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Organic Gardening

diatomaceous earth

12 years ago

Last year I had some vegetables that started falling at the base of the plant. Upon further inspection I found what seems to be termites which have destroyed the plants.

So I looked into Diatomaceous earth. Some claim that it works against them, so I think I'm gonna give it a shot this year. I'll probably work into the soil where I plant.

As I read more i found that people feed DE to their pets in small doses along with their normal food to kill or prevent parasites and even maggots in animal droppings.

Is DE completely safe for dogs and kids? What safety precautions should I take when I use this?

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Comments (5)

Kimmsr
12 years ago
If you eat anything containing flour, corn meal, or many other grains you are ingesting Diamotaceous Earth, because it is added by the millers of grains to help protect against the grain moth. Cutworms, but not termites, might clip seedlings off at the base. The termites that we would see would feed on dry cellulose and not living plants.
When applying DE be careful to not breath in the dust, while not harmful in your digestive system it does not do good things to your lungs.
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dancinglemons
12 years ago
Safety precautions:

Dust mask while handling and/or working with/around DE. I also wear protective gloves because I always have gloves on when working with my garden/yard.

I use it (DE) and love it!

DL
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DE should NOT be inhaled! You can eat the darned stuff (and believe me, we ALL eat it) but can't inhale it! Food grade or horticultural grade DE is largely Amorphous silica, which has less of in inhalation danger than the pool filter grade, which is almost all crystalline silica. Your horticultural DE can be used with perfect safety, as long as you wear a dust mask. Are you worried about the warning on the label? Most of that stuff under your kitchen sink has warning labeling, yet we use them with abandon! Have you read the warnings on a bottle of bleach or any household cleaner? EEEEK! Give me DE any day! BTW, contrary to common belief, DE does not lose its effectiveness if it gets wet. It can even be mixed with water and applied as a spray (it doesn't dissolve so frequent agitation will be required).
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So if you have sand in your DE, it doesn't kill bugs?? Whyzzat? Re Tractor Supply, their DE is mixed with bentonite. So it isn't food grade. On the one hand, at least one of the reviewers says that they asked the folks there if it was good as an insecticide, and they said no. On the other hand, I sure wouldn't want to put bentonite in my garden! Bentonite is the stuff they make clumping cat litter out of. The clumps NEVER go away when you toss them on soil. They'll be there for years and years. I stopped using clumping cat litter a decade ago for that reason. It is entirely uncompostable. I still have clumps of bentonite out in my groundcover from a decade ago when I last used it.
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No, it can't burn leaves. DE is made of silica, which is what a lot of the minerals in your soil are made of. So if your soil doesn't burn your leaves, the DE won't either. Now, the material is somewhat hygroscopic, so it could potentially pull moisture out of leaves where a lot of it was sitting for a long time. Soil can do that too. I wouldn't worry about it.
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As I've said, DE works for me against leaf-footed bugs, which are of the same variety as squash bugs or stink bugs. Also, as I've said, you can dust a HUGE area in minutes with a shop vac output or leaf blower. Long ago I used to use a hand-held DE sprinkler, and never will touch it again. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HkrK8LvQPa8 He puts a pile of DE in front of the plants and blows it. I just grab a fisful of the stuff and blow it. Of course, you could also use the shop vac to just suck 'em up, but that can damage foliage.
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west9491
Original Author
12 years ago
the insects i saw last year appeared to be much like maggots, but they were inside the plants at the base...????
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mackel_in_dfw
12 years ago
Danm maggots. Often they grow up to be the butt stinging horseflies that no organic gardener should have to deal with. Hmphhh.
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Kimmsr
12 years ago
Wireworms, the larva of any of several insects. While inside the plants DE probably will not be effective against them.
0

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