Diatomaceous Earth Pest Control for Irises

Treat your iris garden with diatomaceous earth food grade and you will control the borer pests and also grow healthy plants that will produce beautiful blooms.  

For healthy irises with beautiful blooms follow my pest control tips.
photo of my garden..Sgolis

For the past week, I have been cleaning up my gardens by removing the oak leaves that fell from the trees at the end of March, the first week of April.  When I got to my iris gardens I noticed that the wet leaves that covered the tubers had attracted borers.   

The borers will eat the tubers and weaken the health of the plant and if the iris is left untreated the borers will eventually kill the irises.  I acted quickly to this infestation of pests by treating the garden with diatomaceous earth food grade.

When it comes to treating my garden for pests I prefer to use a natural substance that will not harm humans, wildlife, and pets.  Over the years I have had excellent results with diatomaceous earth when I use it for yard and garden pest control.

Instructions

Remove the leaf debris or mulch from your iris bed on a day when there is no wind. 

Fill a powder sugar shaker with diatomaceous earth food grade and take safety steps to protect yourself from inhaling the dust by wearing a fine particle ventilator mask.

Loosen the dirt that surrounds your iris tuber and then shake the diatomaceous into the loosened soil. Cover the dust with soil. This treatment will kill the pests in the soil also. 

Shake the diatomaceous earth food grade all over your iris garden. This treatment will prevent above-the-surface garden pests from eating your tuber or iris leaves.  

Spring showers will cause the diatomaceous earth to enter the soil that surrounds the irises. This is good as it will continue to kill off pests in the soil that feed on iris tubers.  

Watch your garden for any signs of borers.  If you view a yellow streak in your iris leaf or insects crawling on or around your iris tubers then retreat the garden with the diatomaceous earth food grade.  

Notes from Sgolis

Keep your iris garden free of weeds and debris.  As this will enable the iris plants to take in the nutrients from the sun and your plants will be healthy and produce large flowers.

 

Controlling Grasshoppers in the Garden

The central great plains have had extreme heat and drought this summer.  As a result, many gardens have noted that the plants, trees and ornamental shrubs are suffering.  While the lack of water has been departmental to our vegetation we also have had to deal with a large number of brown grasshoppers.  

Grass garden with assorted wildflowers

My home resides directly next to a large wildflower meadow, vast pastures and woods.   This is a natural habitat for young nymph grasshoppers.  

Wildflowers blooming in the meadow

In late spring-early summer these grasshoppers quickly devastated the meadow and the pasture before they moved into my yard.  At present we cannot walk across our yard without grasshopper jumping past us or onto us.   If you open a car door, grasshoppers will hop inside.  

What attracts the grasshopper?

Warm and dry conditions are an ideal habitat for the grasshopper.  In my area, we had a mild winter and a warm early spring followed by extreme heat and drought. Had we had a cold winter and a cool spring much of the grasshopper population would have not survived.  

What type of Damage is caused from Grasshopper Infestation

Grasshoppers are herbivores and will feed off of many garden plants.  Some grasshoppers will devour pastures and grasses including ornamental grass. Thirty pounds of grasshoppers can consume your lawn and garden within a day.  That is 10 grasshoppers per square yard.

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Pest Control Tips

1. The best method for getting rid of grasshoppers is to work your garden soil with a tiller in early spring.  Tilling will disturb the nymph eggs.  This method will cut down on grasshopper populations.
2. Another way to get rid of the grasshopper is to clean up the vegetation in late winter. For the lawn use a thatching rake to remove all dead grass, for garden remove weeds, leaves, and debris. 
3. Treat with insecticide in the late winter or very early spring.  I recommend spraying with pyrethrins which are formulated with Chrysanthemums or dusting with Diatomaceous Earth food grade a natural insecticide.  Either of these insecticides will get rid of aphids, beetles, webworms, grasshoppers, fleas, ticks, spiders and many other pests.
4. Get rid of grasshoppers by attracting wildlife to your yard; birds, cats, lizards, groundhogs, and other rodents eat grasshoppers.   Release your cats into your garden and they will hunt grasshoppers.  Grasshoppers are high in protein and both cats and dogs eat them.

Learn more about Diatomaceous Earth Food Grade by viewing this video:

Community Grasshopper Pest Control

Communicate with your neighbors in treatment options and make sure everyone treats their yard and pastures with insecticide this will prevent a repeat infestation of grasshoppers.  One treatment of insecticide may not be enough to get rid of grasshoppers.  Take note of the activity in your yard and garden and address the grasshopper infestation if need be by reapplying insecticide.

Plants that Attract Beneficial Insects

Attract insects that feed off the grasshoppers.  Grow marigolds, sunflower, daisy and dill herb in areas throughout your yard.   These plants will attract robber flies.  The flies are a natural way to get rid of grasshoppers.

Tips:

• Grasshoppers are a common insect throughout the United States. This insect is renowned for its large appetite.
• Pray for a cool and wet spring.  This is a natural way to starve the young nymph grasshoppers.  
• Brown grasshoppers make good bait for fishing.

Warnings:

• Limited quantities of grasshoppers are good for the ecosystem; infestation of hundreds of grasshoppers will cause serious damage.  If you have a few grasshoppers and want to get rid of them repel them from your yard with plants.
• If you do not act fast to control the grasshopper infestation then your yard, the garden will be damaged from this foraging insect.
• Use food grade Diatomaceous Earth only, if the product is safe for pets then it is okay to use on your lawn or garden, as it will kill the grasshopper but will not harm your pets, children or other wildlife.

Where to Buy Diatomaceous Earth Food Grade

Diatomaceous earth food grade is a natural home and garden pest control.  It will get rid of; fleas, ticks spiders, mites, lice, webworms, bed bugs, cockroaches, aphids and powdery mildew without harming your pets or children.

For natural pest control, I apply diatomaceous earth food grade with a duster application.   It is best to cover your entire yard and gardens with the dust or you can mix the DE into the soil.  

Food grade that is 100 percent pure with no additives is the only formula that I will use because it is safe for wildlife, humans and pets.  

Where to Buy  Diatomaceous Earth Food Grade

When shopping online I look for the words pet and people safe.   You can buy DE online at Walmart.com they carry the product Lumino Home Diatomaceous Earth – food grade. for pets and people.  I like that this brand sells the DE in a jar because it does have to be kept airtight.  You can buy in a package but you will have to put in a jar that has a tightly fitted lid.

I also found diatomaceous earth food grade at ebay.com  They sell the brand Perma Guard Food Grade Diatomaceous Earth 10 ounces.  

"I bought a 3-pound container of Natures Wisdom food grade Diatomaceous Earth at Amazon and used it for the treatment of home and garden pests. Note a little bit goes a long way"   

Tips:

1. Diatomaceous earth food grade is fossilized skeletons of tiny aquatic organisms.  The earth is processed into a fine white powder that is best applied with a duster.  
2. The earth is effective in killing the insects with the razor sharp edges of the skeletons. The insects including bed bugs are killed when they come in contact with the earth, they are killed physically not chemically.
3. You can mix diatomaceous earth with pet food to kill hookworms   You can also add the earth to a shaker container and shake onto your pet's fur.  The diatomaceous earth food grade will kill fleas, ticks, mites, and lice.  Learn more here 
4. For yard and garden treatment I recommend that you use a ventilator mask when you are dusting your yard or garden.   If wildlife; raccoon, possum, fox, and deer enter your yard it is wise to reapply the earth every 4 to 6 weeks.
5. When shopping for DE look for the words organic, or pet safe on the package.