My name is Jeff White and I am the research
entemalogist for Bed Bug Central and the host
of Beg Bug TV, bedbugcentral.com.
I have no idea how I got into bugs and bed
bugs, and here I am six years later and having
a lot of fun working with bed bugs and will
be talking to you about pest control.
Diatomaceous earth or DE, what is it and will
it work for bed bugs?
What you need to know about diatomaceous earth
is that it is made from a crushed fossil called
a diatome, and what it is is a white dust,
or typically a white dust that is made from
a crushed fossil that you can apply in your
house for a lot of different reasons.
If you do some research you are actually going
to find out that DE is commonly used in pool
filters, it also can be used as a supplement
to a diet, you can find it in pill form that
you can take.
There are even certain forms that you can
put on your dog to treat for different issues,
whether its fleas or other types of bugs.
And, o how does it work for bed bugs and what
is it going to do, Well this pesticide, diatomaceous
earth is going to be a dessicant and what
that means is its going to dry a bed bug out.
And so, if this dust gets on a bug its going
to be very abrassive to that bugs exoskeleton
and then dry it out and potentially kill it.
And so, will it actually work, yes it will.
Labs have found that DE will kill bugs on
contact.
The most important thing about using DE in
your home is knowing that these other formulations
that you can use in a pool filter, the ones
that you can take as part of your diet, you
want to make sure that you are purchasing
DE that was made for pest control reasons
and so go out there, do some research and
find the ones that were made by people who
were intending it to be used for pest control.
Once you buy it you also want to make sure
that you follow the labels directions.
People think of this is a green pesticide,
it's made from crushed fossils, I'm just going
to spread it all over my house.
Remember that it is still a pesticide, and
it does still have toxicity issues with it
all be it very low toxicity but it does still
exist so you want to follow the label directions
and you want to be applying it to cracks and
crevices.
It may say you can dump it on the floor but
remember that bed bugs hide in cracks and
crevices and so you want to be applying that
dust to those areas to address bed bugs most
appropriately.
But the bottom line is that yes, you can use
DE to kill bed bugs.
If you get it to bed bugs, it will kill a
lot of bed bugs and it can be a very good
product to use as part of a control program.
It won't alone solve your bed bug problem.
