Diatomaceous Earth
 

Hello,

Does anyone use Diatomaceous Earth in their potting mix? I started to use it in little amounts in the mix.

Have sprinkled some on top of medium if bush snails appeared on the masdies. But actually a cold coffee bath worked very well,a trick that Ray mentioned in a post some time ago.

DE is quite effective against insects though I can't see how it'll do much when mixed into the media. I dust it on the media's surface and also the plants,

I don't think it does much once it gets wet.

diatomaceous earth is great stuff!! it is best used out in the garden tho....it is rather messy in the greenhouse. indoors, it will kill fleas, I put it on the edges of the floor by the baseboard. you can dust it in the garden with a duster, or you can wet it in a sprayer, with soap....inside, wet is not good, lol...I made a mistake and had some in the garden sprayer spraying aphids, and I just hit a few spots in the greenhouse, but it was nasty to clean up...milky white stuff everywhere!
mixing It with potting mix is relatively futile....it washes right out....

As an aside, one of my grandmothers mixed a tablespoon of DE into her morning juice each day. Apparently it's also a good digestive aid.

Deac, please elaborate on the cold coffee bath.

I agree with Arizona Jean. In the garden it needs reapplied after a rain to be effective , so adding to potting mix most likely won't be of any use . Just my opinion.

The problem isn't that it gets wet - it's essentially silicon and so not water-soluable. The problem is that water washes it away. You can mix it into water and allow it to harden, then once broken back up again it's still effective.