarantined to make sure contaminated materials were contained. The only place the post-hurricane debris goes is to approved landfills.

According to John Cauthen, president of Forestry Resources Inc., the message is not only bogus, it is by now a rumor gone wild.

Forestry Resources is an industry leader in the manufacturing of environmentally friendly landscape materials for wholesale and retail distribution. FloriMulch, the company’s signature product, is one of three melaleuca mulches developed by the Fort Myers-based company.

“Southwest Florida residents have absolutely zero to be concerned about,” Cauthen said of the Formosan termite scare. In addition to the quarantine that blocks movement of materials out of the New Orleans area, he said, “Mulch has never been a desirable habitat for termites.”

When an urban legend gains momentum, people sometimes have a knee-jerk reaction, said Cauthen. “In this case, the erroneous claim about termites in mulch could create a bad perception of a good product, and landscapes would be among the victims.”

According to Cauthen, the value of mulch reaches beyond aesthetics and weed control to include soil enrichment, a natural fertilizer that nourishes landscape materials.

“We are fielding calls from people who are asking for reassurance that we are not using termite-infested wood from the New Orleans area,” he said. “Of course we are not, but there is something people can do on their own to check a product. Look for the Mulch and Soil Council symbol on the back of a bag of mulch,” he advised. “Certification by the council means products have been tested and meet rigid industry standards.”

If you are tempted by bargains and fear you might be lured by the promise of cheap mulch, don’t give it a thought. In an odd twist, Cauthen said, even if the material was free for the taking, trucking costs alone would push the price to $2 higher per bag than regular retail products.

“This e-mail hoax has circled the world, and it is showing up on Web sites all over the Internet,” Cauthen added. “People often believe that if something appears in an e-mail or on the Internet, it must be true. That is what gives urban legends life.”

For information about Forestry Resources, landscaping and landscape products, and the Southwest Florida environment, visit www.gomulch.com.