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Tue, Jun 12, 12 at 13:30
| Are the millions of woodlice in my compost (and elsewhere) a bad thing? They eat and poop, like worms, but there are SO MANY of them. Should I just let them be?
PS: I turned a small compost pile yesterday that had been neglected (thus the woodlice question). Black! Rich! I piled it up, watered it occasionally, and it is still working! Gotta love compost. |
Follow-Up Postings:
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- Posted by toxcrusadr (My Page) on Tue, Jun 12, 12 at 15:02
| I had to look up the term, because we always called them roly-polys. :-] They do like organic matter and I see them in my compost often. They don't seem to hurt anything as far as I know. Better in the compost pile than eating my strawberries. |
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- Posted by ernie85017 (My Page) on Wed, Jun 13, 12 at 9:12
| Hmmm... a good decoy! |
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| Wood Lice, Roly Polys and Sow Bugs, Potato Bugs, and a number of different names are as a rule digesters of decaying organic matter although they will eat live plants. As a rule they are not harmful in your garden and like many other similar critters live in cool, moist environments such as compost piles, mulches, or under rocks, boards or any other place that will be cool and moist. |
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- Posted by toxcrusadr (My Page) on Wed, Jun 13, 12 at 11:41
| I've caught them eating plants by night in cool and moist shady areas that were mulched with wood or shredded yard waste. If they get out of hand I dust a little Sevin. In the compost pile we leave each other alone. :-] |
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