Diatomaceous earth, pets and cucumber beetles
shellva
16 years ago
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decklap
16 years agoshellva
16 years agoRelated Discussions
diatomaceous earth
Comments (32)"how is it then, that the food grade DE is safe, and not a danger to lungs ?" Because garden grade DE is mostly just silica, not crystalline silica ~ pool grade DE is mostly crystalline silica, not plain silica. Just like I said above, just plain silica is usually harmless, but crystalline silica isn't. Crystalline silica can cause silicosis (scarring of the lungs) and cancer. The pool grade De being in crystalline form allows it to "hang on" inside your lungs and cause scarring instead of being flushed out like normal dust. Garden grade DE is easier for the cilia in your lungs (little hairs lining your lung passages that "flush" out particles) to push along with mucus and expel. But, like Rhizo said, I still wouldn't say the garden grade is really "safe" to breathe in. If you have asthma, I can easily see doing so causing an asthma attack. And even if you don't have any lung problems, breathing in any kind of dust isn't exactly good for you. But the chance of it causing silicosis or cancer is significantly less, as in very-tiny-little-bitty chance....See Morediatomaceous earth- what can it do?
Comments (18)Insecticide usage of diatomaceous earth MUST be a fine dust so that it coats all insects with an exoskeleton and dries them up (kills them). However, if you mix it in your potting mix/soil or even dust once and then spray with water, you have pretty much removed any potential Insecticide use. Livestock caretakers must constantly be dusting as any moisture or even other dust that coats the DE will not allow it to stick to and dry out insects. So if you think you are protecting your potting mix/soil from any insects by mixing a dust DE product into your mix, you are throwing your money away (although it is certainly not harmful to anything, plant or insect). It is actually generally NOT used around farms anymore, it is too time consuming. It is still fed to animals because it is both a good calcium supplement and can actually rid several intestinal worms with prolonged usage. Food Grade (NOT feed grade) is great for people to eat also for those same reasons. The only real distinction of Food Grade is the levels of potentially unwanted metals (think lead). So if you are eating it directly or through a plant you should look for food grade, I believe there is only 1 mine in America that produces Food Grade DE with safe levels of the toxic metals. Others have pointed out the usage as a soil conditioner and so I won't, but I would say there is really no reason to mix in the fine pesticide powder as it is more expensive and won't provide any pesticide usage if mixed throughout. That being said it is not nearly a "broad spectrum" insecticide as even if you powder coated your entire lawn, the next day after a good dew it is mostly inert and will never be actively hurting insects again unless you re-dust daily. Some oil-absorbent material for garage cleanup is also the larger particle DE and cheaper than cat litter. Really, any oil-absorbing silica product for garage spill cleanup could likely do the same job as a soil conditioner, so shop around and see what people are using as a ratio, I honestly was looking for the same thing when I found this post. The big thing that may concern some is whether there are potentially unwanted metals in it, and the only sure way to know is if it is specially labeled "Food Grade". For me personally I would consider "Feed Grade" to be fine. Good luck trying to find oil-absorbent or cat litter labeled "Food Grade"! I thought I should comment, even though I am late to this party, because it is one of the top links in google and yahoo search....See MoreDiatomaceous Earth, Good To Use?
Comments (46)There's an awful lot of misinformation and conflicting info out there on DE, which I'd like to try and help clear up, because I hate to think of folk eating DE with pesticide (yes, some DE has a pesticide bait, such as the bag in the image halfway up the page). First, there are not two, but three different categories or grades of DE: (1) Codex or "fossil shell flour," which is the true food grade and is added to animal feeds as an anti-caking agent to to assist if flowability. If you're going to take DE orally -- and I offer no advice on the wisdom of this -- you want to make sure you see the word "Codex" on the label, which tells you it has been tested and meets certain criteria, including thresholds of safety on contaminants such as arsenic and lead. (2) pool grade, which is high in crystalline silica (the bad stuff), and, as such, works great in pool filters. But it should never, ever be used as a pesticide or in any food applications. (3) This is the tricky category: DE pesticides, which are variously labeled as "natural" pestides for gardens, pets, grain storage and for various types of insects. This is the type of DE you will likely find in the garden section of your local store, and which will be variously described on the bag labels as "insect killers" or "pesticides," and which will not contain the word "Codex" on the label. These types of DE may (or may not) be coated with pesticides. Perma-Guard, one of the better known brands of both Codex and pesticide DEs, explains it this way on their website: "The addition of Pyrethrins and Piperonyl butoxide is to irritate the bug, causing the bug to become active, allowing the DE to work more quickly." These two pesticide compounds are commonly used in lice shampoos and in sprays & fogs for bedbugs, mosquitoes, garden pests, etc. The only way to know if the DE at your local garden center is "coated" or "baited" is to read the label. And carefully. But even if they aren't coated, they are not Codex and are therefore not considered safe for human consumption. I hate to think of folk acting on bad advice and then munching down on DE that is either bait-coated or contains higher levels of, say, arsenic and lead. A lot of people assume that, if it's not pool grade, then it must be the Codex food grade. But there is that 3rd category, from which a good bit of confusion and misinformation seems to generate. As with any thing you use -- whether it's for bugs or people -- it's really important to read the label and to understand what you are reading....See MoreDiatomaceous Earth source?
Comments (6)I used DE from the pool supply store this summer. Someone on Gardenweb warned me afterwards that the pool grade DE has something in it that should not be inhaled. Honestly, I would avoid inhaling any fine powder! It does work to deter Japanese beetles. I dusted my raspberry plants and green beans with it, either in the morning, while the plants were still wet with dew, or after a misting with the hose. I made something like a big salt shaker by drilling holes in the lid of a peanut butter jar, filling the jar with DE, and shaking over the plants. There's almost always some light breeze, and I stand so the DE drifts away from me. I doubt DE will scratch the beetles deeply enough to bother them. Rather, I think it gets into their joints or their mouthparts to cause trouble or discomfort. I haven't found a bunch of dead beetles under the treated plants, just not nearly as many on the plants as usual. However, it may be that the DE kills the first few beetles which heads off the orgy swarm later. Alex...See Moremiss_em
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