Vegetables Gardening - Growing Organic Vegetables

Well.....ok, so now i'm off a-wondering as well! Spent the afternoon and evening on the phone and internet and discovered several sources that say DE kills the good guys as well as the less desireable denizens of the garden; AND i found just as many that say no, earthworms and honeybees are not affected by it. So i have contacted the University of Wisconsin folk and will hopefully get an answer we can all (especially the earthworms) live with.
My most recent source was a respected wildlife specialist and author, but as she repeated "facts" i had heard before, i just accepted what she said. After more reflection I am guessing the DE works on exoskelton creatures which would eliminate its danger to worms and bees...but would also mean it does not affect slugs and grubs. (then again, if that is true, how come it works on internal parasites which are certainly not exoskeletal creatures??? sigh!)
I have visions of having to build a pair of worm-and-slug beds in my backyard to find the real answer to this one....hope not, harvest is upon us and i am b-u-s-y! I am holding a good thought that the "bug guys" at UW will have some verifiable research to share with us....

I am so glad you questioned that.
Thanks for the reminder that ..."the truth you know is not always the truth, you know"!

schulz

----- Original Message -----
From: Erich Ahlers
To: MittleiderMethodGardening@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Tuesday, August 31, 2010 12:07 PM
Subject: Re: [MittleiderMethodGardening] LIME GREEN CATERPILLAR

I have read in many locations that Diatomaceous Earth does NOT harm earthworms.
I would like to see a source that says it does if you have that reference
please, because I may need to back down on my use of the stuff.

________________________________
From: schulz <cschulz@jvlnet.com>
To: MittleiderMethodGardening@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Tue, August 31, 2010 8:50:35 AM
Subject: Re: [MittleiderMethodGardening] LIME GREEN CATERPILLAR

DE is amazing and safe and wonderful stuff...keeping in mind of course that it
does to the "good" bugs exactly what it does to the undesireable ones...so,
while it will kill slugs, for example, it also does in earthworms. Used
judiciously, however, it is one of the best tools around. And yes!!!to the
caution about being sure it is "food grade"...the swimming pool filter DE is
processed in a manner that renders it quite toxic to most life forms.

----- Original Message -----
From: Brenda Tedders
To: MittleiderMethodGardening@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Saturday, August 28, 2010 9:35 AM
Subject: [MittleiderMethodGardening] LIME GREEN CATERPILLAR

The following link will take you to the Attra Pest Managment site and I typed in
Linked to Catepillar and it gives you the names of the organic insecticides.
One of these is DIATAMACEOUS EARTH. It has to be food grade, which is safe for
animal and human consumption and has about 14 different minerals in it. My is
Red Lake Earth and has Calcium Bentonite clay in it. I use it on the ground and
I dusted my Tomato plants with it to try to control White Flys, lots of them.
The problem with hand dusting, you can't cover both top and bottom of the leafs
and plants, so you need to purchase a professional dusting machine, either hand
held or one with a shoulder strap. Go to Johnny's Seeds or I found another
website at www.wolcreekranch.com which talks about Diatamaceous earth and they
also have dusters and sell the earth, but more expensive than your feed store.
wouldn't hurt to try theirs. I believe they say it is more white than some
earths
that are sold. I can't tell yet, but the earth may be having an effect on the
foilage or it is just other disease going on. I have not been able to buy any
more fertilizers yet since I applied lime and 6 24 24 to my soil several months
ago.

I also discovered this spring that their is an infestation of Caterpillar moths
in this area, so I hope the Diatamaceous Earth will help keep them out of my
plants. when the insects ingest the earth, it will dehydrate them and they will
die. Also check into other organic methods too.

http://attra.ncat.org/attra-pub/biorationals/search_results.php?pestType=&pestName=Caterpillar&actingredients=&tradeName=&Submit+Search=Submit+Search

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