Springtails

I just read your article on Diatamaceous Earth ( http://www.richsoil.com/diatomaceous-earth.jsp). Very interesting!  I was wondering if this product would eliminate springtails outside my house...

There are three very large trees casting a lot of shade on the house and creating humidity. This spring has especially been very wet and I how have an infestation of springtails around my house. The bugs are trying to come in from the windows and doors.

There is no mulch anywhere around my house, no dead leaves, and I even had the patio slabs removed.

An exterminator sprayed 1% Permethrin around the house foundations and the doors and windows, but the springtails are back.

Will Diatamaceous Earth work?

The other solution would be to cut down those magnificent trees, which I don't want to do and the City won't allow me to do.

Do you have any suggestions? I’m desperate.

Thanks

Where do you live? To be honest I had no idea springtails could become a pest.

Diatomaceous earth apparently doesn't work when it gets wet... and it sounds like this is a wet area? I think the permaculture solution would be to create habitat with plants and mulch in the area. This way the beneficial bugs will move in and find a giant feast of springs. Spraying the area hurts bigger predator bug populations much more than it affects things like springtails because they have such a short lifecycle and reproduce very quickly.

little geckos and lizards love springtails, they are high in calcium.

I am sure there is a cheap source for anoles or arboreal geckos in your area. google or kijiji etc will prob help.

odds are a bird will eventually get them or you can trap them in the fall using a box wth a heat source.