Mulch ado about nothing
Experts try to exterminate Internet termite rumor

Nicole Lozare
@PensacolaNewsJournal.com
For two weeks now, The Home Depot spokesman Don Harrison has been like a soldier at war trying his darnedest to counter a determined enemy.

The opposition -- an Internet rumor spreading faster than a rumor at the office water cooler.

According to the rumor, Formosan termite-infested trees in New Orleans that were damaged by Hurricane Katrina are being turned into mulch and sold by the state to companies such as The Home Depot and Lowe's. The unforgiving Formosan termite long has been a serious problem in southern Louisiana.

The e-mail, which has been circulating since February, warns homeowners against buying the termite-filled mulch, which is sold at cheaper prices.

It's the top-listed urban legend this past week at About.com.

"This is not something we would do to our customers," Harrison said. "You spend too long building a relationship with a customer to do something this stupid. It's a wild rumor, and I would love to put it to rest once and for all."

Harrison has fielded nearly 100 calls from reporters throughout the nation about the rumor.

Both Lowe's and The Home Depot have issued statements explaining that they don't purchase mulch from Louisiana.

"Lowe's mulch vendors are members of the Mulch and Soil Council, a trade organization for gardening industry professionals that has rigorous standards and certifications to ensure that consumers are receiving mulch products that are the highest quality," Lowe's spokeswoman Jennifer Smith said.

In a news release, Bob Odom, Louisiana commissioner of Agriculture and Forestry, warned people not to believe everything they read on the Internet. The trees from the parishes affected by the hurricane are quarantined. Woody debris cannot be moved out of these areas without first submitting a plan for treatment to the department, the release states.

"We've yet to find any validity to the claims in the e-mail," Odom said. "In my opinion, someone is using the Internet to cause hysteria about a problem that doesn't really exist."

Ray Callahan, an operations manager for Ken Griffin Landscape Inc., said he plans to forward the e-mail to 150 local business and residential customers.

"I think it's probably (ridiculous)," Callahan said about the e-mail. "I don't think anyone would do anything like that -- like the mayor or the governor would ever approve of this. But I just want my customers to know I know about it. I'm sure I'll get questions about where my mulch is from."

For the record, the landscape company gets its mulch from Alabama.