Diatomaceous Earth

Burt Gummer

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Who uses it? What do you use it for?
 
Who uses it? What do you use it for?
I have used it before for pest control. It's supposed to be like tiny shards of glass. It's also supposed to be effective in keeping bed bugs away from am area you don't want them in.
 
Use it around all the plants and in the chicken coop. Great for slugs.
 
Who uses it? What do you use it for?

I dust plants with it. Bugs no likey.

I dust the chicken coop with it once every couple weeks. Bugs no likey including flies, ticks, and mites. Chickens likey in their dust baths.

I put it around the kids playground area to control ticks without toxins.

It dries out a bug's exosxeleton and makes them die.

Buy a bucket of food grade DE and treat it like Frank's Red Hot.
 
I dust plants with it. Bugs no likey.

I dust the chicken coop with it once every couple weeks. Bugs no likey including flies, ticks, and mites. Chickens likey in their dust baths.

I put it around the kids playground area to control ticks without toxins.

It dries out a bug's exosxeleton and makes them die.

Buy a bucket of food grade DE and treat it like Frank's Red Hot.


You can eat it? Or you just mean put it on everything?
 
Where is the best place to buy? I ordered some on Amazon for my garden but would like to find a local source as 10# bags on Amazon are expensive.
 
About every 5 years or so, we have a wet spring and start to summer and the dogs get fleas even though we have the 8 month collars on them. I’ve sprayed the yard and the kennels they stay in during the day until I get home three times with permethrin and it didn’t touch them.


I got my first purchase of it in the mail today from amazon, a 5lb bag that came with a squeeze duster. I dusted the yard and dog kennels with it. Actually got a couple fleas on my legs, and watched them die on the spot. Not gonna use it around the garden as I’m scared I’ll hurt the few bees we have because everything is blooming.
 
ooh, and it comes with a free foodgrade bucket?
i was just thinking about picking up something for the ants moving into my garden. i have squash and zucchini growing and every year they get chewed up and flop over.
 
I use it in the chicken coops. Food grade (white. Order on Amazon) doesn't bother me but the stuff from Tractor Supply (gray) gives me a rash if I come in contact with it too long. Great for pest control.
 
I buy it by the 5 gallon bucket from Amazon. 40 bucks.
 
The cats brought home fleas which infested the house. Bombed the house per directions. Still infested. Bombed again using double the cans. Still infested. Had to clean and sanitize everything after each bombing, especially in the kitchen.

Sprinkled DE throughout the house and dusted the cats, waited three days and vacuumed the dust. No fleas. Gone. Permanently.

I'll have to see how it works on the fire ants. Thanks for the tip, @JT.
 
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Buckets are just easier storage for me. I leave it in the chicken coop.
 
It can be eaten. Some people do it lower cholesterol.




I’m scared I’ll hurt the few bees we have because everything is blooming.

Keep it on the ground at the stems, away from the flowers , won't hurt the bees / wasps
 
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The food grade is also used for food storage. I’ll dust buckets of beans, rice, etc. I HATE opening a large container and find its full of bugs that have destroyed the food.
If you like soak/rinse the food, the DE will mostly settle for the bottom.
I dust the garden as well, to save the bees don’t dust the flowers.
Supposedly once it gets wet it stops working, or won’t stick to them.
 
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It’s supposed to. We’ll find out. I dusted my whole back yard today

Be curious to follow this and see if it works for blasted fire ants, stinking things are moving in and need a fix.
 
Be curious to follow this and see if it works for blasted fire ants, stinking things are moving in and need a fix.
There’s a hill of them in my front yard next to the driveway. I’ll bust it open and dust them this evening and see what happens
 
There’s a hill of them in my front yard next to the driveway. I’ll bust it open and dust them this evening and see what happens
Please let us know. I go to war with those little bastards every year.
 
Thanks for all the info in this thread. Our dogs got infested with fleas this year and we have been doing everything trying to get rid of them. My wife is getting some de today, hopefully that will be the answer we’ve been looking for.
 
There’s a hill of them in my front yard next to the driveway. I’ll bust it open and dust them this evening and see what happens

It'll kill the ants it comes into direct contact with but not the whole colony. The way it kills hard shelled bugs is kind of like pouring sand in a bearing - it just grinds up their shells at the joints. You need poison (or explosives) to kill the whole colony.

I've not found any ant killer nearly as effective as this stuff. A little spendy, but damn.

https://www.amazon.com/Syngenta-TRT...+outdoor&qid=1592929630&sprefix=Ant+p&sr=8-29
 
I use it for bugs in the garden, bugs in the chicken coop, sprinkle a little on my chicken feed to prevent worms, dust bath for chickens. It has a lot of good uses and is non toxic.


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We used to mix it into cattle feed when I was up on the farm in Wisconsin. It was good for the cow and it helped preserve the feed and keep the bugs out of it too. My uncle (the farmer) used to give me crap if I stirred it up and got the dust airborne and tell me not to inhale it. I guess it's not something you want in your lungs. Farmers don't like grain dust flying around much either. At the right concentration in the air the dust can combust given an ignition source (like someone smoking).
 
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