Kimmy..

If we're talking about the same thing here (we call them "wood bugs" in Canada) - they aren't your problem.

Armadillidium nasatum rarely eats living vegetation and mostly cleans up the dead and decaying matter in your garden (in fact they're an important part of the compost/garden cycle of life).

That said... perhaps there is a lack of decaying matter and they are forced to eat your beans? I've never heard of this, but as an experiment you could put some heaps of dead leaves around your beans and see if that cures the problem (dead and decaying matter is their preferred food source).

My guess is you'll find it's something else eating them..

Here is a link that might be useful:

Pill Bugs like to cluster under things. Years ago I put some clamshells around my yard to serve as decorations. After a while I couldn't believe how many bugs I found huddled under each shell. Drenching them with hot water got rid of a great number of them.

Pill bugs DO eat live plants--I always had a problem with them eating my strawberries. It seems to be more common in warmer climates for some reason. If you search in the Texas Gardening forum, you'll find quite a few posts about them with some suggestions for dealing with them. The methods I recall are putting a short sectionof a straw around the seedling stem (slit so you can removeit later) and using diatomaceous earth.

I have seen firsthand a pillbug eat one of my tomato seedlings that was several weeks old. I consider them an acceptable nuisance. If you don't have a lot of plants you could try putting some sort of physical barrier between the plant and the surrounding soil. Like a plastic bottle with the top and bottom cut off. You could also try doing things to encourage more predators (like birds, frogs and toads) to your area.

ACK! They are easting my potato sprouts!

I filled big plastic muck bucket about halfway with compost and soil, and planted 5 seed potatoes. I saw some pillbugs, but I figured they were normal in compost and wouldn't do much harm.

But now there are *lots* of them - on the surface, under little dirt clods, and actively eating my taters. I can see them chewing amid the damage, so they are not taking the blame for slug damage. There is plenty of organic stuff in the bucket for them - they didn't run out of food.

I read mixed reviews of diatomaceous earth. I don't want to put any chemicals in my potato bucket. I have even scooped some out with a spoon and drowned them. Anyone have other suggestions?

Diatomaceous Earth (DE) is one of the safest things you can use on creatures with carapaces (beetles, fleas, etc).

DE is a naturally occurring chalklike rock, consisting of fossilized diatoms. It is usually composed of 86% silica, 5% sodium, 3% magnesium and 2% iron. No part of it is toxic, and it even has low levels of beneficial trace minerals. Farmers feed it to their livestock, as they say it cuts down on the worm load and reduces flies/maggots. Some people eat it, too, for the same reasons.

The only negative aspects of it:
1) It isn't good for your lungs if you whip it into a cloud of dust, then stick your head into it and inhale deeply, since most stuff that goes into your lungs will stay in your lungs. The DE from saltwater diatoms is apparently more dangerous than DE from freshwater sources (the container often tells which it is).

2) It only works on insects when it is dry.

One of the best things about it is, since it is not the chemical action of it that kills the bugs, but the PHYSICAL action, bugs can't build up a tolerance to it like they can chemicals. Seen under a microscope, DE looks like very sharp shards of broken glass. These shards work under the carapace of beetle-type insects and dehydrates them.

It doesn't harm bees or earthworms. Your pets and small children can eat it. But it kills things like fleas and cockroaches.

TIP: Always buy the kind that says CODEX FOOD GRADE on the label. Some kinds have undesirable chemicals added when used for other purposes. The stuff is usually very cheap, esp if you buy it at the local farm store in a large bag. Call around first, only one place near me carries it.

p.s. on the pillbugs: they really don't chew on plants directly. When you see them nibbling on the edge of a chewed area, some other creature usually did the big damage, and the pillbugs are 'tidying up' the decomposing raw edges of the wound. They often take the blame for damage done by earwigs and other creatures of the dark.

Sue

They are eating my strawberries too! I went out at night several nights in a row to see what is eating my strawberries and my peas. I have had SEVERAL pea bushes eaten clean! They are still very young and just can't get past this point becuase every time they grow they get eaten! I looked on the underside of the leaves, dug around a bit in the soil around it to see if there was anything, put bowls of beer, water, etc. Sprayed a garlic solution, crushed egg shells, old copper pennies, etc. It is certainly the pill bugs. I see them eating away! And what's worse is when I went out at night there were HUNDREDS of them! I couldn't believe it! They were ALL OVER!! I am going to try the food grade DE to see if that helps. That is the only other thing I have read is successful. We'll see....

I decided to put some seeds that had been residing in my refriderator for the past 3-5 years to the test. Sure enough, they sprouted! I was so proud! I put Marigolds in a raised bed 2 nights ago. I didn't have to water or check yesterday. This morning I went out to stems, no leaves. I checked all through the mulch and plants, nothing! Tonight, I went out with a flashlight, and found 100's of rolly pollies! Nothing else. I have always considered them friends...tonight they died by 7 dust!! Also, we are having the same problem with our pole beans... but we do everything organic there, so will look into alternatives. But YES, they are destroying crops this year! Oh, I'm in South Carolina, by the way.

It may be a regional thing... Most my problems are with seedlings.. In my experience, they like bean sprouts, pea sprouts, sponge gourd seedlings, and bitter gourd seedlings. I learned a work around by not direct seeding those particular plants and also planting strawberries in hanging containers with fresh rolly pollie free soil..

Sluggo plus works well and is organic.

In my garden in Colorado, they used to eat the bean seedlings right after they sprouted. I saw them on the sprouts and never saw any evidence of a slug there at all. Now that I'm in WA though, slugs are my problem and I don't think the pillbugs misbehave too much. Then again, I have had to use Sluggo while stuff is little otherwise nothing would survive.

Once my Colorado beans made it long enough to have a couple of leaves, they were fine. I never did treat them with anything, I just replanted.

These critters are a destructive nuisance around new bean seedlings. However, I found a decent remedy. Once the beans start to sprout, place 2-3 strips of duct tape, adhesive side up, around the base of the seedling. Do this once the sun goes down, before the bugs get active. The next morning you should see pill bugs trapped on the adhesive and your seedling largely untouched. if you have a lot of seedlings, this is a labor intensive process, but at least you can save the new seedling. Once the plants get bigger, the bugs should leave them alone.

Another vote for diatomaceous earth. Works wonders. It's not immediate, but in a day or two they're mostly gone. You don't whip it into a cloud of dust, because you don't need to coat the plants. You just need to sprinkle it on the soil. I load up an old squeezable talcum powder bottle with it, and just shoot it out on the ground. You have to do that after each time you water or it rains, but it's easy to do. It is harmless to bees, but not so good for worms. That's a good reason not to coat the whole bed with it, but just sprinkle it around plants.