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Re: Diatomaceous earth

Square Foot Gardening List - http://www.flinet.com/~gallus/sqft.html

DE doesn't kill earthworms, and because the silicates in it are amorphous
rather than crystalline, it is not terribly risky as a dust; however any
dust inhalation is to be avoided when reasonably possible, for example,
don't run that dry peat moss through the shredder if you don't want to
create a brown cloud o' dust...

As a slug barrier, it does need renewal periodically, after heavy rains.

I use a combination of benevolent negligence and quackgrass powder on slugs;
the former for mild situations, I leave undisturbed areas in the garden
where rove beetles and ground beetles can dwell---both are slug predators.

Quackgrass leaves, dried and ground into a powder, are a slugicide for more
urgent situations (Quackgrass =Agropyron repens, aka witchgrass and
couchgrass).

Quackgrass is a terrible weed so should not be brought in except under high
security measures, but once you recognize it you can find it easily in most
areas of the Northern tier.

Organic Gardening magazine is running a couple of interesting contests on
slug control and sqft pea production; see the latest issue for details, you
can win a pin!

Frank---a Montreal slugger....
-----Original Message-----
From: Dillon Family <rfdillon@hal-pc.org>
To: sqft@listbot.com <sqft@listbot.com>
Date: Sunday, February 21, 1999 7:31 AM
Subject: Diatomaceous earth


>Square Foot Gardening List - http://www.flinet.com/~gallus/sqft.html
>
>It is my understanding that DE will also kill any earthworms crawling over
>it as well, so I would be very cautious about putting it in your garden
>soil.
>
>
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