[Subversive_plot]

This is something my boys gave me for "the winter holiday".  It is a hand-cranked applicator for agricultural dust (Dipel dust, diatomaceous dust, and similar). See photo.

I like many of the dust products, but the equipment to apply dusts are IMO not very useful. Hand-pumped dusters, squeeze bottles etc. all seem to apply unevenly (too heavy or not at all). This promised to apply an even thin coat with much less waste. It has a deflector that can direct dust to the underside of leaves, flip over to target tops of leaves, or remove entirely.

There was less than 5 minutes of assembly required.  I used it to apply Dipel to squash plants (our dreaded squash vine borers will be here soon).

It seems to fuction pretty well. I donned a safety mask. loaded dipel into the hopper, shut the lid. Set the deflector to blow upward to target undersides of leaves. It worked much better for me than other dusters. There were a very few clumps where the application was too heavy, but mostly it was light and even. I easily flipped the deflector over to target leaf tops (see photo of dusted squash leaves).

It seems to work as advertized so if you need a duster, I would reccommend this product for ease of use. Now lets see if it helps fix the bug problem! 

[jezza]

Hello I use to use one of them in a market garden,it was a Geeko ,use of it was banned in 1993 as new regulations on fungicide /insecticide dust applications came in  we also had a petrol engined duster /mister ,we had to wear full protective suits and have fine particulate breathing masks on ,we couldnt have door open ot vents up when applying dust  Benomil was not good to breath in ,best thing they did banning the use of the dusters    jezza

[Subversive_plot]

I use far less dangerous dusts.  Mostly Dipel (= Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt)) and diatomaceous earth.) I do use an N-95 mask and also eye protection. At present I don't use any other dusts, but if I did, the only addition I might add would be Spinosad. All of these are organic-safe/approved.

Still, it is worth noting that use of organic pest controls still requires caution, and personal protection.  Thank you for that. I'm curious if the ban you mentioned applied to the equipment, or just to the chemicals applied? Do people apply diatomaceous earth, and if so, what equipment is used?