For the most part, rollie pollies eat leaves and plants that are already on the way out. We haven't had much of a problem with them eatting any of our plants. Until yesterday. I went to cut a cucumber for a salad and saw tons of them had infiltrated it. It might be that another pest got to it first and they were just cleaning it out.
My mother-in-law taught me a trick to use an orange rind cut in half placed near the plant. We happened to have an orange on the way out to the compost- so I put it near the cucumber plant. (I had already cut off the affected cucumber and put it into the compost- lest anyone assume I ate a rollie pollie salad). Then today I checked under the halves and there they were. On the ground and in the rind. I scooped them up and threw them into the compost. There are still a ton more. Its a trick I will have to use a few times to actually move them away from my cucumber- but still- very easy to do.
Another easy way to kill them is to make elaborate shoe box houses filled with grass and sticks and dirt and keep them inside it for a day. I learned this the hard way, repeatedly, when I was 7.
You could feed them to your chickens. My boys are amazed that they can throw one rollie pollie into the coop, and the chickens will be able to spot where it lands, dig it out of the straw, and gobble it up.
ReplyDeleteGreat tip! I'll have to remember this one. -Jackie
ReplyDeleteVisiting from Nyack, NY!
ReplyDeleteI have some nibblers and I've seen both slugs and roly polys out there. I tried some beer but only got a few baby slugs, so this is gonna be my next project. Thanks!
I have tons of rolli pollies in my garden good advise
ReplyDeleteCan you find a way to just capture them because I'm going to be a Anthologist and I'm studying pill bugs so...
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