Diatomaceous Earth dusted lightly inside or outside will kill ants, earwigs, cockroaches, millipedes, centipedes, crickets and silverfish usually within 24 hours. It is a deterent of fleas and any creature with an exoskeleton. DO NOT get into your eyes. Don’t apply when windy.
NOTE: Diatomaceous Earth (DE) will KILL earth worms and nearly any type of worm – in various forms it is used as an organic wormer for livestock and humans. So, don’t just dust it over your gardens. Apply locally where you aren’t worried about keeping the worms.
Remember the bomb we made from baking soda and vinegar? This works on ants too! When the ant mound is damp (morning dew or after a rain) sprinkle with baking soda. About a half hour later come back and pour some vinegar on the mound. The ants have eaten the baking soda and now will ingest the vinegar – no more ants!
From the WE2s: “I make a “cup” out of tin foil, put a couple tablespoons of 20 Mule Team Borax and a couple tablespoons of granulated sugar, mix it up and sit it near the back side of my sink. They come in, carry the stuff to their nests and I don’t see them any more that year.”
sent this to a friend with ant problem that just started.
she said thanks also.
keeb
Good info! Every spring we “used to” have those tiny “p ants” as I always heard them called. I make a “cup” out of tin foil, put a couple tablespoons of 20 Mule Team Borax and a couple tablespoons of granulated sugar, mix it up and sit it near the back side of my sink. They come in, carry the stuff to their nests and I don’t see them any more that year. Will be printing out these other remedies too :-)
any idea if DE works on fleas as well? I’m going to try the baking soda and vinegar on our ant farm out front, IDK how well it will work, as the ants have also infested one of our maples, but it’s worth a shot…maybe that will take care of the nest, and I can do the DE afterwards to take care of the rest of them…Does DE harm birds or squirrels? Ant next is near where I feed them…
According to Wiki, it will work on fleas and any other creature with an exoskeleton.
I just read a fascinating article on food grade DE here:
http://www.earthworkshealth.com/human-use.php
Lowers blood pressure and cholesterol, etc. etc.
I’ve heard that farmers often sprinkle small amounts of DE in their horse, cattle, pigs etc. feed to rid them of intestinal parasites/worms. We used DE on our garden last year to stop slugs, then the thought came to mind “what about the earth worms we want in our garden?” So next year I plan to use concrete blocks and perhaps we can just use it around the perimeter of the blocks?
From what I understand, DE doesn’t hurt worms, etc. Just insects with exoskeletons (skeleton on the outside). Yes, it is used for worming – humans too.
It has many reputed benefits when added to the human diet – lowering blood pressure, lowering cholesterol, weight loss, etc.
Don’t worry about the worms. :)
Sorry Bev but DE will kill earthworms. Trust me, I wiped them out of my garden completely and had to rebuild the earth over a two year period to get them back. Good idea to put it outside cement blocks, around your garden area. Worms are worms and it kills them all in animals, people and gardens.
Thank you Mistrbill! I will change that! :-)