pill bugs are officially evil, sluggo plus is good!

14 years ago

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/fea/home/stories/DN-nhg_needsluggo_0615liv.ART.State.Edition1.43d8c47.html

that is what i found online.

"Because of the rainy spring, the pillbug and sowbug population has exploded. Normally, the insects feed on detritus, says Leslie Finical Halleck of North Haven Gardens. But if there's not enough decaying matter to go around, they will eat living plants."

now i just need to find a smaller package of sluggo plus. the normal size treats over 1,000 square feet, i surely don't have such a big garden.

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Comments (6)

digdirt2
14 years ago
Gee, isn't that amazing!! The exact same info that everyone here has been telling your for the past 2 weeks in all your 10 previous posts on this subject!!

Get rid of the wood mulch, provide some organic matter in the form of compost so they have something else to eat, and use Sluggo Plus (which is organic) rather than lethal pesticides.

Just goes to show that sometimes we actually know what we are talking about whether you want to believe it or not.

Dave
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preppystud
Original Author
14 years ago
you people just don't understand my situation.

1. the wood mulch have all sizes, big and small, it is impossible to remove them all. those tiny evil bugs will still find places to live.

and some suggested that i should just leave them on top of the soil.

2. they are pests, why should i provide them more things to eat? i handpicked at least 100 bugs! so i can't feed them so they can reproduce faster.

3. home depot sells the big size sluggo plus which can treat over 1,000 square feet, i don't want to buy such a big product. that is why i was hoping to find a cheaper and smaller size product.
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This method is a bit unconventional, but here goes: I acquired 2 Barred Rock hens a few years ago. Because of the number of wild critters nearby, I can't let them roam, so have them caged in a chain link enclosure. They like the roly poly bugs very much. So - now every morning, when I check them, I add some almost finished compost - a shovel or 2. You should hear them chortle - as they scratch through their morning compost offering. Also, when the compost is finished - I like to screen it before use and adding to planters, so the siftings are allowed to sit overnight in the wheelbarrow. Next day, all of the bugs will congregate to the top - the birds will dispatch them readily - or again, I scoop them up and feed them to "my girls" in their pen. One other thing that seems to be working - I have acquired a plethora of small lizards more so recently - and they scamper around the yard slurping up all my bugs. Truly - I see very few in my strawberry bins, and only an occasional peck (bird/bug/lizard?). On a thoughful note, however, I also noted one lizard CHEWING on a boysenberry FLOWER. This may/or may not be a future problem, but if so - I might encourage more of the neighbor's visiting cats to keep things in check. Never a dull moment in the yard of an organic farmer! Bejay
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I agree with the majority, the little beasties are a true pest! I always thought they were the workhorse of nature and that their good out-weighed the bad but no more! I have great soil and mulch with different kinds of things, pine needles, bark mulch and straw from my chickens. They have multiplied into the thousands. The last 2 years they have eaten off the sprouts of my Angel Trumpets so bad that they have failed to bloom for the last two years. They are in the dead stems from the previous years growth. I can't eliminate them unless I dig up the plant and cut away those stems. It is not happening because the clumps are very large and I worked hard to get them established. They are also in the hostas and in my tomatoes. They get in every house plant that I put out over the summer and I have to repot everything every year or lose them over the winter because the little turds eat the roots and leaves of my house plants. I am ready to use whatever I have to do to eliminate them. I have plenty of birds and toads, frogs and parasitic bugs in my garden, I encourage spiders and all other good bugs and even my chickens will not eat them. I tried and suffered the damage from my chickens in the hopes that they would eliminate the little buggers. Spinosad is a natural organic method of killing pests the same as Bt has been used to eliminate cabbage worms. It is also the ingredient in Comfortis that I give my dogs for flea control. I will try the beer but if it dosen't work I am going to bring out the big guns!!!
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Bon, I think the argument about whether or not pill bugs and sow bugs will rage on forever. Different people have different experiences. My experience is that in our climate, they'll eat everything they can find in dry years, though they aren't as much of a problem in wet years. It also depends on how much organic matter you have available for them to munch on. If they run out of organic matter to break down, they'll immediately start eating your plants. As you noted, they have to eat something when they get hungry. Grubs at the level you're seeing would worry me, but then, most grubs are not an issue, so it wouldn't worry me a tremendous amount unless I am having an ongoing issue with the types of grubs that are destructive. Grubs are simply the larvae of beetles, and there are many beetles that are beneficial. If you have too many of the types of beetles that are destructive next year, then the time to use milky sport powder to lower their population would be next August. We have a gazillion different kinds of ground beetles here and they are very beneficial, so I don't worry about them. In the years when we have an outbreak of the types of beetles that munch on plants, all I do is put a little bit of alfalfa (the kind that is compressed into rabbit feed pellets is fine for this purpose) into a 5-gallon bucket and just leave it there, sitting under the yard's security light. The beetles are drown to it and drown in the alfalfa tea. I scoop them off the top and toss them on the ground or on the compost pile, and the next morning, there's a whole lot more floating in the alfalfa tea. After a few weeks of that, all the problem beetles are gone. Since you have small children, you might not want to use a 5-gallon bucket if you think they might wander over to it and play in the alfalfa tea, but even a fairly shallow pan with water just 3 or 4" deep will attract and drown a lot of the bad types of beetles. You'll find beetles floating on pure water too, but they are a whole lot more attracted to alfalfa tea than to tap water alone. I have had years where the raised beds in my garden were full of grubs, though not as many as you're seeing, and they did zero damage to the garden plants. Dawn
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We've found eliminating potential hiding and breeding sites can help a lot. Amazing how many of these spaces can evolve in the garden area over a short time. In the worst years, we still resort to Sluggo Plus. But the site clean-up recommended by many ag websites is a good start; this is from TAMU Agrilife: The best way to eliminate pillbugs is to destroy their breeding and hiding sites. Eliminate unnecessary piles of leaves, grass clippings and mulch. Flower pots, planters, dog houses, firewood, bricks or other objects that sit directly on the ground should be elevated to allow air-flow and drying underneath. Adjust irrigation systems so that the soil around your home has a chance to dry between irrigations.
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hatchjon
14 years ago
digdirt is right preppyjock. You have posted multiple threads about the same subject which is kind of rude. The solutions that have been offered are the right ones and will fix the problem. Your reasons for not following the suggestions may be valid to you but you still have pill bug problems.

