12 Most Unusual Uses for Colloidal Silver

Over the years, literally thousands of people have written or called with testimonials about their successful usage of colloidal silver for a wide range of health issues.

Many people have reported astonishing instances of healing serious illness or disease with colloidal silver. But sometimes I get some very unusual case reports involving the use of colloidal silver for what I can only call “off the wall” uses.

And in this article I’d like to pass along to you a few of those very unusual “off the wall” reports so you’ll know about them, just in case you ever have the need or opportunity to try colloidal silver for these same strange purposes…

Hi, Steve Barwick here, for The Silver Edge…

Everybody knows by now that colloidal silver is wonderful for healing infections, and for preventing infections in cuts, scrapes and burns.

Most people know it can be used in the eyes and ears to stop an infection, and even taken orally to help stimulate the immune system and to reverse the course of an internal infection.

It can even be inhaled into the lungs through the use of a nebulizer to heal lung infections.

But over the years, experienced colloidal silver users have found many additional uses for this amazing healing substance. And some of those uses are quite unusual, to say the least.

Here’s a sampling of 12 of the most unusual uses for colloidal silver I’ve come across, which I’m sure will have you looking at colloidal silver in a whole new light!

(I’d also like to know what your most unusual uses for colloidal silver are. So when you’ve finished reading this article, please take a moment to join the Colloidal Silver Secrets Group on Facebook, and post your most unusual use.)

Unusual Use #1:
Using Colloidal Silver to Stop a Termite Infestation

A reader recently wrote that she had used her homemade colloidal silver to spray an infestation of termites under her home.

She said she sprayed several times over the course of a week, and the termites disappeared.

She says there’s no sign of them at all. But she’s going to continue spraying every few days for several weeks in case they’ve laid eggs.

The idea that colloidal silver could stop a termite infestation doesn’t surprise me. After all, back in the late 1990’s and early 2000’s the federal government was investigating the use of silver particles as a wood preservative to help prevent termite infestation as well as mold contamination.

And guess what they found? They discovered that ionic silver used as a wood preservative inhibited termite damage “with 100 percent mortality of termites.”

And why did the silver work so well on these insects, when it is known that colloidal silver only kills single-celled organisms like germs, viruses and fungi? According to the authors of one study on this topic:

“The digestive systems of termites contain protozoa that aid in the breakdown of cellulose into more easily metabolized carbohydrates.

Because of its antimicrobial properties, silver has the potential to dispose of these organisms in the termite gut, disrupting the digestive cycle and resulting in the death of the insect.”

In other words, when the termites ate the silver-treated wood, the silver killed the bacteria that live in the termite’s gut. The termites depend upon these bacteria to process the wood they eat into life-sustaining nutrients.

For example, the microbes assist in the breakdown of cellulose – a major constituent of wood and other plant fibers – turning it into carbohydrates, and then into short-chain fatty acids which the termites thrive on.

So if the wood is drenched in silver, and the termites eat the silver, it kills off the bacteria in their tiny gut which they depend upon for the conversion of their food to nutrition. No nutrition, they die. It’s as simple as that.

Unusual Use #2:
Using Colloidal Silver to Stop Cats from Spraying

I recently received an email from a customer who said he had lots of neighborhood cats that were marking their territory by spraying on his front screen door in the early morning hours.

Nothing he did could get rid of the terrible cat odor, or keep the cats away from his door.

On a whim he thought of spraying the cat sprayed area of his door with colloidal silver. He said not only did the odor leave immediately, but the cats quit coming to his door in the mornings to spray!

Here’s his testimonial:

“The cats in my neighborhood every year have used my front door for target practice, spraying, marking their territory. I’ve tried everything, the smell would not leave.

So I tried the colloidal silver in a sprayer and 15 minutes later, fresh as a daisy.

Two weeks later they have NOT re-marked their territory. Totally astounding!

I just love my Micro-Particle Colloidal Silver Generator. Thanks for all you do!”

— Doug G.

Why did this work? It’s simple:

Cat spray is a mixture of urine and a viscous fatty material that clings to whatever it is sprayed on. Cats spray in order to make their territory, and to attract other cats with the smell of their spray.

