Diatomaceous Earth

[kmccormic]

Hi Guys:

One of the local organic plant store persons around me was recommending diatomaceous earth as a way to control orchid pests because it would desiccate them or slice them up as they moved through it. Now I wasn't sold on this, because I thought it would only work on the plant, and not so well in the medium especially if you are using a tighter medium like moss. Since so many of our problems come from pests that like to grow young in the medium, I thought that liquids would work better (pour it through the pot to drench it as well as spray it.) But has anyone used it or had any thoughts about how it could work on the pests we work with? I know they use it in horse stalls to keep bugs of all kinds out of the bedding.

[katrina]

What pests are you trying to control?

Diatomaceous earth is a good pest control but it's not going to work in some orchid media where it just washes through and/or w/pests that won't come into contact with the product.

[DeaC]

Many years ago,it was used as part of the pool "maintenance" and since it was available and I had read it controls slugs,I did try it on masdevallias and found it to be effective.

[kmccormic]

Thanks Katrina - I'm currently dealing with either thrips or bark lice (psocid) issue, but I'm assuming any bug that moves a lot might come into contact with it. I was thinking it might be a way to not hurt the roots with chemicals since it's mostly inert and would wash out eventually (just like a drench would wash out eventually).

DeaC - so slugs at least, but maybe snails too?