Re: Pill Bugs!!!!!!!

southern gardener 5/17/2013, 9:45 pm

floyd1440 wrote:Still cannot find Sluggo at HD or Lowes. Will be travelling to Ohio to visit and look out west for some......

It is granular stuff????

They are little tiny pellet like "things". White in color. Be sure you get Sluggo PLUS if/when you find it. did you check amazon?

drixnot 5/18/2013, 12:19 am

since the subject moved to slugs...

http://www.instructables.com/id/Installing-and-testing-an-electric-slug-fence-on-a/

scroll to the bottom and watch the video... nifty way to keep those pests from eating your garden. Cool

floyd1440 5/18/2013, 7:19 am

drixnot wrote:since the subject moved to slugs...

http://www.instructables.com/id/Installing-and-testing-an-electric-slug-fence-on-a/

scroll to the bottom and watch the video... nifty way to keep those pests from eating your garden.

But does it keep pill bugs out?

drixnot 5/18/2013, 12:35 pm

Yes, if the pill bug is big enough to touch both wires at the same time.

And honestly... who wouldn't want to keep giant mutant pill bugs out of their gardens? affraid

Lemonie 5/18/2013, 3:50 pm

I have had such a major infestation of pill bugs and slugs that I could not make enough homemade traps to cover the area. I finally caved and got some Sluggo Plus at our local grow shop and man has it made a difference! cheers

Before using it, I was averaging a full Soho cup of hunted slugs in 30min! affraid

After a week of one heavy application, I had only 1/8th of a cup of small slugs and only found one big one. The pill bugs are still pretty bad, but seem fewer overall. I had sprinkled a small dose of Sluggo Plus in and around the beds last night before going out and was happy to see many slugs and pill bugs eating and even carrying away the pellets (I hope they were going to share w/ their friends Twisted Evil

).

southern gardener 5/18/2013, 4:12 pm

Lemonie wrote:I have had such a major infestation of pill bugs and slugs that I could not make enough homemade traps to cover the area. I finally caved and got some Sluggo Plus at our local grow shop and man has it made a difference! Before using it, I was averaging a full Soho cup of hunted slugs in 30min! After a week of one heavy application, I had only 1/8th of a cup of small slugs and only found one big one. The pill bugs are still pretty bad, but seem fewer overall. I had sprinkled a small dose of Sluggo Plus in and around the beds last night before going out and was happy to see many slugs and pill bugs eating and even carrying away the pellets (I hope they were going to share w/ their friends ).

Glad it worked for you! It's kind of pricey...but a little goes a long way, and is worth it to me. Especially when your seedlings get chopped off and "stumps" are left in the morning.

Lemonie 5/18/2013, 7:06 pm

southern gardener wrote:
Lemonie wrote:I have had such a major infestation of pill bugs and slugs that I could not make enough homemade traps to cover the area. I finally caved and got some Sluggo Plus at our local grow shop and man has it made a difference! Before using it, I was averaging a full Soho cup of hunted slugs in 30min! After a week of one heavy application, I had only 1/8th of a cup of small slugs and only found one big one. The pill bugs are still pretty bad, but seem fewer overall. I had sprinkled a small dose of Sluggo Plus in and around the beds last night before going out and was happy to see many slugs and pill bugs eating and even carrying away the pellets (I hope they were going to share w/ their friends ).

Glad it worked for you! It's kind of pricey...but a little goes a long way, and is worth it to me. Especially when your seedlings get chopped off and "stumps" are left in the morning.

Oh yes! I have had to replant WAY too many seeds and seedlings due to these little devils! I guess that could be the only drawback to having a small scale SFG...only planting a few of each type of plant means bigger devastation if one is lost.

floyd1440 5/18/2013, 9:07 pm

Went to a home depot in Ohio and no sluggo. Got a Bayer product and the guy says people say it works.

Time will tell but still trying to figure out how to get them out of my finished compost..........

MsSmilesT 6/25/2013, 9:50 am

Lemonie wrote:Like ants and slugs, pill bugs are attracted to cornmeal and are all killed by iron phosphate (in Sluggo) and Ferrous Sulfate (OTC supplement). Since I have an abundance of all of these bugs ravaging my garden this year, I am experimenting w/ homemade Sluggo Plus (cornmeal, crushed iron tabs, DE) in jars (laid sideways to protect from rain) around the garden. This bait should work in 3 ways:
1) Ants carry cornmeal back to the colony and can't digest it...should kill off the whole colony in 1-2wks. There is conflicting info on if slugs can digest cornmeal or not, but they sure do like the stuff!
2) Iron causes slugs/snails to immediately stop feeding and crawl into the ground to die.
3) DE assures a quicker death and also death to any other insects that may happen upon this trap.

I find that the pill bugs are mostly chewing away at my decaying top hat carrot boxes, but they have become so numerous that I have caught them eating away at my seedlings too. Happy hunting!

Going to try this.... THANKS

BrianDorry55 6/25/2013, 10:24 am

Sucks reading this...I was under the impression that pill bugs were more or less harmless to live plants...

