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Slugs and Diatomacoeous Earth products

Gad - -I hate slugs. A couple of weeks ago I was transplanting something
from a one gallon pot, and absent mindedly separating the roots and soil
and all of a sudden I realized my fingers were feeling something kind of
squishy (I wasn't wearing gloves). The one gallon pot was full of air holes
near the bottom and up the side and had become a nursery for dozens and
dozens of slugs. Ugh. I really lost it, and threw the plant down on the
ground so I could scrape the hand fulls of slugs from my hands and fingers,
and screamed. My long suffering non-gardening husband thought the backyard
had been invaded by thieves or something. .

Anyway, does anyone use Diatomacoeous Earth products for slugs and snails?
I got talked into buying some because of its "organic" nature and it's been
sitting on a shelf ever since. I gather the idea is that the microscopic
creatures slice/grind up/dry out the exposed skins of slugs and snails and
they then die. Sounds like how we've killed fleas in our house once.

But, even if it does work, won't it also kill other "good" bugs? I'm pretty
much an IPM kind of gardener who rarely goes beyond insecticidal
soap/summer oil/baking soda/oil treatments.

Carol


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