diatomaceous earth

[litch]

After much struggle I bought a bag of diatomaceous earth the other day and powdered a patch of lawn that has not grown well since we moved in. I'm not sure what is causing the problem, but I suspect grub infestation. I sprinkled nematodes over the area last year and it didn't do anything so I am trying this. If it doesn't work I am abstractly considering digging the fucker up and putting in a pond in my front yard.

I have been playing with this idea of a small above ground cistern I could use to store collected rain water and use to water my property. The idea would be to simulate a small creek running from the top front of my yard down and around and out the back into the ditch and have it run something like continuously. Use it to feed a few planter beds as it flows.

I don't think I could run it off just harvested rain water without a huge cistern, but a small one that would be augmented by tap water and presented as some sort of natural ediface might work. Pump it out through a small fountain into a pond, and then let that pond over flow into the creekbed.

The diatomacious earth suprised me, I was expecting it to feet rough but it's increadibly smooth and soft, like talc or confectioners sugar. I enjoyed playing with it so much I sprinkled around the pecan and my front door. I am going to work some in the dogs fur and circle the house with it. It's such increadibly cool stuff, it came to me that it's almost a nanotech product, naturally produced but so simple it seems almost engineered.

Comments

[artemiskalliste.livejournal.com]

It is odd that DE feels so soft while it is actually so sharp and jagged. The method of action as an insecticide is that it actually slices the little bugs to ribbons and then dries them out. Do be careful about applying directly on the dogs or thier bedding as it can cause respiratory problems if inhaled.

Diatomaceous Earth and Dogs

[(Anonymous)]

Some DE causes respiratory problems. I think the crystaline silica can cause silicosis, but the amorphous silca (food grade freshwater DE) does not. I know that a lot of DE is sold specifically for pets. Check out http://freshwaterorganics.com/Pets.htm

[lionserpent.livejournal.com]

It's nasty deadly to ants too. I love the elegant brutality of it.

[pi3832.livejournal.com]

Mole sieve. More exactly, molecular sieve. It's a synthetic version of diamwhatever earth that is used for all kinds of cool things in the chemical industry, almost all of them being based on physical interactions on the molecular level. As in, the pores on mole sieve are small enough that water, e.g., will go into the pore, but won't come out.

Also, some of the earliest gas chromatographs used diatomacious earth packed columns. Yep, the first GCs used dirt as a functional component.