How to "spray" DE?

[goldtopper]

Quote:
Great idea for those hard to reach spots, thanks!

 

[ky-chicken-farmer]

i use an empty dishwashing soap bottle(like Dawn). I fill the bottle using a funnel and measuring cup then put the cap back on.

 

[Gullygarden]

before you "spray" diatomaceous earth, do read up on it's hazards. The stuff is a real respiratory danger if misused.

 

[off-grid hen]

I went into Michaels (arts and crafts store) and bought one of those squirt bottles for doing tie dye. It's a little bigger than a mustard or kecthup squeeze bottle, but looks the same. Just put the powder in the bottle. You cut the tip off the "spout" to the size you want, and apply like that. You could also go to a building supply house, and get one of those refillable bottles that they have for chalk line chalk. It would work the same way.

 

[Amyable]

I use a baby powder bottle, the kind with the little holes in the lid.

 

[Pele]

Wow, there's lots of good ideas on here! I personally decided to go the cheapest route possible and used an old sports-drink bottle that I'd emptied and dried out.

You just fill it 1/3 full with the rest being air, and aim and squeeze at wherever you want a cloud of the dust. It makes a pretty decent sized one, and evenly distributes it. The air carries the dust when it exits the bottle.

Cheap and easy, and kind of recycling!

 

[geekgurl]

We drink the Tropicana Trop50 orange juice in the plastic bottle and I saved one, drilled about 10-15 small holes in the green screw cap and funneled in some DE in the bottle. It makes a nice shaker.

 

[Ellie]

Great ideas just keep coming, even years later from my original post!!

 

[R_Chickens]

Our local Agway store stocks Red Lake Food Grade DE around $10 or so for $50. It is mixed with bentonite (clay) so it is brown and not as pure as the white version, but it has been working quite well and is readily available.

- JC

 

[leilanio]

I buy my DE off of Amazon. It is 10 Pounds (lasts a while for us) and shipping is Prime (am a Prime member) so I get it pretty fast and it arrives quickly. I also (from Amazon) bought a 6 pack of condiment bottles (ketchup, mustard, etc..) that are tall and in the white plastic. I fill it with DE and use it around the perimeters of my plants, my veggie square foot boxes and when we remodeled our house I squirted all the baseboards before they went back on. No ants here! And believe me in Southern CA there are loads of them. Because I have 3 dogs and grandbabies around I don't want anything used that could hurt them, the chicks, the environment, my veggies, etc.. this does the trick.

So for the 6 pack of bottles .... I use them for other things. I get my mega-sized bottle of laundry detergent, softener, bleach from Costco when on sale and then I pour each one into one of these bottles. I label each bottle and I keep those bottles on top of the washer. The mega bottles go into the pedestal drawer below. This really helps to keep the space and mess down and also makes things more cost effective.

I hope this simple trick helps someone!