Please do not buy Cypress Mulch

[BOSSHOG]

The Louisiana wetlands are having a tough enough time fending off mother nature, but with the harvesting of Cypress trees for mulch the going is getting worse. Lets give the Cypress a break for awhile and vote with our wallets.

Thanks very much for your consideration.

[WatchWhatISay]

1. Thanks for letting me know

Its easy enough to avoid buying it

[Robbien]

2. So true. Why kill a tree to grow a flower.

Thanks for the reminder.

[TallahasseeGrannie]

3. I had no idea, Boss

you've raised my consciousness.


TG

[Ian David]

4. Too bad we can't turn the post-Katrina debris into mulch

What are they going to do with all the wood from the destroyed houses?

[BOSSHOG]

5. Incredibly

A lot of it has turned into Art Mediums. We went to an Arts Festival in New Orleans Saturday and there was a lot of use of wood from destroyed homes for frames and pieces of art with the very nice Cajun touch. Also a Lady had been salvaging a lot of discarded metal (tools, nails, screws) and was making Fleu-di-lis' out of the stuff. Pretty neat.

[yowzayowzayowza]

10. It was being sold here in Houston, til they found out...

...it included insects .... termites as I recall.

[mom cat]

9. Because it is laden with mold and toxins.

[Wickerman]

6. thanks

I also did not know.

[lefthandedskyhook]

7. Thanks for the tip.

We bought 1/4 yd before Katrina and will buy no more unless and until the trouble subsides.

[Gregorian]

8. While you're at it, don't buy lumber.

Our forests are being shipped down highways.

I'm almost joking. How can one not build a house to live in?

I won't buy Cypress Mulch.

The reality is, there are too many of us munching on this one pathetic puny planet.

[Maraya1969]

11. I will never buy a new house. There are plenty that have already

used up so many resources and I cringe every time I drive down the highway and see hundreds of them being built

[lindisfarne]

14. There are alternatives to wood for housing, or at least ways to greatly reduce the

wood used. Pre-fabricated is one way (although you're using insulation which off-gases) but straw bales are another way.

[YOY]

12. Don't buy "old growth" you mean

I have no problem buying engineered 'tree farm' forests.

Neither should anyone. They replant. They harvest. Just like any other farm.

Old growth on the other hand. Not if it were dirt cheap.

[texpatriot2004]

13. I thought Cypress trees were good for building, why would they

be used for mulch? I was in Louisiana once and my friend was showing me this house his grandfather or great-grandfather had built. The house was almost 100 years old and the floors were made from Cypress wood.

[BeFree]

15. The Old Growth Cypress

was great for building. Of course, that lumber came from trees that were centuries old. Now the average age of cypress trees is now somewhere around 50 years. There are hardly any cypress trees over 20" diameter. Some of the old - virgin cypress were 7 or 8 feet around.

Cypress grows in wet areas; places that people want to fill. They go in and mow down all the small trees and mulch them and fill in the hole that remains.

Bosshog is correct: Don't buy cypress mulch.