Sometimes you have to bite the bullet and do the hard work. Is removing most of the bark mulch from your garden impossible? No. Is it a lot of hard work? Yes. Unless you simply do not have the money (which is entirely understandable) just buy the friggin' big carton of Sluggo Plus and murder pill bugs and slugs for years to come.

Otherwise stop whining about it and let the pill bugs eat your plants.

Jon
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eaglesgarden
14 years ago
Just get the big size. Sluggo won't go bad. You'll have some for next year, to use around your seedlings before they get damaged by slugs, snails, sowbugs, etc.
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digdirt2
14 years ago
No, it isn't us who doesn't understand. That is the problem. You need to review and follow the forum guidelines that you agreed to abide by when you signed up or you are going to find yourself blocked out.

20 people have told you it needs to be removed and wood mulch is very easy to remove. All it takes is a rake or a small cultivator or even your hands and a pair of gloves. That same 20 people have told you for weeks to buy Sluggo Plus. Now you post again like that is some new big info you never heard before.

Pill bugs are not "evil" as has been pointed out to you numerous times. They are normal, natural, and usually a beneficial part of gardening. They may be abnormally busy in your case because of very poor garden hygiene and your refusal to clean it up.

So please stop littering the message board with your same silly posts over and over. Every time you post another one of these same questions over and over in a new post all you do is bump other folks valid questions off the forum.

Sluggo - if stored properly - keeps for years. Buy and use it or please move on.

Dave

Here is a link that might be useful: GW Terms of Service
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glib
14 years ago
Take it easy Dave. It seems like every spring there are a few of these, although preppy is pushing the envelope.
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pill bugs are officially evil, sluggo plus is good!

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pill bugs are officially evil, sluggo plus is good!

Comments (6)

digdirt2

preppystudOriginal Author

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preppystud
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