diatomaceous earth? effective?

xxplosive42o

xxplosive42o

Active Member
I just found some thrips on my leaves and what looks like either baby thrips or larvae in the overflow water container under the pots. I have been researching natural ways of eliminating them and diatomaceous earth has come up. I dont want to use insecticide or neem oil so I figured I'd put a 1/5"-1" layer of diatomaceous earth on the top layer of soil and put some garlic cloves around (natural bug repellent). Is this going to be an effective route to travel? I'm normally an indoor hydro gardner and rarely deal with pests so this is new territory. If any of you have used diatomaceous earth with success or have opinions on my route, please drop a line. :leaf:
 
xxplosive42o

xxplosive42o

Active Member
What would you like a pic of? The thrips? I dont have a thousand dollar camera capable of zooming in and taking a clear picture of a insect that measures only a couple of mm. hehe

I have been in the growing game long enough to know they're thrips. My question is reguarding whether the diatomaceous earth is going to be effective in stopping the larvae from maturing and crawling up into the leaf foilage (which in turn will eventually kill out the population spawning in my beautiful garden).
 
evilpyro26

evilpyro26

Well-Known Member
xxplosive42o said:
I just found some thrips on my leaves and what looks like either baby thrips or larvae in the overflow water container under the pots. I have been researching natural ways of eliminating them and diatomaceous earth has come up. I dont want to use insecticide or neem oil so I figured I'd put a 1/5"-1" layer of diatomaceous earth on the top layer of soil and put some garlic cloves around (natural bug repellent). Is this going to be an effective route to travel? I'm normally an indoor hydro gardner and rarely deal with pests so this is new territory. If any of you have used diatomaceous earth with success or have opinions on my route, please drop a line. :leaf:
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I've used diatomaceous earth before to get rid of whiteflies and fungus gnats, and it worked like a charm. I'm not sure if thrips ever have contact with the soil so diatomaceous earth may not work for thrips. The thrips actually have to come in contact with the diatomaceous earth for it to have any effect. The diatomaceous earth works mechanically to kill the insects. It does this by making tiny cuts to the insect's exoskeleton causing them to lose moisture and dry out and die. Awesome!!:-P

Something that you might want to try is an organic insecticide such as Safer. Look for one with pyrethrin in it. It is a natural insecticide extracted from the chrysanthemum flower, and is very effective. It is usually mixed with some type of oil like canola oil. You simply spray this on the undersides of the leaves and it kills the larvae and eggs. Good luck with you bug problem.:weed:
 
xxplosive42o

xxplosive42o

Active Member
evilpyro26 said:
I've used diatomaceous earth before to get rid of whiteflies and fungus gnats, and it worked like a charm. I'm not sure if thrips ever have contact with the soil so diatomaceous earth may not work for thrips. The thrips actually have to come in contact with the diatomaceous earth for it to have any effect. The diatomaceous earth works mechanically to kill the insects. It does this by making tiny cuts to the insect's exoskeleton causing them to lose moisture and dry out and die. Awesome!!:-P

Something that you might want to try is an organic insecticide such as Safer. Look for one with pyrethrin in it. It is a natural insecticide extracted from the chrysanthemum flower, and is very effective. It is usually mixed with some type of oil like canola oil. You simply spray this on the undersides of the leaves and it kills the larvae and eggs. Good luck with you bug problem.:weed:
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QUESTION! What is the best way to administer Diatomaceous Earth? Do I just spread a layer of 0.5" inches on the top of the soil?
 
mazpot

mazpot

Active Member
Non-selective contact killer, DE is the fossilized remains of single-celled creatures called diatoms. Each fossil has sharp edges that irritate and lacerate soft-bodied insects. The DE material abrades the exoskeleton of insects, causing dehydration and death. Effective on almost all crawling insects. Insects cannot become immune and will die within 48 hours of contact. Safe around children, pets and wildlife. Long lasting, odorless, non-staining.

The shells provide nutrients and silica to the plants, and it's organic too.
3% magnesium, 33% silicon, 19% calcium, 5% sodium, 2% iron and many other trace minerals such as titanium, boron, manganese, copper and zirconium.

Dont use when its wet doesnt work that great. The dyer the soil is the powder will get on the bugs easier. the more you use the more of the chance your soil will get nute lockup.
 
G

gqkidd

Active Member
I have read this forum as long as a few others and used the Diatomaceous earth and within 24 hours the gnats were all falling all over the place, it was awesome. I had so many it looked like the soil was moving. Now Im gonna hit them with Azamax in a few days to finish them.
 
D

DaGambler

Well-Known Member
a thin layer like dust is really all you need. already lots of good feeback on this question.... just my 2 cents:

use it where it will stay dry. use it as a preventative. i dust the whole underside of my house, all cabinets, behind appliances, etc. all floors and baseboards in grow rooms. dust every surface possible. don't vacuum it up. i've got a 50 lb. bag of it that would literally last my entire life for like 25 bucks.
.
 