I am gearing up to start my first garden for fall and I already know that I have a TON of pill bugs on my property...I let them be when I re-did my flower beds because I thought they were harmless...I even throw them back out into the yard when I find them in the house...Looks like I should add some DE to the shopping list.

littlejo 6/25/2013, 11:34 am

I tried just the DE, and for in the house it's fine, but it gets wet and you have to re-apply. I've read that pill bugs do no harm, the person that wrote that has never had a garden! I used Sluggo, plus and have been real pleased with the results.
Jo

Windmere 6/25/2013, 11:38 am

MsSmilesT wrote:
Lemonie wrote:Like ants and slugs, pill bugs are attracted to cornmeal and are all killed by iron phosphate (in Sluggo) and Ferrous Sulfate (OTC supplement). Since I have an abundance of all of these bugs ravaging my garden this year, I am experimenting w/ homemade Sluggo Plus (cornmeal, crushed iron tabs, DE) in jars (laid sideways to protect from rain) around the garden. This bait should work in 3 ways:
1) Ants carry cornmeal back to the colony and can't digest it...should kill off the whole colony in 1-2wks. There is conflicting info on if slugs can digest cornmeal or not, but they sure do like the stuff!
2) Iron causes slugs/snails to immediately stop feeding and crawl into the ground to die.
3) DE assures a quicker death and also death to any other insects that may happen upon this trap.

I find that the pill bugs are mostly chewing away at my decaying top hat carrot boxes, but they have become so numerous that I have caught them eating away at my seedlings too. Happy hunting!

Going to try this.... THANKS

Hi Lemonie and MsSmiles,

Lemonie, how resourceful you are! I really like how you are making your own Sluggo. I think I also have some of the ingredients for your formula on hand (except the iron). Please keep us posted regarding how well it works. I'm excited to know the results!

Just a side note: I have found that cinnamon works wonders for repelling ants. My daughter had an ants nest in her flower garden and I sprinkled a bit of cinnamon around the flower bed. They ants left and never came back.

Wind

rillgardens 4/23/2014, 12:41 pm

While doing my morning rounds I also found pill bugs eating my pole bean seedlings just as they were popping out of the ground.

This means war! Mad

**donnainzone5** 4/23/2014, 1:06 pm

Two words: Sluggo Plus.

**sanderson** 4/23/2014, 3:39 pm

Saw the words "in jars laid sideways." I have a box of baby food jars that will work perfect. They will keep the SP dry from any overhead water. Very Happy

Marc Iverson 4/23/2014, 7:55 pm

Sounds like something one could easily rig up inside of PVC pipe odds and ends.

manda99 5/19/2014, 1:26 pm

I have this problem for the first time this year. Seems to only be in one of my boxes, but I planted 16 pole bean seeds and all of them came out of the ground with the leaves already chewed off. GRRRRRRRRR.

Ordered Sluggo Plus from Amazon (have Prime and arrived next day) and liberally sprinkled. Don't know if it worked yet, but I sure hope so. So frustrating.

manda99 5/19/2014, 1:27 pm

Just adding that I grew up calling them 'rolly pollies', I had no idea the rest of the world called them pill bugs until I had to start researching a cure for them! Laughing

southern gardener 5/19/2014, 1:32 pm

it worked GREAT for us on pill bugs. You should see a big decline by tomorrow, then slowly none! IF you water or you get rain, you may have to do maybe one more dose. Good luck!!

Rahab222 5/20/2014, 1:44 am

I ordered mine on-line through Home Depot. Pill bugs were destroying my strawberries, just chomping away. If you read the directions, it only takes a VERY small amount to treat a rather large area - like 1 tbs. or something. I had lettuce and onions growing in the same box.

This is what I discovered - go after the NEST! The pill bugs were coming out of the little crack between the soil in the box and the wooden sideboard. There was enough room for me to scatter a few pellets down into this space where they lived. When my lettuce bolted, I pulled a big chunk of lettuce up and there was this pill bug NEST intertwined with the roots of the lettuce. I treated this area, too. I did reapply after it rained, but remember, it only takes a few pellets for a large area. The Sluggo Plus has decreased this problem by about 95% within a couple of weeks.

YorkR88 3/27/2016, 11:23 am

Please help! I read this post and am looking into getting SP. However, I'm still not sure if they are harmful to plants and gardens. I went out to built a pest gate and realized that Pill Bugs were coming into my bed at all 4 corners, in and around my weed blocker. I dug down and stapled more weed blocker to see if that helped. I'm sure there are some still rummaging around in my MM even after I did some killing yesterday.

I found this on the net that says they are not harmful to plants...http://www3.northern.edu/natsource/INVERT1/Pillbu1.htm

I honestly think they are nasty creatures and do not wanna see them.

How does SP affect your MM quality?

Thanks

**donnainzone5** 3/27/2016, 12:02 pm

I haven't had any problems using Sluggo Plus, either here in Central Oregon or in Southern California.

**sanderson** 3/27/2016, 2:55 pm

Sluggo Plus is one of the safer products out there for your garden. It kills snails/slugs, pill bugs and earwigs. You only need a few sprinkles in the problem areas. Reapply after rain.

**donnainzone5** 3/27/2016, 3:08 pm

It also kills cutworms.

**jimmy cee** 3/28/2016, 8:24 am

I stopped using everything as of now, will I change ?...maybe, however, The microbe book explains how it all works together for the good of the soil food web..., Even snails / slugs are claimed to be beneficial, as they burrow,along with slime they leave behind as they trail along...burrows they leave allow oxygen and moisture to flow through helping bacteria, fungi and many others.
I've changed my mind / tactics after reading what real organic growing is about.

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What an excellent idea ... making your own!~

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