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We heard from some worried gardeners here at Home last week. They had been receiving e-mails telling them that left over debris and tree limbs from the area devastated by hurricane Katrina would be turned into mulch and shipped to Spokane.

What’s there to worry about, you ask. Well, the e-mails go on to explain that with the mulch would come a large-scale infestation of Formosan Subterranean termites – a guerilla termite that chews through houses, in 11 Southern states, faster than you can say exterminator but is unknown in the Inland Northwest.

Here’s the good news: After a few phone calls and e-mails around the country, it turns out that the termite invasion is a hoax from one end to another.

The Mulch and Soil Council (yes there is such a thing) has issued a statement saying that a Formosan termite infestation is unlikely to spread via mulch.

“It’s a hoax. Essentially it’s an ounce of truth diluted by a ton of fabrication,” says Robert LaGasse, spokesman for the Mulch Council. “You will not find an entomologist anywhere who will tell you that a Formosan termite would survive the grating process that it takes to make the mulch. At least we couldn’t.”

Formosan termites are a big problem in Southern states, where they are known to chew through houses in record time.

The termite is not hard-bodied (like an ant), and it lives in colonies much like bees do. Those are two reasons why a Formosan termite or egg wouldn’t pose a treat to anyone gardening in Spokane.

“When the mulch is made and packed, a lot of heat develops inside the mulch,” says LaGasse. “Any eggs or live termites can’t survive that. They prefer 57 degrees.”

At the other end of the scale, Formosan termites can’t survive temperatures below 20, LaGasse adds. Even if an egg would hatch in Spokane, a young termite is lost without its colony.

Those termites who unintentionally catch a ride from one county to the next, are most often transported inside an intact hive, deep in a piece of lumber or wood, or inside recycled construction material like doors and beams.

“That’s why we have a quarantine area,” says LaGasse.

The Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry has issued a quarantine for 12 parishes that were hit by Hurricane Katrina. This means that wood and cellulose material can not be moved out of those parishes without approval from state inspectors.

“And you know, with diesel being more than two bucks a gallon, I don’t think anyone would ever think of shipping mulch as far away as Spokane,” LaGasse says. “It’s a hoax.”