Does Diatomaceous Earth Work on Bed Bugs?
You can kill bed bugs with Diatomaceous Earth, but it takes time.
Using it alone it may be mostly ineffective. It is useful as part of a multimodal bed bug plan, http://bedbugabscond.hubpages.com/hu...tion-Checklist
Through experimentation and investigation I have learned the truth about DE and bed bugs.
Across the web, you will see site after site, and video after video, praising diatomaceous earth.
These may claim that it is the answer to all of your bed bug problems.
Sadly, this has caused a great deal of misinformation about this topic.
I hope to dispel misinformation here.
I recommend getting a free bed bug removal quote from a professional.
However, if you are going to do it yourself you should use this substance as part of your total bed bug plan.
The Experiment
The investigation started with 30 bed bugs.
Each one was kept in special enclosures. Some were trapped in pill bottles, such as in the pictures, and others in an ant colony.
At the bottom of each enclosure was a thick layer of Diatomaceous Earth (pool grade in some, food grade in others).
Bed bugs were placed in each enclosure for observation. Twice a day they were checked, and the results were odd.
The bed bugs did not die right away, or even a few days later. It took 7-14 days to kill them.
If you have a very minor infestation, you might be able to cure an infestation with this stuff.
It takes 10-14 days to kill healthy bed bugs, and bed bugs breed quickly.
The conclusion of the experiment was that DE alone will not cure a serious bed bug infestation.
It does help, though.
Diatomaceous Earth is made from silica.
These tiny particles seem kind of smooth to us, but to a bed bug they are razor sharp.
As they walk across the DE, it cuts up their abdomen. This causes them to become dehydrated and eventually die.
While the above statement is true, it is very slow acting.
Some of the bed bugs in the experiment lived for over 2 weeks in the enclosure.
It was obvious that they did not want to walk on the Diatomaceous Earth, but they would do it.
It was discouraging to see the length of time it took to kill bed bugs with DE.
When you think about the bedroom, bed bugs have lots of places to hide.
This brought up the question, “How does DE work in a real life situation?"
To answer this question, three families with bed bugs volunteered to try both food grade and pool grade DE.
Each family was given one or the other for the experiment. Before the family members began the experiment, they were briefed on safety issues.
For the most part, Food Grade Diatomaceous Earth is safe to use around pets and children.
However, this does not mean it is 100% safe.
Pool Grade DE is not safe to use in bed bug removal.
As mentioned above, DE is made from silica. It may seem harmless to the touch.
However, the mucosal lining of our repertory tract is not nearly as protected as the skin on the outside of our body.
When we breathe in DE, it can cause damage to the mucosal lining of the nose, sinuses, throat, bronchi and bronchioles.
Through my experiment with each family, quite by accident, I breathed in both food grade and pool grade DE.
Food grade DE caused a lot less irritation than pool grade.
I do not recommend the pool grade DE for bed bugs. It causes severe imitation that you don't get with food grade.
If you choose to include DE as a part of your bed bug plan, always use food grade.
After this experiment, I talked to as epidemiologist and a few doctors.
They confirmed that using pool grade DE is unsafe.
No one that used food grade DE became sick.
If you want to know more about the DE misinformation from the media, please see our good friends over at Bedbugger, they know there stuff.
They are one of the best bed bug resources on the net and have a great forum for users.
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