Other cats, in turn, smell the odor and are attracted to the same spot. They then leave their own spray in order to say, basically, “I’m here, too!” It’s similar to the reason a dog will pee on the same spot another dog has already peed on.

But here’s the key: The smell in cat spray is caused by odorous, ammonia-producing bacteria that thrive in the cat spray.

So when the screen door that had been sprayed by cats was in turn sprayed with colloidal silver, the silver killed the bacteria, preventing them from producing that odorous smell.

And once the odor was prevented, there was no smell left to attract other cats. Turns out colloidal silver is the perfect way to break the vicious cycle of cat spraying.

Who’d-a-thunk it?

Unusual Use #3:
Using Colloidal Silver to Get Rid of Stubborn Pet Odors in Carpet

Similarly, I recently had another reader write to tell me she’d found that colloidal silver eliminates the odor of pet urine in carpets. Here’s what she wrote:

“I am VERY happy to report back that colloidal silver ELIMINATES pet urine odor!

I recently discovered this after adding two new pets to the household. Unfortunately, both dogs (male and female) are particularly fond of marking on the carpet in my home office.

For the first time I decided to give the carpet the smell test after cleaning. It LOOKED clean, but I could still smell what had been there; no wonder dogs go back to the same spot(s) with their sophisticated noses.

So, I had an idea to try colloidal silver and sprayed the carpet with it after cleaning it – it WORKED! Absolutely NO ODOR remained on the carpet.

I was stunned! I don’t know why I didn’t think of it before. Never again will I buy commercial odor eliminators.

Best of all, I can make all the colloidal silver that I want, anytime I want, CHEAP with my Micro-Particle Colloidal Silver Generator.

It is shocking to see how much certain manufacturers (you know who they are) charge per ounce of their product.

Thank you for making a real and affordable micro-particle generator! All the best…”

— Tonya W., California

Of course, colloidal silver worked to stop pet odors in carpeting for the same reason it worked to eliminate the odor of cat spraying, i.e., it kills the bacteria that thrive in pet urine and that produces the horrific musky smell as part of their metabolism!

Unusual Use #4:
Using Colloidal Silver to Get Rid of Fruit Flies

My wife is an avid organic gardener.

And because of that she keeps a large gallon-sized plastic “mulch” container next to the kitchen sink for fresh fruit and vegetable scraps such as watermelon rinds, corn husks, potato peelings, apple peelings and other organic materials.

Of course, there’s only two of us living in the house. The kids are all grown and long gone. So nowadays it might take a week to fill that plastic container with enough food scraps to take to the composter outdoors.

And on occasion, particularly during hot summer months, if the plastic container hasn’t been emptied fast enough into the outdoor composter, we experience an outbreak of tiny fruit flies in the kitchen – which of course can be quite aggravating.

The simple solution is to take the darned plastic mulch container outside, empty its contents into the composter, and then thoroughly clean it out before bringing it back into the house.

But my wife keeps a small glass spray bottle of colloidal silver next to the kitchen sink for disinfection purposes. And one day when we had an outbreak of the fruit flies, she got the idea of spraying the inside of the container and all of its contents with the colloidal silver.

And voila! No more fruit flies. What happened?

Well, once again, it turns out that fruit flies are fairly voracious eaters. In fact, they feed on anything that produces alcohol, which includes fruits and veggies when they begin to decay and ferment.

The gnats not only feed on these decaying/fermenting fruits and veggies, but they also lay hundreds of eggs at a time in the decomposing foods.

But by spraying the colloidal silver onto the fruit and veggie scraps in the plastic mulch container, the fermentation/decay process – which is caused by bacteria – was temporarily stopped, depriving the fruit flies of their favorite food.

Finally, I think it’s important to note that in a 2011 study published in the International Journal of Nanomedicine, it was demonstrated that silver is toxic to the eggs of Drosophilia – the genus of flies which includes fruit flies.

So when my wife sprayed her fruit and vegetable mulch with colloidal silver, it not only killed the bacteria that produce the fermentation byproducts the fruit flies feed on, but it also likely killed any fruit fly eggs that had already been laid!

