If you’re didn’t pay attention in high school, Diatomaceous earth is a sedimentary rock that is made of an aquatic substance called diatoms. It can be found around the world naturally grown in oceans and lakes in different parts of the world.
From its raw form, diatomaceous earth is crushed into a finely formed mile to off white powder that has a slightly coarse structure.
There are two forms of diatomaceous earth available in the market. There is filter grade and there is food grade.
Filter grade is not supposed to be ingested by humans because of the high percentage of silicone crystal present in it. On the other hand, food-grade is considered to be safe and approved by the food and drug administration in America.
The low percent of crystalline silica makes it safe to consume without bringing any harm to the human body. The real question, however, is this: does diatomaceous earth kill bed bugs?. In this article, we will help you find out.
How does diatomaceous earth kill bugs?
They are a nuisance to have in your home and given in the affinity to multiply quickly they can be very difficult the get rid of.
Even if there are professional exterminators that can get the job done for you, it is always better to have solutions to have on the palm and so that you can avoid all the fuss.
Diatomaceous earth is a popular natural alternative that is commercially available for the pesticide problem that can be faced by you. It can kill the bed bugs by drying out their exterior shell and dehydrating them to the point of death. However good the treatment might be it surely has its pros as well as its cons. Some of the pros can be listed down as:
- It’s much cheaper than employing exterminators
- Bed bugs do not develop any kind of resistance
- It’s a natural solution
- It is not that invasive
- Well, the bad news is that:
- It might not do well on its own
- A lot of time is consumed
- A lot of precision is required
How to kill bed bugs using rocks
It may be a slow process for you to kill the bed bugs using techniques that may require perfect preparation, precision, and patience. To get the most out of the rock here is what you need to do.
Begin with washing everything
By the term everything we mean that you wash up your clothes, and the bedding covers, and make sure that you clean up whatever is lying around the infected area and also whatever you may think that might not have been affected by the bed bugs.
Once they are all dried up make sure you turn up the heater so that they all end up dead because of the heat.
Provide your house with a good steaming and vacuum because of the reason that the bed bugs cannot handle the heat, steaming your carpets and mattresses will help you to kill the bedbugs that are already tumbled up in your sheets and hiding in the crooks and crannies you vacuum. This will give you a head start in killing the ones that are out of your reach.
Carefully use rocks
After you are done with washing and cleaning up all the things, you can start to apply the rock. It will be better if you use some kind of an application that will get you into all the nooks and the crannies of your walls and furniture because those are the places that the bed bugs reside the most. When applying the rock on the carpets rugs and floors, make sure that you don’t pour too much powder at once.
Instead of doing this, spoon small amounts and dust them around with a feather duster to make sure that you have a fine, even coating of the powder. If you layer the rocks in clumps, it will give the bugs a chance to work their way around the powder. The main areas that you should concentrate on are:
- on the edges of your wall
- All over and around the legs of your furniture
- Any cracks and crannies around the house
- In the spaces around your mattress and bed
- On carpets and tugs
- Inside the plug sockets
The main idea is not to kill the bed bugs but to prevent any other bed bugs from entering your house and increasing the burden that you already are trying to get rid of.
In this way, a preventive barrier will be put across your house and this will make sure to reduce the movement of the bed bugs by trapping them around the house and for them to feed without consuming that dangerous powder that will end their life.
Leave the diatomaceous earth standing
You might be wondering how long you leave that powder standing on the carpet or all-around your house. The answer to that is as long as necessary! You must also make sure that you have not applied too much that you are kicking dust around the house which will cause you to inhale it and this might cause you to come up with allergies or health problems.
Clean away the dead bugs
Of course, you will have the want to clean out the bed bugs as they have begun to die one by one.
That can be done by regularly vacuuming and dusting out the areas that have started to accumulate the dead bugs which means that you will also get an idea of how well your treatment is working. If in case you have not found any dead bugs then maybe you haven’t applied the powder in a correct way for them to not affect at all. It all depends on how you trap the little critters, they are likely to die out pretty fast. The process can, therefore, take a week or more.
