Diatomaceous Earth on wood pile

[gunzby]

The other week I picked up a load of pecan that had some powderpost beetles tagging along for the ride. I went and picked up some food grade DE and was going to dust the wood pile with it when I got home today when I wondered if that's safe.

Anyone else dust their wood? An AI search says it's safe, but I don't always trust AI results

TIA

 

[SMOKEOCD]

I used it in my chicken coop. Guarantee they ate some, I inhaled some and wore some. I think ai might be right this time but good on you for not trusting it.

 

[forktender]

You can also spray it with a 50/50 mix of H2o and distilled white vinegar a couple of times a yr. I do this with my smoker and firewood to keep the Black Widows, and tree rats out of the wood pile. I add a dash of peppermint oil in the mix when I spray the wood that we burn in the house, I'm sure it would be fine on the smoker wood as well, because when we have inside fires you can't smell any minty smell at all. I was actually hoping that we would.

 

[Elf@shore]

The other week I picked up a load of pecan that had some powderpost beetles tagging along for the ride. I went and picked up some food grade DE and was going to dust the wood pile with it when I got home today when I wondered if that's safe.

Anyone else dust their wood? An AI search says it's safe, but I don't always trust AI results

TIA

DE: Extremely harmful!
It Inhaled, swallowed, consumed !
It’s clinging to your insides!
Similar to a pool filter.
We chose not to use a DE Filter due to
Too many animals would become ill.
SO? No way I would use it!
Use vinegar in a garden sprayer.
Just my 2c. !? I’m

 

[WaterRat]

DE is essentially powdered glass. It’s a “natural” glass that comes from crushing diatoms (tiny plankton creatures). The glass is their shell. It’s danger is if you inhale it, it can harm your lungs even severely kinda like asbestos. It can also severely irritate your eyes. That said it is non toxic. I use it all the time in the lab to filter things but in a fume hood. Whether using it on your wood pile is a good idea I don’t know. Its irritating properties won’t go away just from sitting out. There’s probably better solutions to your problem some mentioned above.

 

[zwiller]

It’s a “natural” glass that comes from crushing diatoms (tiny plankton creatures).

Beat me to it! I did my 8th grade science fair project on DE. Very cool stuff. DE works well on adult bugs only not larvae so will not eradicate an infestation. Boric acid will tho. Natural non toxic as well. My understanding is the bark is highly susceptible to bugs so remove it/use it up first/etc.

 

[gunzby]

DE: Extremely harmful!
It Inhaled, swallowed, consumed !
It’s clinging to your insides!
Similar to a pool filter.
We chose not to use a DE Filter due to
Too many animals would become ill.
SO? No way I would use it!
Use vinegar in a garden sprayer.
Just my 2c. !? I’m

Food grade DE is much different than what's in a pool filter. They add food grade to chicken feed.

Neither are good to inhale, which is why I'm hesitant to dust it directly on the wood. My fear is that the smokestack will draw it into the cook chamber and basically make it an aerosol.

I think I'll stick to dusting around the stack and spraying the wood with vinegar.

 

[SMOKEOCD]

I read that it doesn’t burn, but I guess thermal convection could carry it. The concern would be breathing it, not eating it. It is food grade after all, I also read it’s used as an anti caking agent for sugar, flour and spices, and in grain storage silos. I’ve never sprayed the wood pile, but I think I’m going to start using the vinegar.

 

[JckDanls 07]

a load of pecan that had some powderpost beetles tagging along

I have the same problem with my Pecan... I don't worry about them... You can almost hear them scream when you throw a split on the fire...

 

[gunzby]

I have the same problem with my Pecan... I don't worry about them... You can almost hear them scream when you throw a split on the fire...

The weird part is that I have a stack of oak right next to it and nothing.

Pecan is expensive for me compared to what I normally get. I can get about a half cord of oak that has a wheel barrow or two of trash in it for $90. A quarter cord of pecan is $260.

I think this is a one and done for me

 

[zwiller]

Oak doesn't sound as sexy as pecan but it simply works. Nothing else for me. I've tried pretty much all of the usual sexy woods, peach, mulberry, pear, apple, sassafras, you name it. NOPE. As you said yourself, resistant to pest too and much higher BTU than fruit or nut woods. You can call oak by fancier names if you want to. Forked leaf white oak, northern pin oak, white burr oak, there's tons. You can probably find out what oak you got in here. https://www.fs.usda.gov/foresthealth/technology/pdfs/fieldguide.pdf

 

[yankee2bbq]

I didn’t realize how many “types” of oak there are. Thanks for sharing.

 

[gunzby]

Oak doesn't sound as sexy as pecan but it simply works. Nothing else for me. I've tried pretty much all of the usual sexy woods, peach, mulberry, pear, apple, sassafras, you name it. NOPE. As you said yourself, resistant to pest too and much higher BTU than fruit or nut woods. You can call oak by fancier names if you want to. Forked leaf white oak, northern pin oak, white burr oak, there's tons. You can probably find out what oak you got in here. https://www.fs.usda.gov/foresthealth/technology/pdfs/fieldguide.pdf

I'm in NC, so it's primarily red oak with some white mixed in. I was planning to sparingly use the pecan before I saw the dust piles. Now I'll burn that stuff up first

 

[zwiller]

I didn’t realize how many “types” of oak there are. Thanks for sharing.

Welcome. One of Dad's best friends family owned a tree felling company. That's how it started. Interesting but overwhelming at the same time.

I'm in NC, so it's primarily red oak with some white mixed in. I was planning to sparingly use the pecan before I saw the dust piles. Now I'll burn that stuff up first

Red vs white isn't a huge deal to me. Looks like red oak down in NC is known as spanish oak. Burn up the pecan and keep that stuff away structures. PPB is the most common pest I see on bug reports here.

 

[gunzby]

Welcome. One of Dad's best friends family owned a tree felling company. That's how it started. Interesting but overwhelming at the same time.


Red vs white isn't a huge deal to me. Looks like red oak down in NC is known as spanish oak. Burn up the pecan and keep that stuff away structures. PPB is the most common pest I see on bug reports here.

Ended up taking the stack down and moving it. I'm glad I did because I had a lot more than I thought. I might actually burn it up in a campfire and be done with it. Swept up a full snow shovel of sawdust.

 

[gunzby]

Fry beetles fry

 

[gunzby]

I will add that this is all because I got a little excited. I ordered a 1975 Workhorse and wanted a load of pecan to season before it showed up. I already had a load of firewood that was red oak, white oak, hickory and some trash, but I specifically wanted pecan.

Just be happy with what you have I guess. They didn't after the other stack, so that's good.