Unusual Use #5:
Using Colloidal Silver to Get Rid of Aphids from Rose Bushes

Early this past summer several of my wife’s rose bushes became infested with aphids. The leaves of her beautiful plants were slowly being destroyed, turning yellow and mottled.

She remembered what happened to the fruit flies when she sprayed her infested fruit and veggie mulch container with colloidal silver. So she tried spraying the infested rose leaves with colloidal silver as well.

And guess what? It worked like a charm!

Within two days the aphids were completely gone. Not a single sign of them.

And the rose leaves recovered and began looking fresh and shiny and new, like they do at the beginning of every growing season.

Why did this work?

Probably for the same reason the silver worked on the termites. You see, aphids are another of the 10% of insect species that rely upon intracellular bacteria for their development and survival.

The aphids feed off plants, such as rose leaves. They are voracious eaters. They literally suck the sap from the plants resulting in a diet that is rich in carbohydrates but low in amino acids.

But the bacteria the aphids harbor in their abdominal tract – particularly a microbe known as Buchnera aphidicola – aids in turning the plant sap into beneficial amino acids and other substances needed by the aphids for life itself.

The symbiosis between the aphids and the bacteria is said to be so great, neither of them can survive without the other.

In one study this symbiosis was investigated. Here’s what the researchers found:

“On a growth medium without amino acids, aphids can grow and reproduce. However, if an antibiotic that kills bacteria is added to the medium, the aphids fail to grow and reproduce. This suggests that bacterial symbionts are essential in supplying the amino acids.”

In other words, the researchers discovered that when the aphid’s food contained an antibiotic substance, the aphids could no longer produce the amino acids needed for life. That’s because the antibiotic substance on the food killed the amino acid-producing microbes that dwell inside the aphid!

Similarly, when the aphid-infested leaves of my wife’s rose bushes were sprayed with colloidal silver – the world’s most powerful natural antibiotic – the silver likely destroyed the microbes in the aphid’s digestive tract and disrupted their digestive cycle to such a degree that they either died, or left the area for better pickings elsewhere.

(As a sidenote: My wife said she examined the area carefully, and could find no sign of dead aphids, even though there had previously been thousands of aphids coating the infested leaves of her rose bushes. So whether the colloidal silver killed the aphids, or simply disrupted their digestion to the point they left the area in search of a less problematic food source, we don’t know.)

Unusual Use #6:
Using Colloidal Silver to Get Rid of Cockroaches

Can you spray colloidal silver on your floors (or simply mop your floors with it) to get rid of pesky cockroaches?

A study titled “Anti-bacterial Performance of Colloidal Silver-Treated Laminate Wood Flooring” which was published in the journal International Biodeterioration & Biodegradation suggests you can!

Indeed, it was revealed by the study authors that cockroaches will avoid laminate wood floor coverings if they contain colloidal silver. In fact, during the study the cockroaches avoided walking on the flooring an astonishing 87% of the time!

The study authors could not explain why the cockroaches avoided the laminate flooring when it was impregnated with colloidal silver.

They stated,

“Under this framework, our data facilitate further study and insight into the biological effects of colloidal silver, in particular to obtain an explanation for cockroach avoidance of colloidal silver impregnated surfaces.”

But the answer to the dilemma might already be known. In fact, it’s been known since the mid-1940s.

You see, cockroaches are also part of that estimated 10% of the insect kingdom that appear to depend upon a relationship with bacteria for their very lives.

As R.W. Glaser of the Department of Animal and Plant Pathology for the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research has wrote back in 1946, in a study published in the Journal of Parasitology titled “The Intracellular Bacteria of the Cockroach in Relation to Symbiosis”:

“The presence of intracellular bacilli in all species of cockroaches, so far investigated, has been known for many years. These bacteria are densely packed within the cytoplasm of certain specialized fat cells termed bacteriocytes. The microorganisms are transmitted from generation to generation through the ova.”

In other words, cockroaches are loaded with bacteria, internally. And those intracellular bacteria are passed along to the young even before they’re born.

Glaser points out that studies conducted as far back as 1945 demonstrated that when penicillin was administered to cockroaches to destroy the bacteria living in their bodies, “the roaches died after some days had elapsed.”

