Today is "National Diatomaceous Earth Day" and also "Eat Outside Day." This seems appropriate since diatomaceous earth is basically edible earth. Obviously, as soon as my west coast brother sent me this information I had to look up 'diatomaceous' as it's not a word that I hear or use frequently.
Food grade diatomaceous earth is a one hundred percent natural chemical-free powder made from fossillized freshwater algae with no additives or fillers. It kills pests like ants, fleas, and roaches by basically coating their exoskeletons and drying them out. It can be used as a dry powder around baseboards, windows and in gardens to manage crawling insects. It's also used as an anti-caking agent in livestock and pet food. It's available by the bag at Walmart, Home Depot and other similar stores, or Amazon will deliver - no surprise there.
I had never heard of this until today but now I'm wondering if it would have worked on the Japanese beetles that decimated our roses last summer. We have since replaced them with other sturdier flowering plants so I guess we'll never know.
No comments:
Post a Comment