Sluggo Plus will eliminate the evil pill bugs.

What is all that stuff on your soil? Looks like a forest floor.

there's no mulch for the pill bugs to eat, that woody looking stuff (looks like bark) i'd get rid of that, it won't do much to nurture the soil in a vege' garden situation so the plants and bugs have lots to eat. maybe the medium is even lacking in organic matter for the plants?

get hold of some spoilt hay lucerene or pasture grass dunno if you have it over there sugar cane mulch as well not as good as the hay's but better than nothing. keep it to around 4" to 6"s. i go 8" in fallowing areas.

go for mulch that works not for what looks pretty.

len

Here is a link that might be useful: lens garden page

Yeah, having a bunch of damp woody debris over your garden is just asking for pillbugs. As anyone who's ever turned over a big spade full of old wood mulch can attest ;)

They're a boom and bust species, so once there are too many feeding on the mulch, they'll branch out and eat your plants.

I'd get rid of it and control existing populations with iron phosphate and/or spinosad.

i didn't spread those bark mulch on the soil. the previous person who lived here didn't plan anything. s/he just covered the entire area with this bark mulch.

i thought that those things will eventually degrade and become compost. so i just plant vegetables around them. besides, i think that they can keep the moisture in the soil.

so am i wrong or what?

i already hand picked almost all adult pill bugs. so if the situation becomes worse, i will have to buy those bug poison.

"so if the situation becomes worse, i will have to buy those bug poison."

I take it you are not one of those who is gardening to try to avoid eating poisons in their veggies! :) Well, even if you are, some of the stuff suggested is considered "organic". Still, you might want to consider that you have a great environment for the pillbugs to hide in... with very little for them to eat. That wood mulch is setting you up for failure in this area, because nature has an almost endless supply of new pillbugs waiting to move in to that lovely housing you have there, so killing the ones you have now will really just buy you a little time.

I also can't help but notice that you almost seem to take offense that others have told you that they co-exist peacefully with the pillbugs. They aren't lying to you. :) They just have a different set of environmental conditions. It is possible to change your garden around so that your pillbugs just become cute little rollypolly guys that you can smile tolerantly at while they help break down that organic matter to provide your plants with accessible nutrients. And yes, that is to say that pillbug poop is good for your garden.

It is true that eventually the wood mulch will break down. But it could take years, and that is generally not what you want in a compost. Veggies grow fast and they need their nutrients this year! Also, although the pillbugs like to hide there, they are not termites and can't really eat the hard parts of the wood, so of course they are eating your veggies! What does all this boil down to in terms of advice?
Get rid of that wood mulch- keep it a long way away from your garden. If you need organic matter in the soil, use something already composted (you can search the forums on how to make your own or just read the bag before you buy and look for the word "composted" in the lable) like manure or leaf mold. If you need mulch, use something softer, like hay, straw, pine straw, shredded leaves, grass clippings... that way, when you make a moist, dark environment that the pillbugs like, you will also be giving them something they can eat BESIDES your plants. And then finally, if you still feel the need, put down some organic slug bait while the plants are very small. Once they have gotten a little larger they can withstand a little nibble from whatever comes along.

Maybe consider browsing the forums to read about soil, soil organisms, compost and such so that you can begin to understand what's happening in your patch of earth and how you can help shape its processes in the direction you want! Gardening is actually incredibly complex, but I think that that is part of its attraction! Cheers, and best of luck!

Sunni

I've got pill bugs eating my lettuce too! I didn't believe it until I saw them INSIDE the buttercrunch "head" yesterday. They are also definitely pillbugs, not sowbugs!

I plan to use Escar-Go! from Garden's Alive. It is effective (they claim) against slugs, snails, pillbugs, sowbugs, crickets and ants! It's also completely safe around pets and children. When the pellets break down, they actually add trace minerals (and phosphorus) to the soil. Active ingredient is: iron phosphate (1%).

Here is a link that might be useful: Escar-Go!

What about compost with saw dust mixed into it?!!?!?!??! Is that a draw for the pill bugs too?!?!?!

I had a large infestation of pill bugs the year I made the mistake of mulching with the large wood chunks. I covered my seedlings with pots when we kept having colder than normal weather; each time I removed the pots I would find the seedlings covered with pill bugs. I lost many of my flowers and nearly all of my tomato seedlings.

I read on GW that they love the large chunk mulch so I removed it and began using grass clippings...no more pill bugs. Never dreamed I had opened an Pill Bug Hotel!

Peggy

Cassie- a quick answer is "probably a few, but not enough to get all freaked out about".

A longer answer is that ANY mulch is going to attract certain insects and others that we consider to be harmful either IN LARGE NUMBERS or when plants are tiny and vulnerable. These guys fall into the catergory of "decomposers". Are they inherently evil? No. They perform a much needed service along with the bacteria, fungi, worms, slugs, and so on that break down dead organic matter and recycle it (so to speak) as useful soil. In other words, they take big hunks of dead matter and turn it into small particles (helping to create a loose, fluffy soil)that have nutrients that are biologically available to living plants. So, when you put down mulch, they come along and help break it down into the soil, where you want it.