Indeed, the authors of the earlier 1945 study, Brues and Dunn, stated at that time,

“We cannot regard the present results as conclusive evidence that the bacteroids are necessary for the continued life of the cockroaches, but they make it appear very probable that such is the case, and that they are symbiotic, and not parasitic, microorganisms.”

In other words, all available evidence points to the fact that the cockroaches depend upon the bacteria they harbor inside their bodies for life itself. The bacteria aid the cockroaches in numerous ways, including digestion and possibly even reproduction.

In fact, additional research conducted in the 1960s, including a study published in the Journal of Bacteriology in February of 1961, titled “Electron Microscopy of Symbiotic Bacteria in Developing Oocytes of the American Cockroach, Periplaneta Americana” confirmed the symbiotic nature of the relationship between cockroaches and the internal bacteria they harbor.

Indeed, the study authors noted that there seemed to be a direct relationship between the bacteria harbored by the cockroaches, and the egg membrane of the cockroaches.

It appeared to the study authors to be quite possible that the bacteria secreted a substance necessary for cockroach egg development.In other words, without these bacteria, the cockroaches couldn’t even reproduce!

Said the study authors,

“The relationships between the egg membrane and the symbiote [i.e., the bacteria – ED] furnish further evidence that one, or possibly all, of these factors and others not yet understood are directly influencing egg development…

…Whatever the nature of the association between host membranes and symbiotes may be throughout the life cycles of the host and symbiote, it is obvious that the level of symbiosis is one that involves a very highly integrated system.”

In other words, the egg membranes of the cockroaches and the symbiotic bacteria living in those membranes work so closely together as to constitute a single system. The bacteria are part of the roaches very life!

Is it any wonder then that cockroaches would avoid a colloidal silver-impregnated flooring like the plague?

The very bacteria their lives depend upon would be endangered by any contact with and uptake of silver. And it appears the cockroaches instinctively understand this!

Unusual Use #7:
Ironing Clothes with Homemade Starch Spray and Colloidal Silver

Now here’s an interesting one for you do-it-yourself housekeepers who prefer to make your own natural household products:

A member of the Colloidal Silver Secrets Community of Facebook named Ronda messaged me to say:

“Hi! I have a new use for silver: Ironing clothes!

I mix a cup of distilled water with a tablespoon of colloidal silver and a teaspoon of corn starch. Shake well. Then store in a spray bottle

No chemicals. But you must shake each time used, as starch will settle to bottom.

Distilled water is used because it will not leave mineral spots. And the added colloidal silver keeps the water from turning pink because the starch is from food.

Clothes must be turned inside out to iron. If you want clothes crisper, add more starch.”

Okay. I haven’t had to iron clothes since my dad was in the Marine Corps, and I used to iron his fatigues for him as part of my household chores. (And I think that was about 45 years ago!) So I don’t know how well this works.

But perhaps some of you ladies reading this article might want to give it a try and report back your results.

It sounds like a legitimate way to save money ironing clothes that need to be starched, by making your own simple yet effective starch spray and keeping it from going bad (starch in water would otherwise tend to grow fungus) by adding colloidal silver into the mix!

Indeed, I don’t see why you couldn’t use straight colloidal silver in place of the distilled water in the formula above, particularly if you make your own colloidal silver. It would only cost a few pennies to use pure colloidal silver.

But if you do this, be sure to first try it on an older inexpensive piece of clothing to make sure there are no hidden surprises!

Unusual Use #8:
Using Colloidal Silver to Get Rid of Fungus Gnats

Another member of the Colloidal Silver Secrets Community on Facebook posted to say she had an interesting way of getting rid of gnats. Here’s what she wrote:

“I had a bunch of fungus gnats in my greenhouse from some organic dirt. It was so nasty.

I put 2 oz. of colloidal silver into a gallon of water and watered all the plants…I did this twice and ALL the gnats were gone!!!”

— Jill S.

Well that got me pretty curious, so I did some research into fungus gnats, and here’s what I found on the Orkin website:

“Fungus gnats belong to the family Sciaridae and typically are found in and around areas with high humidity.

Female fungus gnats deposit their eggs in soil or other damp, decaying organic plant material. These eggs hatch into larvae.

