Lightweight Garden Dust Applicator, Made in USA

I should have bought this years ago. Yes I have to readjust how I am holding it after a while as it can be fatiguing holding and cranking but compared to the little hand pump models this thing spreads DE finely and easily, over the tops and under the bottoms of the leaves. I have a larger garden than many and raise enough cabbage and other brassicas for the year for us, and flea beetles are the bane of my existence. This thing has simplified and sped up my ability to dust the plants and I no longer mind doing this chore. Use a lot less DE than sprinkling by hand which I would end up reverting to out of frustration with the little hand pump models (which are great for other applications such as chicken dusting). I have only had it for a month or so and I can’t comment on how long it will last but it seems reasonably constructed and if I am careful with it think it will last for a few years anyway.

This dust applicator is awesome. It took what was a huge job of keeping bugs off my hydrangeas, azaleas and flowers to the easiest job I have in my garden! I loaded it with Seven Dust, and with the greatest of ease, stuck it into my plants and instantly had a nice coating on the back of the leaves. That was a week ago and my plants are doing great! I highly recommend this duster!

Food grade diatomaceous earth is a natural safe way to kill pests. Look it up on the internet. Good on fleas, roaches, bed bugs, et al. The powder is from diatoms that have died and their tiny skeletons are ground up. The powder when left around will manage to get under the shells of pests and somewhat how a grain of sand irritates an oyster, the diatom powder irritates the pest and the shell is shed prematurely. Good for garden pests and others. I used this duster to spread the powder around the base of my house where the bricks go into the dirt and up under the siding a bit. I am bug paranoid so I want to minimize the bugs crawling into the sides of the house. I also spread it in the mulch and dirt in areas where it either won't show or where I am going to fill in some more mulch. I do this to minimize my dogs exposure to fleas and other pests. You can also put it in some sort of sturdy cups under your bed legs. Bugs trying to get onto your bed by climbing up the legs will have to walk through the powder and cause their own demise. The nice this is, if you use food grade, you don't have to worry about your pets touching it or eating it. You could actually mix it with water and drink it. MAKE SURE IT IS GUARANTEED FOODGRADE. This duster helps you to cover a wide area without using excessive amounts of powder. Once it is on the ground, it can go into the dirt but it does not go away. You can use the duster to put it on your plants but you need to reapply after rain washes it off. I only gave the duster 4 stars because it is fairly cheaply made. The white extension tube is wobbly. I think if you are careless with it, it could be easily broken. Amazon had the best price for this although I think it was still on the expensive side for what it is. It's the only tool I found that you can spread the powder around lightly so it is the best tool for the job.

As per the title: Put a metal ball in the hopper with the DE. The movement of the interior mechanism inside will cause the ball to move around in unexpected ways and this chaotic movement is exactly what will knock other DE loose inside the hopper. Metal is fairly important as the weight will contribute more mass to the movement. Plastic may also work but... metal(not lead), and not glass because that would be too fragile. The caveat is of course that the ball would do best while in contact with the interior mechanism and this may not always be the case, still if it's below waist height it works the bulk of the time. No more knocking the sides to get more DE to go through, no modification or specialty DE, no bull to get the DE out of the hopper while turning. Actual review: This has *solved* my whitefly issue. Whiteflies are an absolute nightmare in my area but an application of DE makes the next time through an absolute treat, I love that stuff! As for usage I have not personally had the "blowback" problem others have had, but then again my plants are below the height I hold this item and so my application method may not cause it yet.

Overall am glad I have this and assuming it lasts a few years will easily pay for itself in more efficient powder application leading to better kill with much less powder consumption than my previous application method (basically a sifter sprinkling powder where needed). I love how well it disperses powder and with the supplied deflector it is very effective applying in dense canopies. Now for the bad stuff: - with just the tube installed without deflector the center of gravity while half full of diatomaceous earth is about 10 inches forward of the handle which means if you are not youthful, have arthritis or tendonitis in your hands/wrist/lower arm you will very soon be in pain while using this machine. The ergonomics really spoil an otherwise decent device. I may install a strap in front of the hopper to take the load off my aged forearm. - most of my usage is relatively close to the ground which means the hopper doesn’t feed well after about half the material is dispensed so you are constantly shaking the thing to move the powder down the hopper or constantly refilling. - hopper could be bigger especially due to above point. - the hopper is a pain to fill partly due to its small size, partly because of the sketchy lid setup but mostly because it’s not designed to be stable while sitting on the ground. - it sounds and feels like it wasn’t properly lubricated at the factory. The scant directions provided describe these symptoms of needing lubricant and indicate that user can lubricate but looks like that requires disassembly. Probably not difficult to do but I shouldn’t have to do it after half an hour of use. My feeling is that the provided metering screen doesn’t apply as much dust as I would like but they direct you to a website to buy additional screens and other maintenance related items.

Used to spread DE around the garden and barns it is really effective and cuts down the amount of DE used. Only issue is the quality of plastic and how durable it is, time will tell on that one.

very good product, really helpful

Well made easy to use saves time & money I only use quarter the amount of dust that i used to and get a better coverage very happy with this product Thanx.

Good idea but not as practical as it should be

Reasonably good product and easy to use. However the opening below the filling chamber allows dust to easily escape, which is not ideal if using a chemical that is harmful. Luckily I use it with bi-carb soda powder (for Liverwort control on plants), which is non-toxic. Presumably the openings are required for air intake but such easily spillage could be preventable with better design. Regarding shipping, it was fast but the item was damaged. The plastic, either side of the fixing screw on the deflector was snapped, despite reasonable packing. Given it was an OS purchase, it was too much of a hassle to ask for a replacement so just glued it back together, which seems to be holding.