Tag: diatomaceous earth

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No more diatomaceous earth, now for oil traps

I talked with a nice county extension agent today who said anything soft-bodied could be hurt by diatomaceous earth (DE) including toads, though being large and hopping they’ll be less so than a slug or earwig. But, I love my toads, so no more DE.

She did however suggest oil traps to reduce their population while I work to make the habitat less absurdly full of rotting wood (thanks past Claire for all the mulch).

So, now we have five pitfall traps with about half an inch of oil in them.  Three have used fryer oil (vegetable oil) and two have fresh, unused vegetable oil.  (That big plant in the lower right is the Brunswick cabbage I have been nursing along under a glass jar.  Time for it to face the world!)
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Testing summer plants in the land of earwigs

I set out some of the tomato cages today. In the raised bed with the worst earwig depredations, I put one each of poblano pepper, Rio Grande verde tomatillo, Tommy Toe tomato, and Peruvian ground cherry.

I put out these four plants to see if the earwigs attack them and if so I’ll try petroleum jelly around the stem. I have other plants of all these so if any get completely consumed it won’t be the end of the world.

There have been fewer earwigs out in that bed since I’ve started putting out diatomaceous earth. However, in the adjacent bed, they have now moved onto a lettuce that was less dusted. So, maybe it’s helping?

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Earwig prevention attempt again

I saw that the new bok choy and mizuna seeds are coming up so I tried all this diatomaceous earth again. I also put vaseline around stems of one each mizuna and bok choy as I read that can keep them from climbing too, though the seedlings are only barely 1/2″ tall so we’ll see.

All the white dust is diatomaceous earth.
Since the earwigs are desperate enough to eat onions I dusted the onions too.
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CAUGHT IN THE ACT

It’s earwigs.

Safe from bunnies, some innocent seedlings grow.
But there is an earwig. I dusted this entire area and the seedlings with diatomaceous earth. Yet here we are. But, the seedlings are still intact, so maybe it helps? We’ll see in the morning.
They’re even eating the onions. Is this why people don’t use pure compost to fill raised beds? Is mulch the problem? WHY!!! (I’ll try putting the diatomaceous earth around the onions tomorrow too.)
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Earwig defense

Well, a few more carrot seedlings disappeared under the bunny defense screen, so we put out some diatomaceous earth to try to stop the presumed earwig depredations (or whatever insect it is. I guess roly-polies are an option too but I haven’t seen any). We’ll see if it works.

A collard green seedling with its new powder. Also put it around carrots, parsnips, cabbages, mustard greens, and over the newly re-seeded rows of mizuna and bok choy.