The larvae of some species feed on fungus in over-watered soil, but there are other species that consume plant roots as a source of nutrients. This leads to diminished health in affected plants.

When infested with fungus gnat larvae, plants show signs of stunted development.

Gnat larvae also carry plant pathogens and make plants highly susceptible to various plant diseases.”

Aha! It appears that gnats are another of the little insect critters that carry pathogenic microorganisms as a routine part of their existence.

Indeed, according to SaferBrand.com,

“During their life span, fungus gnats carry plant disease from one host plant to another creating big problems for home gardeners.”

More importantly, perhaps is the fact that fungus gnats have only a short seven to 10-day lifespan, and most of that is spent underground in the larval stage.

The gnats lay their eggs in damp soil, preferably in over-watered soil where decay is setting in and fungus is beginning to grow. And the tiny larvae feed off this decaying fungal-infested medium.

According to a Colorado State University fact sheet, “Larvae of fungus gnats feed on algae, fungi and plant roots in growing medium.” And according to Sea-of-Green.com, “Fungus gnats are attracted to soils that are moist and tend to grow fungus.”

My reason for digging this information out is that Jill S. above noted that she solved her problem with fungal gnats in her greenhouse by adding several ounces of colloidal silver to a gallon of water, and watering all of her plants with it. Apparently she repeated this procedure for two days in a row.

Do you think the colloidal silver killed the fungus that the fungus gnat larvae feed on, depriving them of their food source? It’s quite possible!

The adult fungus gnats have only a few days lifespan, so they would have died off anyway, on their own, most likely.

But we can speculate with some degree of certainty that the fungus gnat larvae growing in the moist plant soil would have lost their fungal food source after the applications of colloidal silver, thus preventing them from making it to the adult flying stage.

Unusual Use #9:
Using Colloidal Silver to Keep a Bouquet of Flowers Fresh Longer

One colloidal silver website states that you can keep a bouquet of fresh flowers longer by adding three tablespoons of sugar to the water, followed by two tablespoons of 10 ppm colloidal silver.

The sugar provides nutrients to keep the clipping alive, while the colloidal silver destroys bacteria that can invade the plant stems.

I’ve added colloidal silver to the water in a fresh flower bouquet in the past, when the water seemed to be turning slightly brown and the flowers were drooping prematurely.

The flowers perked right back up after the addition of the colloidal silver, and stayed that way for another three or four days!

Unusual Use #10:
Using Colloidal Silver in Your Laundry Rinse Cycle

For somewhere around $2,000 you can now purchase a washing machine from Samsung Corp. that injects small amounts of colloidal silver into the rinse cycle of every load.

The idea behind this development is to help prevent microbial contamination of your bath towels, dish towels, sheets and other bedding, and even your clothing by allowing them to absorb silver during the rinse cycle.

But many readers of the Colloidal Silver Secrets Group on Facebook have told me they simply add a cup or more of their homemade colloidal silver to the rinse cycle of their laundry, in order to achieve the same benefits. And the cost, of course, is just a few pennies per load rather than thousands of dollars for the special washer.

This technique, by the way, is particularly helpful if you have infants or young children, or if you care for a sick person in your home. Keeping microbial contamination to a minimum is essential. And this is one powerful way to help do so.

If you forget to add colloidal silver to the rinse cycle of your laundry, you can always

lightly spray your clean sheets, pillowcases and blankets with colloidal silver as you make the bed with them. Just spray very lightly, and be sure to let the bottom sheets air dry before adding the top sheet.

If you like scented bedding, you can always add several drops of a favorite essential oil like Rosemary or Lavender to your spray bottle and create an antimicrobial aromatic linen spray second to none!

Unusual Use #11:
Using Colloidal Silver to Stop the Sting of Spider Bites

When I was visiting the Island of St. John some years back, during the offseason, our room in the highly-rated hotel we stayed at was full of tiny spiders.

Apparently, when guests are infrequent, the rooms aren’t cleaned as often, and the spiders move in.

The little critters didn’t bother my wife, for some reason. But they sure liked me. I’d wake up in the morning with spider bites from my ankles to my knees. It was awful because while they were very small bites, they turned bright red and itched like crazy.

