DE isn't harmful to the lungs unless you make a point of fluffing it into a cloud and then inhaling it. DE from fresh-water sources (Food grade) is less irritating to the lungs than DE from salt-water sources. You can use one of those common dust masks if you want. I've used DE on our version of the fire ant, the thatch ant. I tried everything I could think of: boiling water, vinegar, bleach, poisoned sugar water, poisoned meat. I got a pound of DE and sprinkled it over the mounds. It slowed them down, but didn't stop them. Then I found a fifty-pound bag of DE for $15 and got it. Since DE is quite light, it's a BIG bag. I took a 3-lb coffee can and coated the mounds with DE half an inch thick. If it didn't penetrate their carapace, by golly, I was gonna make 'em CHOKE on it! Well, I guess I had put it on thick enough (!) so all the ants were forced to wade through it and take it into the nest area to the queen. It got them, and they haven't come back. And I see no mounds anywhere else, either (in the past, I had annoyed them so they moved). The stuff is cheap, and non-toxic to earthworms, bees, pets and kids. It's safe to eat, and it even contains trace amounts of desirable minerals. It works by sucking the moisture from the insects' bodies, including fleas and cockroaches. If you looked at DE under a microscope, you would swear you were looking at sharp shards of glass. Some information says it takes one to three days to kill the insects. DE only works when it is dry. And because it acts physically, not chemically, the insects can't become resistant to it. To make sure you're getting the non-toxic kind, make sure it says something like CODEX FOOD GRADE. Call around to your local farm supply stores -- some of them should carry it, as farmers like to mix it with grain and feed it to their livestock, as it's also supposed to help keep flies down. NEVER get the kind that is mixed with an insecticide, or the kind that is used for swimming pool filters. Stick to the food grade kind. Sue

So, digdirt et al.. yea or nay to tilling this into the soil after a 9 month growing season? Kevin Do you mean tilling in the stuff from the site you linked to or tilling in wood chips in general? Tilling in what were fresh wood chips after 9 months - my answer would be no. They aren't sufficiently composted yet. If you also tilled in a high nitrogen source at the same time it would probably be ok but nothing gained. Tilling in what were already well-composted wood chips that were used as a mulch for an additional 9 months - no problem. Tilling in what you linked to - I'd have to see it to know. it is only composted for 15 days. But then I would never use wood chips of any kind that still looked like wood chips in my gardens for many reason detailed above. Just look at all the posts we have had here this year alone from folks who filled their raised beds with a mix that included lots of wood chips and now nothing will grow. I too get free dumps from local tree trimmers but they get stockpiled and hot composted for 2 years before use in the vegetable gardens because by then they aren't wood chips any longer. Dave

I have not found DE to be of much help in garden beds for controlling ants; a small amount of water negates any benefits. Ants can certainly be a big problem for some plants. They are very destructive on a couple of my potted roses, farming aphids with a vengeance, and disturbing the soil. I usually have good luck with one of the ant baits, either that made for fat or sweet eating ants, but there are some small black ants that mostly ignore both these baits. Unfortunately, the only control of these ants I've found is an ant spray, or a soil application at the entrance to their nest. The ants can ruin some pepper plants by their vigorous aphid farming, and also by the way they produce so many holes in the soil that drainage is so fast that the soil does not wet all the way around the plant. For the potted pepper plants I have even tried soaking the entire pot in water for hours. The ants return soon after the pot is taken out of the water. I used to allow ants in the garden, but my current negative experiences are causing me to have a no tolerance approach for them. Renais This post was edited by Renais1 on Mon, Sep 8, 14 at 15:31

I doubt very much that Ortho Max is a product that should be used in the vegetable garden! Petzold, if you can find a label that indicates such use, I would sure like to see it. I don't know of any Ortho Max product that doesn't contain bifenthrin as the active ingredient, a chemical with some very, very hazardous characteristics. diddy, ant often colonize artificial and improved soil sites. Can't blame them really, with all of that loose soil. They can become a nuisance under such conditions and you shouldn't feel like you need to put up with them. There are some ant bait products on the market with Spinosad as the active ingredient. Spinosad in safe for use around veggies and other edible crops, pets, people, birds, etc. It has to be ingested (by the insect) in order to work, and thus will affect only those insects that are attracted to and will eat the bait. Be sure to be a good label reader so that you purchase the spinosad product as a BAIT, and not as a dust or spray. Here is a link that might be useful: click here for pesticide information