Do they eat seedlings? Sometimes. Usually they will do so when their preferred food source is scarce for whatever reason. In preppyjock's case, they have all this great cover that provides a little food, but not enough for the numbers that can fit under there. And they can only travel so far in a day (night?) with their many stumpy little legs! Oh, and they are probably also eating weed seedlings too. They just really don't understand they distinctions we make between plants. :)

Different people come up with different solutions for times when these guys become problems. Some people plant many extra seeds (and why not, when you are often given far more than you need in each seed packet) so that a few grow past the edible size while the others are eaten. Some people forego the use of mulches and keep the weeds at bay by hand (removing extra cover). Some people try physical barriers like diatomaceous earth. Some people try light applications of "insecticides", others turn their gardens into "no-man's (bug's?) land" in their "war" on bugs. None of these is inherently wrong or right, but depending on what you want some may be more desirable. Me, I like to work smarter, not harder and have come to understand that a lot of the time we unwittingly create our own problems, in the garden as in life. So I come here to read what others know, think on it, and try to understand how I can shape the environment in my garden towards what I desire, rather than butting my head against the forces of nature. And sometimes, just sometimes, I get up on my soapbox and start preaching... :) I really hope this helps. Cheers and good luck!

Sunni

Well said Sunni - perfect answer to what is a lot of over-reacting to the presence of pillbugs.

As others have pointed out the main reason they are apparently such a problem for preppyjock is all that woodbark mulch. It causes many problems and serves no purpose in a vegetable garden and should be removed. There is no reason to leave it there and many reasons to remove it. Other commonly used vegetable garden mulches would serve far better.

The pillbugs are the least of the problems.

Dave

And as for "poison" -- iron phosphate is not a "poison", unless you're a mollusk. It's a mineral which happens to be a fertilizer and also happens to kill mollusks, like pillbugs and snails.

Spinosad is an organic pesticide that's broader range than iron phosphate, but still fairly targeted. Most predatory or pollinating insects aren't hurt by it (although some pollinators are while it's still wet, so if you use a spinosad-based slug/snail/pillbug killer, avoid open flowers). It has to be ingested to kill. It was discovered produced by a soil bacteria that evolved at a rum distillery.

i don't get offended because some of you think that pill bugs are harmless.

i am just telling you that pill bugs don't eat every plant, therefore, if you don't plant particular vegetables, pill bugs won't eat your plants. therefore, you think that they are harmless.

if some of gardeners have to plant more seeds just so they can survive the pill bug attacks, then those bugs are definitely evil pest.

look at my first picture, after another day, only 1/2 of that leave is still there!

anyway, i still disagree with some of you. you think that pill bug's poops are good for the soil. if you think it that way, then snail's poop should also be good. all pest's poops should be good, too.

i didn't invite them, and i surely don't approve them to reproduce at such a high rate, either. i don't see a reason to feed them. they are not my pets.

but summer is already here, they ate many young seedlings. other plants are already growing tall and healthy. so i think that i might leave them alone for this year.

i didn't invite them,

Oh, but you did. Gardening with that wood on the surface and saying you didn't invite pillbugs is like putting out a salt lick and saying you didn't invite deer.

And whether you like it or not, pillbugs *are* decomposers. But they'll also eat your plants if you garden in a way that can lead to population explosions, which you have done.

Wow. Learn something new every day.

PreppyJock, my apologies. I just responded to your other post with "what did they ever do to you?" Never have I seen a pill bug do a bit of damage to a live plant. I always considered them a friend in the garden because they help break down the dead vegetation. I rarely give them a second thought.

My instinct is that Sunni is giving good advise. Feed your soil and you will, in affect, feed the pill bugs. Then they won't feast on your plants. It makes sense.

"i don't get offended because some of you think that pill bugs are harmless.
i am just telling you that pill bugs don't eat every plant, therefore, if you don't plant particular vegetables, pill bugs won't eat your plants. therefore, you think that they are harmless."

You're missing the point. Pill bugs ARE harmless in most gardens because most gardeners have learned to make conditions that aren't so favorable for the pill bugs that they have a population explosion, much less one that is coupled with not enough decaying matter for said huge population.

You want to bomb the heck out of them with serious carcinogens? That's totally your call and your right as the end consumer of what veggies you may grow. You can also use the aforementioned iron phosphate which is more benign. Either way you will likely be doing that all summer long if you leave things as they are and just poison the critters. I stand by my previous advice to remove the mulch (there are other problems with that stuff besides the pill bugs, snails, and slugs it harbors in large numbers). That is the best course of action to allow you to remedy the problem once instead of over and over.

But your theory that they only eat certain plants and THAT is why others can live with them in their gardens doesn't seem too plausible. Many of us grow squash, cucumbers, gourds, melons, etc. as you have in your picture without any loss to the pill bugs which are there. Good luck!

