In addition to the usual poisons and chemicals, there is another interesting method of destroying parasitic insects – the effect of the so-called mountain (diatom) flour. Diatomite has proven to be effective against ants, bedbugs, and cockroaches, but it can also be successfully used to rid the home of other harmful insects. Let’s analyze the features of using the drug in more detail.
What is diatomite?
Diatomite is a naturally formed sedimentary rock formed by the skeletons and shells of diatom algae. In the process of growth, diatoms once built a shell from dissolved silicon contained in water. It was these shells that accumulated at the bottom of the ancient oceans, forming sedimentary rock. Diatom flour is a powdery substance obtained by grinding and heat-treating the fossils of diatom shells.
Effectiveness in the fight against insects
Diatomite is a powerful natural adsorbent. It absorbs 100 times better than activated carbon. Due to such small sizes, the flour sticks very well to the body of the insect, and the prickly particles are firmly absorbed into the surface tissues of the parasites. Next, the hydro-capillary effect works: diatomite rapidly absorbs all moisture from the insect’s body, and it quickly dies from complete dehydration.
Thus, diatomite is a powerful, safe natural material that helps to get rid of harmful parasites. At the same time, the insect has no chance of salvation, since it can neither adapt nor avoid “intellectually” unfavorable contact.
Where to buy diatomaceous earth
You can buy this substance in any gardening department, you can also order it on the Internet. On sale are containers weighing from a kilogram.
How to use diatomaceous earth against insects
Diatomite from household and garden ants is used in dry form.
- They choose a windless day and simply sprinkle garden paths, anthills and favorite places of insects.
- If insects live at home, they are also sprinkled on floors, windowsills and other clusters of parasites.
- In order to destroy the entire population, no more than 30 grams per square meter is needed.
In the same way, diatomite destroys bed bugs and domestic cockroaches. But there is one nuance here. With the destruction of ants, everything is much easier, since ants have a habit of grouping and it is easy to find out their habitats in order to destroy them. Domestic cockroaches, and especially bed bugs, hide from human eyes, and it is not always clear where to pour the powder to kill the entire population at once. After all, if the insect does not touch the drug, there will be no point. To sprinkle at random means to expose your apartment to the accumulation of dirt, especially if there are animals living in the house. That is why such processing is more often entrusted to professionals who know the characteristic habitats of these parasites.
How else can you use “mountain flour”
Diatomite is in many respects a universal tool, effective not only in the fight against parasites, but also helps in solving many household, production and construction problems.
For repair and construction:
- Diatomite is often added to oil, emulsion, cement, and lime paints in order to give them fire-resistant properties. When painted with such paints, the wood significantly increases its resistance to high temperatures.
- When making refractory products, diatomite is added to the finished material: the dry powder binds clay and wood sawdust.
- Diatomite is used in the installation of refractory furnaces, heat-insulating pipes and industrial equipment that reaches a temperature of more than 900 degrees.
In farming:
- In agriculture, diatomaceous earth is used as a natural, safe remedy against the Colorado potato beetle. The same applies to nightshades: tomatoes, eggplants.
- Diatomite is also a safe soil improver. Heavy, loamy soils become porous and accessible to oxygen, plants can breathe freely and develop. Moisture is retained longer, and the soil does not dry out.
- Root crops sprinkled with diatomaceous earth and placed in containers may not be afraid of mold or fungus. The harvest will remain intact until next year, up to 90 percent.
In everyday life:
- Diatomite powder, sprinkled on old toilet or bathtub deposits, will help get rid of them in the shortest possible time. Faience shines with purity as it was a few years ago when purchased.
Diatomite powder helps saturate the body with silicon. This is relevant, because in the modern world a person often feels a lack of this substance. Silicon is easily destroyed during canning and other culinary processing, but it is a basic building block for the body’s flexible structures. By eating mountain flour, a person fills a serious deficit and saves himself from many health problems.