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| Pillbug, sowbug, rolly polly. Thanks Texas A and M for this pic. |
Q. I took your advice and am treating pillbugs in
my garden like slugs. I have drowned them with beer but they keep coming back. But,
they keep coming. I have two bowls with about 100+ critters in each every
morning. My neighbor has been giving me his old cans of beer. I had to dig
up the rhubarb plants and put them in pots. This is sure a frustrating
year. Hope you are having more luck
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| Dirt Devil cordless vacuum. Mine is an older Model. |
A. I am sorry to hear you’re having such a problem with
these critters. Maybe I can add my two cents. These critters are crustaceans,
in the same classification as lobsters and crayfish. They have gills and so
must have a wet environment to stay alive.
Anything in the garden that keepsmoisture on the surface of the soil and around plants is going to encourage
them. Likewise, they will want to hide during the daytime underthings that
collect moisture such as mulches, newspaper late on the soil surface, boards on
the soil surface, etc. sometimes just laying these items on the soil surface
and removing them during the day followed by some light vacuuming with a
cordless vacuum can provide some control.
I use the Dirt Devil cordless vaccuum. I don’t know if it is the best one out there but it works. Maybe some others have a better one if they can comment. Mine was fairly inexpensive and when you are trying things out for a first time price becomes important. I have used it now for four years.
I see diatomaceous earth recommend a lot. The problem with this is it cannot
handle wet environments. And these critters cannot handle dry environments so they are kind of
mutually exclusive
of each other.
As far as pesticides go the natural products
containing pyrethrum is supposed to work.
the synthetic pyrethrins which end in -thrin in the ingredients should also
work. I saw a report that the insecticide Sevin (carbaryl) will also work. I
hope this gives you some other options.
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| Take Down is Monterey’s synthetic pyrethrin. |