Diatameous Earth

I have some weird flying critters in my grow closet. They are in the closet, and somewhat in the soil, but do not seem to actually be affecting the plants. Neem oil has not worked. I just dusted the plants with diatomaceous earth. Is this safe for the plants? I am getting close to bloom. If the DE works, I plan to pull the plants to outside sun, bug bomb the room, and then sanitize before returning the plants to the closet. Thoughts?

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I plan to do all of this in a single day.

Yup, DE is safe for the plants and you! Just not bugs!

Does it dry out the plant leaves?

It did not work for fleas, mostly because of their long and varied life cycles. I shall see how it works on these critters. Not sure what they are, I have never seen anything like them. Thin, long flies. Should I sterilize Happy Frog soil before my next grow?

I believe you just cover your plant with it and rinse it off after a couples day. Depending on the bug, you may need to do it twice. I think there’s a thread on here with better information though

Will this clear the closet?

Well hmmmm…nothing but drywall, a fan and plastic on the floor. I think their only grow medium is what is in the planters. Definitely time for a sanitization of the room before bloom.

Well, sanitize the closet from the humidifier I know longer use, and the plastic on the floor that has water and nute residue, plus whatever the flies have deposited.

I found the thread that had a ton of info on DE. Apparently if kills everything but cancer…hopefully cannabis will do that. It will be interesting to see what flies fly in the closet tomorrow.

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I have read some about d e . I’d like to know just how this works for you. I had fungus nats my last crop and never treated the issue. The flies got thick and killed the roots. White powdery mildew was rampant and most the leaves were small and necrotic. What an expensive lesson that was.

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I have since moved away from soil and went to promix. Now I have no issues.