Officials: Termite invasion unlikely in Tier

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Wednesday March 8, 2006 NEWS

Officials: Termite invasion unlikely in Tier

Some fear pests are in Gulf mulch

http://www.pressconnects.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?

AID=/20060308/NEWS01/603080314/1006

CHUCK HAUPT / Press & Sun-Bulletin

Binghamton,NY

Gerry , a landscape designer with W & W Nursery and Landscaping

in Apalachin, said the company gets all of its mulch, mostly

hardwoods, from New York and Pennsylvania.

MULCH TIPS

•Avoid wood mulches, which have been associated with fungi and may

attract bugs.

•Find out where the mulch is coming from. If it's ground locally, it

will not contain Formosan termites.

•Pick a stone or bulk mulch, which may prevent or reduce fungi or

bug problems.

•If you already have a fungi-infested mulch, put a layer of pure

bark over it, but don't over-mulch. Too much cover could take oxygen

away from the soil.

Source: W & W Nursery & Landscaping, Apalachin

By DENA PAULING

Press & Sun-Bulletin

A rapidly circulating e-mail saying that a nasty type of termite is

hitching a ride to New York from Louisiana in cheap mulch isn't

true - but mulch can still carry hidden problems.

The e-mail warns customers not to buy wood mulch from stores because

debris left behind after Gulf Coast hurricanes has been ground up

into mulch that may be infested with Formosan termites. While it's

true that the insects have spread rapidly in the Gulf states and can

live in mulch, the Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry

has issued quarantines to stop them from spreading.

" It is basically a rumor, " said Cornell University Entomologist

Carolyn Klass. " This has been discussed among entomologists, and it

is agreed that the Formosan termite probably could not survive in

our climate and it's highly unlikely that it will go into the stores

in bags of mulch. "

The false alarm, however, may not be completely without merit. There

are good and bad mulches, and when concerns like those raised in the

e-mail circulate, people may start paying more attention to the

products they buy, experts say.

" I'm glad Hurricane Katrina is making people aware of the situation,

but this has been going on for a long time, " said Ken ,

owner of W & W Nursery & Landscaping in Apalachin. " When you get

pallets from overseas, for example, there could be eggs burrowed

into them. This is how we've gotten dangerous insects into the

country. "

The shotgun or artillery fungus - which can cause allergies and

stain siding - can be in wood mulch locally, he said. According to

Cornell, it appears as tiny dark spots on houses or plants and is

virtually impossible to remove.

The fungus has been associated with wood mulch and wood products

used in landscaping. To avoid it, some landscaping and mulching

companies, like W & W Nursery, stick to bark as their primary mulch

material instead of wood.

" A lot of people like the double ground hardwood, but we don't sell

it because it is so sour-smelling. It has fungus in it, "

said. " Pure pine barks or cedars are a lot cleaner. "

There also is a greater chance that a non-wood mulch won't contain

bugs. While subterranean termites are a lesser pest when compared to

Formosans, they are present in the Southern Tier and can wreak havoc

on homes. They don't eat wood but hollow it out to make a home, said

Ritter of Binghamton, who's operated a bug-killing business

since 1987 and has seen subterranean termites in mulch.

Homeowners know they have them when they see them swarming into

their homes, but termites aren't always visible, he said. Sometimes,

the insects will create quarter-inch thick " mud tunnels " out of dirt

and that's another way to spot them. But a homeowner's best defense,

Ritter said, is to have an inspection once a year. On average, it

takes two years to kill termites through poison traps, he said.

The biggest local bug problem is carpenter ants, which are longer

than a quarter-inch and also are attracted to wood.

" For every termite call I get, I get at least 40 or 50 calls for

carpenter ants and they do more damage quicker than a termite will, "

Ritter said. " I've seen two-by-fours crush in your hand from

carpenter ants and been in homes with up to six nests and owners who

said they've never seen an ant in the house. "