Sunni

I've never had a problem with pill bugs attacking plants, until just this month.

Last year I babied and grew from seed both Burgundy and Tokajer Gaillardia, which are now becoming sizable clumps and this year is first year flowering for most of them.

Pill bugs are targeting my precious Gaillardias, both the Burgundy and Tokajers - in both my front and back yard.
At first I thought it was a squirrel gnawing away at the base of the main Gaillardia stem, because the flower stems looked chewed off, and I would lose 5 or more stems/flowers at a time.
But there was always a pill bug colony at the base of the victimized plant, and when I spray the base of the stem all further stem destruction ceases.

I have no mulch near these plants and they are in poor-to-average soil areas with no place nearby for pill bugs to hide and thrive.

I find this very interesting, that pill bugs have a fondness for established gaillardias, and that these bugs have gone out of their way to target them. Of course, this means WAR.

So, what does everyone recommend for mulch? I mulched last year with straw and was overrun with pill bugs. They ate almost every seedling and some established herbs. Are they simply attracted to any decaying matter and not just decaying wood?

Thanks...

For what it's worth, I mulch with grass clippings and never have pillbug problems.

I don't garden in ground any longer (as I live in a highrise instead of on a farm), but I'm fascinated by this pillbug discussion. I can honestly say that I've never even considered them a pest....but they are obviously bothering some people's gardens.

Sunni's advice makes perfect sense to me - the bugs are here for a purpose and it's not to destroy our crops. They just don't discriminate. So, if you have problems with them, it makes sense not to make your garden bed a place they enjoy.

But, it is a bit disconcerting that they are bothering people when they are not making their gardens a place they pull bugs enjoy, such as attacking the gaillardias. I wonder if it's a displacement thing - they have nothing else to call home, so they make it whereever they can? I wonder if setting up bark mulch around trees would provide a place they would be happy to call home so they wouldn't need to make a home out of what is left.

Just musing...I haven't really a clue if what I'm saying makes sense. Please ignore if it doesn't, lol.

oh, yes, pill bugs are evil. (i may have already written the same thing once before, but i can't stop talking about those evil bugs.)

some people think that pill bugs poops are good for the soil, but think about it, how many tons of food those evil bugs have to eat before they produce any poops? if they don't even those decayed materials, they can turn into nice compost.

And as i have said before, those evil bugs don't eat every seedlings. so if you plant something that they don't like, they won't touch them at all. that would make you think that pill bugs are good.

like for those two plants in my pictures, they are all gone now. i think that the first one was a cucumber plant, those evil bugs finished the whole plant!

for the second plant, those evil bugs just can't stop chewing on the stem on the bottom.

and they really like luffa leaves. they destroyed 3 young seedlings like that. they can finish one seedling in just one night! so i had to plant extra seeds. now i only have one left. and every night, i have to cover it with a big heavy glass bottle. and some tiny evil bugs still manage to crawl under the glass bottle, and eat the leaves. fortunately, they don't chew on the stem. so at least, the plant is still growing.

and they also like celery leaves. if you don't believe me, just put some around where they live, and you will see them finishing the whole thing.

last year, i found several seedlings got cut in half. some people told me that they might be cut worms. i have never seen one in the garden, but i just assumed that they are correct. now i just knew that those were probably pill bugs, too.

i hand picked most of the mature big pill bugs. now those tiny young pill bugs are still growing strong. i can't imagine how many young veges they have destroyed. it just makes me mad because i spent a lot of time planting and transplanting young seedlings.

now i finally ordered "sluggo plus". i should get it soon. i hope that this product will do the magic, kill and kill all evil bugs!

however, one pound of sluggo plus can treat 2,000 square feet! that is a huge area. i wonder why they can't make some smaller packages. and my local home depot and walmart stores don't even carry those products. i have to go to a local lumber store to buy it.

The pillbug population is exploding in and around one of my new raised beds. (Tons of rain here in northeast, apparently great weather for pillbugs). Only thing keeping them from lunching on my squash and pumpkin leaves is the lettuce growing in their shade. I inadvertantly planted a "catch crop".

My you do dislike pillbugs don't you Jane. I have lost count now of how many times today I have seen this same post copied and pasted throughout the various forums here (including the 3 or 4 posts of it on this forum. Perhaps it is time to quit digging up all these very old discussions just to post the same thing over and over. What say we move on to a new topic?

Dave

Lol, it IS a bit irritating, isn't it? But the information is useful and shows a high degree of personal observation. Yay for that!

Jane, I appreciate your enthusiasm and plan to experiment with the peels this year. I had more of a problem with these little crustaceans last year than in the past, probably due to the extra mulch and the moist summer. I don't have raised beds.

Sorry Dave, Im new to posting here so I didnt know you'd get alerted every time I (re)posted on different threads. Just jope the info helps another frustrated gardener!