Napa Floor Dry tailings safe in raised garden beds?

[gjantzer]

I sift my floor dry with an 1/8" hardware cloth. The tailings all seem to be just less than an 1/8". Should I be using these tailings (along with lava and pumice) in my raised beds or is there some health concerns with the floor dry supporting my edible plants?

 

[sorce]

The only thing that could end up sucking, is getting a clump of dust sitting together, it's either gonna wet and never dry....never wet........
or wet, and dry into cement.

Other than that.....it will be excellent.

You may be able to bucket it, and float off the dust.

Sorce

 

[BrianBay9]

No problem as long as you haven't already soaked up oil with it...

 

[CWTurner]

The NAPA floor dry that I use is almost all slightly larger than 1/8" and slightly smaller than 1/8" (some dust below that size when I sift with a window screen, but very little).
I use both sizes for planting my bonsai, the smaller mix for smaller trees.
Did you check the MSDS on the NAPA site, that might help?
CW

 

[Jester217300]

The only health risk is if you breathe in A LOT of the DE dust. If it's in the ground you should consider it inert. It will have no negative effect on your edible plants.

 

[jeanluc83]

It may actually help deter insects. DE dust is used as an insecticide.

 

[GroveKeeper]

I'm not entirely sure that DE would be safe in vegetable beds. I'm pretty sure that fired DE is very high in silica, which some plants can mine and build up.

I would do some further research.

 

[BrianBay9]

Diatomaceous Earth (DE) is the remnants of diatom skeletons - silica dioxide. It is approved as a feed additive, a beverage filtering agent, as a powder "lubricant" in grain storage, etc. Definitely non-toxic. The dust is used as an insecticide only because it acts as an abrasive, grinding bugs exoskeletons and making them dehydrate. It's pretty safe stuff as long as you don't inhale the dust on a regular basis.

 

[just.wing.it]

It may actually help deter insects. DE dust is used as an insecticide.

The birds and squirrels don't seem to like my Napa DE, but they dig like hell in any of my organic stuff....gotta cover the soil with screens to protect them.
I've come home an seen 3" deep holes dug in my pots, without DE.
That's been one pleasant surprise for me, since I began using it.