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Trippie
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It is food gradeYeah, don’t breathe it in! But if it’s food grade, it’s OK to eat it!
Oldchucky
Supporter
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I imagine that’s where most of their sales are! People chowing It down! L O L! I’ve got a two year old bag of it, that I never opened! I better go, check it for a, best If used by date!
Eledin
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Hahaha food grade diatomaceous earth is sometimes used to kill or prevent flies on dogs and stuff like that. Its okay for them to lick it, also used on comestices I believe, and its okay for a fuman to consume a moderate ammount if your doctor says youre short on silica but I have yet to hear that one 
. Also regular diatomaceous earth usually is calcinated while food grade isnt.
. Also regular diatomaceous earth usually is calcinated while food grade isnt.
Eledin
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Oh, about the expiration date, its phossils so I think they'll be fine for a few more thousands of years 
as long as the bag was close that is.
as long as the bag was close that is.
Beachbumm
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Don't peek in your tent during dark period.
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Trippie
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Ohhhh, is that a bad thing?
Beachbumm
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Well I don't recon it would bother autos, but it's not what you want to do with photo period plants, you don't want any light leaks or disruption of the dark cycle
Eledin
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Light during the dark period will stress them, even if its for a few seconds. That said is not likely for them to herm just becaused you peeked once or twice during the flowering period, but not impossible either.
Also about the DE, yes its effective again when it dries. It only stops being effective when there's not enough and that can happen after a few weeks of watering as the silica decomposes and goes to the plant. Feel free to top with food grade diatomaceous earth 2-3 times per grow if you see critters.
And another thing, I said 2 tablespoons, my bad because I was thinking in spanish, 2 american tablespoons is too little for big pots, I dont know how the spoons I use are called hahaha. So in grams I would use around 40-50 grams while 2 american tablespoons is only 30 grams. You can add 1 or 2 more american tablespoons if you wish to go safer but maybe what you used was enough.
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Trippie
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Okay thank you. I put about 3 tablespoons in it and covered the top layer of soil then I kinda mixed it in, looks like a mixture of powder and soil
Beachbumm
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Don't mix it in, you want it on top of soil
Eledin
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Not really no, thats only effective against critters than dont reproduce in the substrate like snails. If you dont mix properly with the top layer of the soil gnats and small critters will still find cracks to live in and reproduce, been there with gnats in the past. If you mix the top layer of the soil with a decent ammount like he did, gnats cant find a crack to put eggs 2-3inches below the top soil and youre also killing most of the larvae that could be already there.
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Eledin
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Well actually if you put enough to cover everything you wont have to mix with the soil but you will also need to use much more DE. Its not the same in the garden, it will wash away, but inside a pot you might not want to use a lot. While its very hard to harm a plant using diatomaceous earth you will raise the EC of the soil and if you rise it too much it will affect nutrient uptake. It will also affect the PH, its around 8 so its good enough for organic, wont affect much, but some nutrients are better absorved at 6,2-6,5 PH and if youre changing the PH of the water but you have a lot of diatomaceous earth in your substrate it will also affect nute uptake. Again, growing inside a pot is very different than growing on the ground, you need to be careful to not saturate the soil with too much stuff, specially if it changes the PH.
Beachbumm
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I had to go check to see which bug he had again LOL it's root aphids right? I'm not sure how to get rid of them? I had them and I don't think I ever got rid of them, I think they were there when I tore the grow down
Had to go check re: DE because it's been a while but what I could read is that it's to be broadcast on the top of the dry soil, not mixed in, that's how I used it the one time I did, but found it of no help. I did read some people are using it in there watering but I didn't read the article
Had to go check re: DE because it's been a while but what I could read is that it's to be broadcast on the top of the dry soil, not mixed in, that's how I used it the one time I did, but found it of no help. I did read some people are using it in there watering but I didn't read the article
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Eledin
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In cases where they go even deeper than gnats like root aphids (which we are not sure if they are) its the same, you need to cover every crack. Even if you cant kill the larvae they have to go to the surface when they becomes adults. When covering every crack with DE no adults will survive that goes inside nor any adult that tries to get out, so it will eventually kill them all.
Fun story, I remember, probably in this forum, a dude was recomended to use DE for a soil pest. The dude literally put like 2-3 inches of pure DE on the top layer, crazy ammount I was laughing my ass off but nobody told him how much to use so... happens hahaha. The plant survived but the end result was... not great. He did remove most of it after checking the post 1 or 2 weeks later but too much made it deeper into the soil already.
EDIT: Also they pass the tiny silica crystals to each other on contact, so if they try to reproduce it will only kill them quicker.
Eledin
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The silica that will go deeper when you water overtime and then dry before the next watering will also kill aphids that are deeper in the roots. Another 2 great organic solutions if the problem is too deep into the soil for diatomaceous earth to handle:
1. Nematodes: they will feed on any small critter like root aphids, after the pray is gone they die. They dont attack bigger critters like worms so thats good if you have worms in your soil.
2. Bacillus thuringiensis: my favorite, feeds like any other of your root microorganisms so they dont need pray to survive. They last all the grow and will kill any critter that tries to munch on the roots, because they produce a protein thats toxic for them but harmless for the plant and the rest of microorganisms.
1. Nematodes: they will feed on any small critter like root aphids, after the pray is gone they die. They dont attack bigger critters like worms so thats good if you have worms in your soil.
2. Bacillus thuringiensis: my favorite, feeds like any other of your root microorganisms so they dont need pray to survive. They last all the grow and will kill any critter that tries to munch on the roots, because they produce a protein thats toxic for them but harmless for the plant and the rest of microorganisms.
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Trippie
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I'm not exactly sure what the bug is never really found out also haven't seen any really since the videos where my soil was decently wet. At the top of the plant where everything sprouts from I did see a very tiny yellow bug crawl out and I killed it immediately, haven't seen anything else no marks, nothing chewing on the plant, no bugs or marks under the leaves, no gnats. My plant was very dry when I put the de in yesterday, but I'm pretty sure the de made it even more dry, so I ended up watering it 12 hrs after putting de in but it has seems to kinda seep in the soil and dried again. I just want no bugs, I don't do bugs as it is. Would it be smart to spray general hydroponics exile on it? Not sure what the yellow critter was but this one was on the plant. I've seen people dilute the exile with water and just gently mist the plant to prevent bugs from going on the plant.
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Trippie
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This is after watering it the de is there just not as visible around the plant as I watered her in a circle motion
Eledin
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That looks like a good ammount to me 
ideally you should have let it sit for more than 12 hours but since you didnt water a lot because the plant is not big yet it should be fine if you let it dry again. Im not sure what critter it is either but better safe than sorry and the extra silica is welcomed by the plant.
ideally you should have let it sit for more than 12 hours but since you didnt water a lot because the plant is not big yet it should be fine if you let it dry again. Im not sure what critter it is either but better safe than sorry and the extra silica is welcomed by the plant.
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Trippie
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Hey after I have watered and the top is damp they are back and I got a better video on 18x zoom some are extremely tiny to where you can't see it.
Eledin
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This is what happens when you dont follow the instructions, I dont mean it in a bad way but I was very specific when I said you need it to be dry to be effective. Its okay, let it dry real good this time until the plant asks you for water and apply a bit more over the wet area. Just dont be impatient and let it dry otherwise youre just wasting your time
