Diatomaceous earth - how many of you use it as a pesticide?

[EddieWalker]

My wife swears by it. She uses it in the chicken coops because it's safe for all the birds. We've tried it on fire ants, but it doesn't seem to work as good as Orthene.

 

[newbury]

There's a wide difference in the size and shapes of diatoms. GREAT SIMPLIFICATION - Some are smooth, some are "spiky", the spiky ones are better for insecticide purpose.
Having had the pleasure of fire ants in Louisiana I'd recommend napalm, in the morning.

 

[HawkinsHollow]

I have used it multiple times. Once, many years ago, we bought a used couch that had bed bugs. We dusted everything, after getting a pest control quote of like $1000... It look time, and high heat, drying everything, but did the trick.

More recently, I had ants infesting the chicken feed barrel, as well as the dog food barrel. Sprinkle like a fist full, in the feed barrels and it "mostly" solved it. Got ir under control.

Used it in concrete floored shed, for fleas and spiders and such, and it didn't kill the fleas on the dogs; However, I think it helped along with flea meds.

It's messy, doesn't work outside, and yiu don't really want it inside; it's best used in sheds, barns, ect

What a nightmare scenario! We had a little bedbug scare last fall. I had bedbugs found in my classroom, then my son woke up with bites on his chest. I TORE his room apart; put a case on his mattress, steam cleaned every nook and crany of his intricate bed, Used DE and CimeXA (DE on Steroids), put all of his stuffies in quarantine, LOTS of dryer cycles, ETC. Never found a single bedbug or sign of one. So I think I might have over reacted, but I did not want it to get away from me. HORROR STORIES all over the interwebs about bedbug infestations. It was at the end of flea season and we ran out of flea and tick meds for the dog. So I think we might have had a couple of fleas get in and bite him. It is a mystery, but the bites stopped after the treatment so who knows. But after doing all that research getting bedbugs now scares the crap out of me!
I am done with second hand furniture.

 

[Xfaxman]

So - anyone else using it routinely?

I eat food grade DE everyday: Any One Else Eat Food Grade Diatomaceous Earth?

 

[Redbug]

I put it in bird houses. Does not hurt the birds or babies and keeps the mites down. Duck boxes, too.

 

[MAX-24-Dean]

There's a wide difference in the size and shapes of diatoms. GREAT SIMPLIFICATION - Some are smooth, some are "spiky", the spiky ones are better for insecticide purpose.
Having had the pleasure of fire ants in Louisiana I'd recommend napalm, in the morning.

Napalm creates noticable smoke. Dynamite gets rid of them too! and uses diatomaceous earth.

Dynamite! Alfred Nobel's Birthday and Diatomaceous Earth

Alfred Nobel, known mostly for the Nobel Prize, also invented dynamite, made from nitroglycerin and diatomaceous earth. Nobel's birthday is October 21.

blog.epminerals.com