The dreaded Pill Bug...also known as Slater, Sow Bug, and the deceptively endearing Roly Poly Bug.
Do not be fooled.
It is not cute, nor is it welcome in a garden where one is haplessly trying to grow fragile little plant seedlings. It feeds on tender new plant tissue, or decaying plant matter...not the mature plants as they are too tough to chew. And it is the reason why several of my sunflower seedlings have disappeared, and my cucumber shoots are suffering bites as well. I have killed a few of them on sight, but apparently the way to do it is with beer, cantaloupe or corn cobs to trap them. Unless you want to import their natural predator, the Sow Bug Killer spider, which apparently has very large fangs. 'Shiver' up the spine. If you've seen these ugly relatives of the shrimp in your garden, and you're losing tiny seedlings...now you know why.
2 comments:
So that's where my bean plants disappeared to! Thanks for the tip!
AFter that post, I woke up the next morning to find they had eaten an entire healthy cucumber shoot! Grrrrr..... They were still all out and about beside it so I was quite certain. Yes, they are quite horrible.
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