I'm planning to pick up some DE for ant control around my rose beds, and my hubby said he used it in his pool filter. Is the pool supply DE (18.99 for 25 lbs) any different than what is offered at organic gardening supply (11.50 for 4 lbs)?

Curious.
Angela

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Angela

"Clearing toxins from homes makes families healthy" I did it, and my migraines are gone!

Do not use POOL DE ! I don't remember what they do to it, but it is different. In the DFW area it is normally fairly cheap in 40-50# bags. Link below might help.

http://www.dirtdoctor.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2464&highlight=diatomatous+earth

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The "soap" you use is normally chemicals, etc. Use real SOAP !!

Why not use some ant-fuego to contorl the ants. It will also help the soil to. For more infor. go to this web site. http://www.malcolmbeck.com/products/anti-fuego.htm
Our you can try to make your own.

Thanks for the tips!

Any reason I can't use both food grade DE and Anti Fuego (looks like you use this directly on the pests) in and around the rose bed? I don't want to kill the ladybugs and beneficials, but the ants, aphids and japanese beetles need to go elsewhere.

Thanks,
Angela

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Angela

"Clearing toxins from homes makes families healthy" I did it, and my migraines are gone!

Angela,
Here's something your roses will love and the ants will hate: cornmeal.
If you have fire ants, the cornmeal will kill off the mounds. Sprinkle it around the base of the plants, work into the soil a little and water it in. Then cover it with mulch. The roses will be safe from blackspot and the ants will die.

If you have carpenter ants, pharoah ants or another kind of ant. You will have to use the DE. But if you have the DE only on the ground, it shouldn't much bother the ladybugs & other beneficials that tend to fly from plant to plant, rather than crawl from the ground up like ants do.

Good luck!
Kathe

I've got two 25 lb bags in the garage just waiting for the heavy rains to stop. I didn't know cornmeal deterred fireants! Wow! I already had the answer and didn't know it. I use cornmeal and alfalfa meal every year in the rose garden, but never thought about putting cornmeal on the fireant mounds in the yard. Hubby had been pouring old cooking grease on them, but they just moved.

Thanks!!

Angela

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Angela

"Clearing toxins from homes makes families healthy" I did it, and my migraines are gone!

As I understand it, the Diatoms that make up the DE naturally have extremly sharp edges on the silica shell. The DE that is used for the Pool filters, aquarium filters, etc... has been processed and the edges are no longer sharp. The "gardening" variety of DE has not been processed and still has the sharp edges, THIS is a good thing as the sharp edges cause numerous lacerations on the exoskeleton of the insects which in turn causes severe dissection (they dehydrate) and they die. This is also why DE does not hurt the earthworms. and will not work against slugs.