Diatomaceous earth & worms question

[Manijahtor]

so i was mixing my super soil i add diatomaceous earth at aproximately y spoon every 3 gallons, my worm castigs was full of worms so they ended up in the mix, but never so them again, did diatomaceous earth kill all the worms in there??

 

[Rusty420]

lol...maybe, does it not dry the pests out?? maybe the same thing happens to the worms, i always see um dried up on the path on hot days..

 

[h.h.]

I've been adding DE to my worm bed and still have worms. Maybe a few more without it, maybe not.

 

[growingcrazy]

My worms all hang out on the bottom of my soil bed. I have 30 lbs of DE mixed in with 60 gallons of soil.

 

[mad librettist]

your worms are probably still in there.

as far as I can tell they are not bothered by DE. they may even be using it as grit.

 

[big_daddy]

DE only dehydrates/kills insects with exoskeletons. Your worms will be safe.

b_d

 

[guest2012y]

I've had DE and worms together in the soil now for quite a while. DE only works on bugz when it's dry. In the soil it's an amendment with certain properties that improve the soil.
I agree with Mad,they probably use it.

 

[Manijahtor]

thank u very much for your answers
what is grit??
i started thinking, what about mycorrhizae and trichoderma, will DE kill them? haha... i dont think so, since they are in the same algae family, but i hope it doesnt bother to ask
saludos

 

[MissGreenDreamz]

I think by grit he means that the worms use it to help their digestion. They are mostly water and still need a little fine grit(fine particle of earth/fossil) to ingest even if only digesting microbes. not only would the DE not harm the worm, but it could be beneficial to its digestion, because DE is apparently still very fine like mad is saying. and like b_d says it only harms certain creatures with outer skeletons.

 

[greenmatter]

i have put small amounts of DE in my worm bin to see what they would do with it. something in there is making it disappear ..... no dead worms either

 

[heady blunts]

i started thinking, what about mycorrhizae and trichoderma, will DE kill them? haha... i dont think so, since they are in the same algae family, but i hope it doesnt bother to ask
saludos

fyi, mycorrhizae and trichoderma are fungi, and diatomite is the fossilized remains of hard shelled algae.