So I broke out the colloidal silver we’d brought, and began spraying it on the spider bites whenever they’d start to itch, allowing it to air dry before dressing.

And not only was the relief immediate, but it was fairly long-lasting, as well – often, the itching didn’t start again for four or five hours. And when it did, I simply repeated the process.

Now I still don’t know why the colloidal silver stopped the itching. I can’t find any research demonstrating that colloidal silver is effective against insect bites of any kind, or has any effect on insect venom.

But I know it did indeed work for me. So I’m passing the information along to you in case you ever have need for this quick and effective remedy!

Unusual Use #12:
Using Colloidal Silver to Heal Pet Reptiles

Last month, I wrote to you about my wife’s desert tortoise, King Tut, who had a terrible upper respiratory infection, and was due to go in to the veterinarian for a 10 day series of expensive antibiotic injections.

In hopes of avoiding the shots, my wife starting soaking King Tut’s food in 5 ppm colloidal silver each day, for about 15 to 20 minutes, before feeding it to him.

And almost immediately he began to get better. Within 30 days, he was completely healed. And since that time he’s had no more difficulty breathing, nor has he shown any other upper respiratory symptoms.

Shortly after publishing that article, I received the following communication from a reader of this ezine named Vincent. Here’s what he said:

“I own one of your Micro-Particle Colloidal Silver Generators, which I highly recommend for reptile breeders because it is so cost effective for treating multiple animals.

I’ve been breeding reptiles for more than 20 years. And in the past 4 years I’ve used colloidal silver to successfully treat many types of infections. In fact, everything from respiratory to skin infections.

I had a Costa Rican boa constrictor with a respiratory infection that I treated by putting colloidal silver into a ultrasonic humidifier, which I then put into the cage with the snake and let it run for about an hour, twice a day.

I also put colloidal silver in the water bowl (50/50/mix water to colloidal silver) as part of the treatment. The water was changed every other day and replaced with fresh silver water mix.

In about three days I saw improvement. In less two weeks the snake was breathing normally and the infection was gone.

I stopped using the humidifier, but I continued adding colloidal silver to the snake’s water bowl for an additional week.

I have also treated skin infections on snakes and lizard with a mix of colloidal silver poured in some aloe gel.

I simply apply the gel to the wound 3 to 4 times a day. The results were always positive and the healing was usually rapid.”

In Closing…

So there you have it: My picks for the top 12 most unusual uses for colloidal silver.

If you have an unusual use for colloidal silver, or a positive success story other people might benefit from, please be sure to join with me and well over 3,200 other avid colloidal silver users on the Colloidal Silver Secrets Group on Facebook, and post your story.

I’d love to hear from you, and so would the other group members!

I’ll be back next week with another eye-opening article on colloidal silver. Meanwhile, if you’d like to learn a lot more about making and using colloidal silver, be sure to visit The Silver Edge website by clicking the link in this sentence…

Yours for the safe, sane and responsible use of colloidal silver,
Steve Barwick Signature
Steve Barwick, author
The Ultimate Colloidal Silver Manual

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Meet Steve Barwick

Important Note and Disclaimer: The contents of this Ezine have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. Information conveyed herein is from sources deemed to be accurate and reliable, but no guarantee can be made in regards to the accuracy and reliability thereof. The author, Steve Barwick, is a natural health journalist with over 30 years of experience writing professionally about natural health topics. He is not a doctor. Therefore, nothing stated in this Ezine should be construed as prescriptive in nature, nor is any part of this Ezine meant to be considered a substitute for professional medical advice. Nothing reported herein is intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease. The author is simply reporting in journalistic fashion what he has learned during the past 17 years of journalistic research into colloidal silver and its usage. Therefore, the information and data presented should be considered for informational purposes only, and approached with caution. Readers should verify for themselves, and to their own satisfaction, from other knowledgeable sources such as their doctor, the accuracy and reliability of all reports, ideas, conclusions, comments and opinions stated herein. All important health care decisions should be made under the guidance and direction of a legitimate, knowledgeable and experienced health care professional. Readers are solely responsible for their choices. The author and publisher disclaim responsibility and/or liability for any loss or hardship that may be incurred as a result of the use or application of any information included in this Ezine.