{"id":492,"date":"2017-09-19T11:58:33","date_gmt":"2017-09-19T11:58:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.okragardensupply.com\/blog\/?p=492"},"modified":"2017-09-19T11:58:33","modified_gmt":"2017-09-19T11:58:33","slug":"what-are-diatoms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.okragardensupply.com\/learn\/what-are-diatoms\/","title":{"rendered":"What are DIATOMS"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_495\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-495\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.okragardensupply.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/WhatAreDIATOMS.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-495\" src=\"https:\/\/www.okragardensupply.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/WhatAreDIATOMS-300x300.jpg\" alt=\"Screen capture comparing the result of the online survey that asked respondents \u201cWhich sounds like the name of a fire ant pesticide?\u201d The vast majority chose DIATOMS (86) over FRUSTULES (14).\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-495\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Photo Caption: This is the image of the result of any online survey I did to determine the name of DIATOMS. You can see that the simple DIATOMS was much favored over the more technically correct name I also considered, FRUSTULES.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h1>DIATOMS are a fire ant pesticide that works mechanically.<\/h1>\n<h3>Diatoms are an aquatic organism.<\/h3>\n<h4>Spring, Texas<\/h4>\n<p>Fifteen million years ago there were lakes and seas in western North America.\u00a0 Small creatures with silica shells lived in those waters.\u00a0 The organisms are called diatoms.\u00a0 Through the eons the shells of the diatoms accumulated and today you can use them to kill fire ants.<\/p>\n<p>The shell\u2019s size and material makes them effective.\u00a0 They are microscopic and made of silica.\u00a0 Silica is a molecule that has one silicon atom and two oxygen atoms.\u00a0 SiO<sub>2<\/sub>.\u00a0 The silica molecule is abundant in the Earth\u2019s crust as a rock forming mineral.\u00a0 Silica is essential to the growth and structure of many components of the biosphere.\u00a0 The stable and versatile characteristics of the silica molecule have also made it a favored material for human use from early hand tools to current broad industrial applications.\u00a0 Glass is silica.\u00a0 Silica is a molecule worth knowing.<\/p>\n<p>Diatoms are single celled creatures.\u00a0 Silica is excreted by the cell and forms an intricate, durable case for the soft tissues of the cell.\u00a0 Upon death the soft tissue dissolves and the shell settles to the bottom.\u00a0 Through tectonic processes those deposits were preserved and today can be mined.\u00a0 Someday I will get a mine, but for now I purchase the fossilized shells from a reputable distributer of industrial products.<\/p>\n<p>The specific name for the shell of a diatom is frustule and it is in two parts.\u00a0 One is slightly larger than the other and they fit together like a box with a lid.\u00a0 The microscopic fossil frustules in DIATOMS are broken apart and function in the modern environment as tiny shards of glass.\u00a0 When fire ants encounter the broken frustules their activity changes drastically as the shards damage the exoskeleton, antennae, eyes, and internal organs of the ant.<\/p>\n<p>How do DIATOMS work?\u00a0 Simple; fossilized frustules frustrate.\u00a0 Miocene microshells mangle.\u00a0 Silica shards slice.<\/p>\n<p>At Okra Garden Supply, &#8216;DIATOMS&#8217; is the brand name for our EPA registered Fire Ant Pesticide.\u00a0 Diatoms are the creatures introduced above.\u00a0 Diatomaceous Earth is a topic for another day.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Link: This is another introduction to DIATOMS that you might enjoy. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.okragardensupply.com\/blog\/2017\/01\/21\/diatomite-how-did-you-hear-about-it\/\">\u201cDIATOMS \u2013 How did you hear about them<\/a>?&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>DIATOMS are a fire ant pesticide that works mechanically. Diatoms are an aquatic organism. Spring, Texas Fifteen million years ago there were lakes and seas in western North America.\u00a0 Small creatures with silica shells lived in those waters.\u00a0 The organisms are called diatoms.\u00a0 Through the eons the shells of the diatoms accumulated and today you [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-492","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-diatoms"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.okragardensupply.com\/learn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/492","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.okragardensupply.com\/learn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.okragardensupply.com\/learn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.okragardensupply.com\/learn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.okragardensupply.com\/learn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=492"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.okragardensupply.com\/learn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/492\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.okragardensupply.com\/learn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=492"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.okragardensupply.com\/learn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=492"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.okragardensupply.com\/learn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=492"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}