dt and dt food grade

What is the difference between dt and dt(food grade) I cant find the food grade anywheres so I bought 1 bag of the non food grade please what is the difference will it kill my plants the non food grade I have very large biggggg red ants and I cant find the mound I think they might be in my pine tree thats were they are running around please help thank you

Kathi - Welcome to Permies...

Are you asking about DE as in Diatomaceous Earth? If so, and it sounds like it also I don't know of any dt that is a food grade. Food Grade DE is what you want to use for yourself, your pets/livestock/fowl and plants for pest control. The non-food grade is industrial or pool grade for filtration and usually has additives that you don't want to be near. Google 'How to use Diatomaceous Earth', you'll find many postings and with some 'experience' on your part you'll find/learn many more... You can, of course, find DE online, like at Amazon, but shipping can be high, best is to find local and/or ask a nursery to bring some in if they don't already carry, they should already. It's going to be cheaper in 50# bags rather than small packages. Typically, once you learn how to use it you think of all kinds of applications and wonder how you lived without it. Don't go to Lowe's, Home Depot or a Pool Supply, it won't be food grade. Cornmeal, boric acid/sugar can be effective with ants, but are the ants really bothering you or are they just there, might be better to leave them, unless they are getting in your house or hurting the kids/family...?

Yes I need it for very large red ants they are coming from my pine tree because I cant find the mound.So, like an idiot I used the safer brand from home depot the guy said it was ok but I only bought a small bag wasnt food grade.Those ants are biting ants and the are ruing my plants.I think they are attracting aphids because I see them on there too I have very expensive plants because Im trying to sell them to a local nursery here.I cant afford to have any bugs on my plants.Also saw some very tiny fury round yellow things in a line on my desert rose plants which totally freaked me out never seen that before.I got rid of them by spraying the safer insecticital spray for now but you know living in Florida we have so many bugs here and when I found this website premies and saw dt (food grade) I thought cool something natural to get rid of bugs.I hate the thought of killing ants they work so hard but if they are going to attract aphids they got to go man have to.Ya know what I mean.So DT (food grade) is the best right?Cause the regular stuff did not kill these large red suckers (ant)s and they are big 1/4 inch and larger dont know what they are.But this site said dt kills all hard shell bugs,right?Fleas outside cockroaches .Thank You Kathi

kathi corbett wrote:Yes I need it for very large red ants they are coming from my pine tree because I cant find the mound.So, like an idiot I used the safer brand from home depot the guy said it was ok but I only bought a small bag wasnt food grade.Those ants are biting ants and the are ruing my plants.I think they are attracting aphids because I see them on there too I have very expensive plants because Im trying to sell them to a local nursery here.I cant afford to have any bugs on my plants.Also saw some very tiny fury round yellow things in a line on my desert rose plants which totally freaked me out never seen that before.I got rid of them by spraying the safer insecticital spray for now but you know living in Florida we have so many bugs here and when I found this website premies and saw dt (food grade) I thought cool something natural to get rid of bugs.I hate the thought of killing ants they work so hard but if they are going to attract aphids they got to go man have to.Ya know what I mean.So DT (food grade) is the best right?Cause the regular stuff did not kill these large red suckers (ant)s and they are big 1/4 inch and larger dont know what they are.But this site said dt kills all hard shell bugs,right?Fleas outside cockroaches .Thank You Kathi

Kathi - Again, search on Google for 'How to use Diatomaceous Earth' and it's DE not DT. Also, there are 7 pages of posts concerning how other Permies have used DE for whatever their complaint was. You might also want to look at Boric Acid or Cornmeal, there are others, too...

I am guessing that the aphids likely came first and then the ants came for their secretions... I remember something about some types of aphids and ants working together like that.. Are the plants out doors or enclosed in a green house? If you could identify the kind of ant and the living conditions it likes that would help in finding a solution. I don't know if DE is going towork for ants and even if it does it won't be immediate.

Could you check the package and see if you were sold BT? Which wouldn't work for ants either but if you asked for DT the clerk might have not understood it to be Diatomaceous Earth.

Ladybugs for the aphids! You can buy little plastic tins full of them for a whole lot of nothing. You can use boric acid for the ants, best at their source if you can find where that is. Read up on boric acid FIRST. FOOD GRADE Diatomaceous Earth is great against ALL arthropods (bugs) so consider carefully before applying it. It is nearly permanent if you use it outside where it can't be washed away and it will kill good bugs as well as bad. It cuts their exoskeletons and they dehydrate. You might also look into getting praying mantis for your garden.

POOL AND INDUSTRIAL GRADE DIATOMACEOUS EARTH IS POTENTIALLY CARCINOGENIC. GET "FOOD GRADE". It also must be used with reasonable caution but is benign unless you breathe a lot of it in. You can actually de-worm intestinal worms from people, pets, livestock with it.

READ UP ON IT FIRST FOR YOURSELF. BE AN INFORMED CONSUMER.

Good luck!