Dark Seducer

Dark Seducer

Member
I have tried every home remedy and every thing off the shelf, except malathion and DE, and I won't use malathion, I have liver issues already. So far nothing has worked and I do not over water my plants. I had seen a post that talked about Hydrogen Peroxide killing them on contact, so I drowned my plants in it, the soil loved it, the plants loved it and so did the Gnat larva, I picked the white worm like bastards out of the soil and dropped them directly in the peroxide and they swam around like they were in heaven. Bioneem worked at killing the larva on contact but had no effect on the adults. sticky traps work on the adults but most have already layed eggs by the time they are traped. Someone said bowls of lemon juice, didn't work! Another claimed vasiline or veg oil around the rim of the planters would make them unable to mate, WRONG!

I got mine from Miracle Grow Organic Choice, I wrote them a very nasty letter threatening them with a lawsuit, I have never had fungus gnats in 30 years of indoor growing until I brought their garbage into my house. Thats what I get for trying to save a few bucks on shipping Fox Farms in.
 
jstro420

jstro420

Member
sive42o said:
I just found some thrips on my leaves and what looks like either baby thrips or larvae in the overflow water container under the pots. I have been researching natural ways of eliminating them and diatomaceous earth has come up. I dont want to use insecticide or neem oil so I figured I'd put a 1/5"-1" layer of diatomaceous earth on the top layer of soil and put some garlic cloves around (natural bug repellent). Is this going to be an effective route to travel? I'm normally an indoor hydro gardner and rarely deal with pests so this is new territory. If any of you have used diatomaceous earth with success or have opinions on my route, please drop a line. :leaf:
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  • From my research I've found is that if your going to use it use food grade de and make sure to wear a mask or respirator and I wouldn't use it as a dusting on the plants inside cause fans will blow it around. Google it up you'll find good and bad info on it n also it will kill earth worms to. Look for mosquito dunks or bt-1 I believe is another remedy for gnats and yellow sticky traps or yellow index cards n put thin layer of Vaseline on it to catch the flying gnats.
 
Uncle Reefer

Uncle Reefer

Well-Known Member
The op is asking about thrips.
I use chemicals in veg if I do get them. and if they are in flower I just leave them and clean up after. They don't do enough damage to justify the contamination. By week 3-4 of flower, my plants are so resiny and thrips don't seem to go to the leaves that are resiny.

Another thing you can try is DE in a turkey baster or a tenactin bottle. Shake it up and puff out some DE clouds on your plants. WEAR a MASK!!! THey are some ant killer DE in a bottle products that are basically this. Just read the lablefor active ingredients. I am super carful about DE in my room because of my worms.
 
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Dmannn

Dmannn

Well-Known Member
Uncle Reefer said:
The op is asking about thrips.
I use chemicals in veg if I do get them. and if they are in flower I just leave them and clean up after. They don't do enough damage to justify the contamination. By week 3-4 of flower, my plants are so resiny and thrips don't seem to go to the leaves that are resiny.

Another thing you can try is DE in a turkey baster or a tenactin bottle. Shake it up and puff out some DE clouds on your plants. WEAR a MASK!!! THey are some ant killer DE in a bottle products that are basically this. Just read the lablefor active ingredients. I am super carful about DE in my room because of my worms.
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I used a bit of Tempo dust, and a dash of Pyrethrum dust mixed up in the DE. Now they are back back on just DE while the rest of the month heats up. I still have about a month and a half of veg left. I gotta make sure that they are dusted from the centers out and up, early mornings. So trimming below the canopy is imperative.

Does anyone experience burning or slowed growth with DE?
 
Dmannn

Dmannn

Well-Known Member
Olive Drab Green said:
I use only DE and Neem oil.
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I was doing that and a number of other organic methods (trifecta, method1) but, the area i m in has super swarms.. The low 80's last week or two was really let the bug population blow up, now the heat is back so they should wither back until October hopefully.
 
Olive Drab Green

Olive Drab Green

Well-Known Member
Dmannn said:
I was doing that and a number of other organic methods (trifecta, method1) but, the area i m in has super swarms.. The low 80's last week or two was really let the bug population blow up, now the heat is back so they should wither back until October hopefully.
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Yeah, if it gets really bad? I won’t hesitate to use pyrethrins, Dr. Earth bug spray, or Spinosad in a pinch.
 
Dmannn

Dmannn

Well-Known Member
Olive Drab Green said:
Yeah, if it gets really bad? I won’t hesitate to use pyrethrins, Dr. Earth bug spray, or Spinosad in a pinch.
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Does DE ever burn?

All of the liquid natural products were just tickling the white flies and burning the plants, I was putting it on at night.
 
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