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DE and living soil does de kill living soil

  • Thread starter Thread starter Semimoto
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DE and living soil does de kill living soil

Semimoto 11 Replies 1,180 Views
Page 1 of 1 · Replies 1–12 of 12
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#2
No it does not kill living soil. But it does kill pests good and bad in all types of soil. And I wouldn't count on earthworms living through the DE I use in my mix I refer to as one arm super soil with no fingers...
 
#3
I think it will stop the critters that do the natural composting. I would suggest looking at natures good guys and finding the predator to what ever pest you have.
 
#4
Natep said:
I think it will stop the critters that do the natural composting. I would suggest looking at natures good guys and finding the predator to what ever pest you have.
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HAHAHAHA so you think it will kill microbiology?
 
#5
Not sure if this helps but I run a living soil blend indoors. I do not blend in DE when making a soil batch but I do use it as a top dressing. It assists with alleviating fungus gnats if and when present.
 
#6
8Rhizome8 said:
Not sure if this helps but I run a living soil blend indoors. I do not blend in DE when making a soil batch but I do use it as a top dressing. It assists with alleviating fungus gnats if and when present.
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Yes thank you, that is a logical solution
 
#8
Natep said:
No I think it will kill off the springtails and worms.
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It may well kill worms and sprintales. And I'm fine with that. Worms and bugs belong outside. Not in my home or grow office. As long as the microbes flourish that's all I care about. Heck watering plants kills worms and good bugs. Everytime it rains here worms and bugs of all kinds die outside and feed the birds, reptiles, cats and rodents. My worms are small stainless steel rods I drive through the soil for my worm holes every few weeks to help with watering.
 
#9
If you are using properly composted compost then what you should have in your soil is a plethora of good guys and MAYBE a few bad guys that will become food for good guys. In my last soil batch i had several worms, centipedes, soldier fly larvae, etc. I have been using mosquito bits as a soil drench for fungus gnats. I have eliminated large fungus gnat outbreaks using that method as a regular part of IPM and now include it in my mix as a preemptive approach. Coming from the SFW perspective, compost made well, takes really good care of your soil. All that biology knows what to do. Thinking logically, use microbiology in the way it works all over the planet. We arent creating living soil to just willy nilly destroy it. It all works together. Rather than killing lots of beneficials using DE, instead target the bad guys with a good guy. Mosquito bits or dunks are bits of corn innocculated with Baccillus thurinensis israeli (BTI). That bacteria uses fungus gnat larvae for food. In this example we are being very targeted. Another good example is letting ladybugs in your tent. They will destroy large aphid populations pretty quickly. They will also reproduce in your environment. But again, its a specific target.
 
#10
I'm using build a soil in 7 gallon fabric pots. In the second/third week of veg I noticed a few fungus gnats in my tent. I use a 6 day watering cycle in veg. In 6 days the top of the soil dries out and I think that killed the larva. I didn't do anything else and they died off fairly quickly without any treatment.
I use DE to kill water bugs that climb out of the sump pump. The package that I have states that it must be kept dry to work. I think it would get moist and useless in a pot after each watering.
 

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#11
DE kills crawling insects by scratching their legs and body. This causes them to lose moisture, dehydrate and die. So, it's a mechanical process, not a poison.
 
#12
Blastfact said:
It may well kill worms and sprintales. And I'm fine with that. Worms and bugs belong outside. Not in my home or grow office. As long as the microbes flourish that's all I care about. Heck watering plants kills worms and good bugs. Everytime it rains here worms and bugs of all kinds die outside and feed the birds, reptiles, cats and rodents. My worms are small stainless steel rods I drive through the soil for my worm holes every few weeks to help with watering.
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The worms also help compost your soil and break down nutrients so they become available. I think they are necessary in a living soil grow.
 
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