Monday, May 21, 2012

Question

It appears that the east garden is being munched up fairly well by wood louses. AKA pill bugs/potato bugs/rolly pollies etc.

What is your personal take on the best way to get rid of them for leafy greens and broccoli?

All help would be appreciated! I don't mind naturally sharing but I do not want to see it becoming greedy over here. ;)

- Third-Shift Man

8 comments:

  1. you want to try yeast trick? i did that for snails and got quite a few of these bugs inside as well.

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    1. the yeast trick? Is it going to cost me a fiver?

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    2. no, just pick up a packet of yeast that you'd use for baking (under $1), desolve it in a cup or two of warm water and a spoon of sugar and place in the garden in a shalow bowl burried up to the rim in soil. do that when it's not raining.

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  2. EZ Peezy: DE...diatomaceous earth...food grade.

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  3. are you certain that's what's getting your plants? i think those little critters usually just eat the dead stuff. what sort of damage is being done? if it's leafy greens and broccoli being munched, it could be slugs (greens) and cabbage moth larvae (broccoli) and/or earwigs (both).

    i haven't used diatomaceous earth before but it seems like a pretty sad way for insects to die, getting slowly dried out. i try to keep cabbage moth larvae off my cole crops by turning over the leaves and squishing the little yellow eggs before they hatch. with other annoying bugs (like slugs) i will go outside at night, pick them off by hand and relocate them--i also scatter coffee grounds and granulated kelp over the soil surface, two organic fertilizers that slugs supposedly don't like sliming over. maybe not the most efficient methods of pest control, but also not as harmful as some other options. natural predators are good too, especially with small bugs like aphids that ladybugs will gobble up. and i've heard you can mix a garlic/water solution and spray it on plants as a repellant.

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    1. Im pretty certain its them. Especially when I see a hole ridden leaf covered in a half dozen or so rolly pollies. ;)

      Im enjoying just picking fresh greens and eating them right there after brushing of any dirt. Would be a nuisance to actually have to wash it first!

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    2. that is just so weird! i'm pretty big into bugs, i love watching them go about their bugly ways, and in my two decades of doing so i don't think i've ever seen a detritivore eating fresh leaves.

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    3. Are you implying, Emily, that I am the proud owner of a garden full of Zombie plantings??? ;)

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