Rolly Pollys

shannon1 6/7/2011, 4:12 am

They are chowing down on my passion fruit vine. I read up on the little devils and much to my suprise they do eat live plants. I thought they were like tiny gators and only ate rotted food. LOL I am going to try and trap them with a half a melon, I'll let you know how it works incase anyone else is having problems with them.

GreenBlueberry 6/7/2011, 9:37 am

Those little buggers ate my melon seedling. SUPPOSEDLY, they are not bad bugs, so I didn't do anything against them, but after I saw what they did to my baby, I read some more and it turns out they are not a threat to developed plants and fruit, but they love seedlings. Now I don't like them no matter what Evil or Very Mad

, and squash them whenever I see them.

**donnainzone5** 6/7/2011, 10:42 am

Sluggo Plus kills them, along with slugs, snails, earwigs, etc.

Miss M 6/7/2011, 1:55 pm

I had no idea they bothered live plants! I'm used to seeing them only under leaf cover and rocks! Shocked

shannon1 6/7/2011, 11:30 pm

Ya, I learned the hard way. I got up a little late so had no time to set my trap yet just wait till tomorrow night Twisted Evil

countrynaturals 5/4/2017, 10:05 pm

GreenBlueberry wrote:Those little buggers ate my melon seedling. SUPPOSEDLY, they are not bad bugs, so I didn't do anything against them, but after I saw what they did to my baby, I read some more and it turns out they are not a threat to developed plants and fruit, but they love seedlings. Now I don't like them no matter what , and squash them whenever I see them.

NUTZ! My Salad Bar SFG is loaded with them. No wonder my mache and daikons aren't sprouting. I like that melon idea. I'll try that. Twisted Evil

**sanderson** 5/5/2017, 3:03 am

Yes, they seem to like my little seedlings. Sluggo Plus!!

BeetlesPerSqFt 5/5/2017, 6:39 am

CapeCoddess 5/5/2017, 10:39 am

What does the Sluggo Plus do to the microbes? Anything?

BeetlesPerSqFt 5/5/2017, 12:04 pm

Sluggo plus is iron phosphate, which isn't going to do much of consequence to your microbes, and spinosad insecticide, which is originally derived from a soil bacterium:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spinosad
It doesn't look like there's a really clear overall effect on microbes one way or the other - some increases, some decreases, with a return to normal in a month:
http://www.jeeng.net/pdf-59373-3113?filename=THE%20SIDE-EFFECT%20OF.pdf

CapeCoddess 5/5/2017, 12:10 pm

Excellent research, Beetles! You're good!
thanks

**donnainzone5** 5/5/2017, 12:17 pm

I've been a fan of Sluggo Plus for many years now.

newbeone 5/5/2017, 1:02 pm

Thanks Beetles! I have been Told the soil down here is low on iron, maybe that's why my garden is loaded with Rolly Pollys, I think I will start with Slugo.

BeetlesPerSqFt 5/5/2017, 1:22 pm

The iron phosphate in Sluggo is what affects the slugs/snails, and it works because they are eating it in a concentrated form, rather than the low concentrations normally found in their food.
The 'Plus' is the spinosad, and that's what kills the sowbugs and pill bugs. I don't think the iron affects them one way or the other because the plain Sluggo product (without the Plus) doesn't say it works on them, just on slugs and snails. So low iron probably isn't why you have a lot of rolly-pollies.

CC, thinking harder I guess there's also the 'bait' portion of the sluggo and sluggo plus, but they don't say what it is since it's not an active ingredient. Probably proprietary. Maybe wheat bran and a little yeast extract, or teeny tiny signs that say "Eat me!" Whatever the bait part is, it's likely fully biodegradable and feeds your microbes rather than harming them.

newbeone 5/5/2017, 1:47 pm

Thanks again Beetles for the clarification, Slugo Plus it is.

CapeCoddess 5/5/2017, 3:02 pm

Just in from
https://ag.umass.edu/landscape/newsletters/hort-notes/hort-notes-2017-vol-284

Spinosad should not be applied to flowering host plants, as it is highly toxic to pollinators, such as bees, before it dries. Once it dries, it is practically non-toxic to these non-target organisms.

CitizenKate 5/5/2017, 11:00 pm

In Sluggo Plus, the product is dry to begin with, and is not applied to the plant, but sprinkled on the ground around the plant. The pill bugs (rather quickly) carry the pellets away without them ever touching any part of the plant, but the few that are left over break down pretty quickly. I'm still convinced it's perfectly okay to use, and has been very effective in removing them from my beds. But keep sharing this information, because if I'm wrong, I want to know!

In my garden, pill bugs have been harmless on some things, devastating on others. They mostly attack what is just coming up out of the ground (like my greenbean seedlings - grrr) or the leaves of larger plants that are touching the ground. They seem to like cabbage and kale leaves that touch the ground. But I don't worry too much about them devouring the entire cabbage or kale plants - those seem to be mostly out of reach for them.

**sanderson** 5/6/2017, 2:10 am

CitizenKate wrote:In Sluggo Plus, the product is dry to begin with, and is not applied to the plant, but sprinkled on the ground around the plant. The pill bugs (rather quickly) carry the pellets away without them ever touching any part of the plant, but the few that are left over break down pretty quickly. I'm still convinced it's perfectly okay to use, and has been very effective in removing them from my beds. But keep sharing this information, because if I'm wrong, I want to know!

In my garden, pill bugs have been harmless on some things, devastating on others. They mostly attack what is just coming up out of the ground (like my greenbean seedlings - grrr) or the leaves of larger plants that are touching the ground. They seem to like cabbage and kale leaves that touch the ground. But I don't worry too much about them devouring the entire cabbage or kale plants - those seem to be mostly out of reach for them.

I agree with what Kate has written. Sluggo Plus is sprinkled on the ground and is probably the only "safe" form of spinosad if applied as directed. Sow bugs are devastating to my emerging seedlings. Bean, melon, cucumber, eggplant, pepper. I have it sprinkled on the BTE strip while corn, sorghum, okra and sunflowers are just emerging. When they destroy the growing tip (apical or terminal bud), the plant is doomed. Shocked

countrynaturals 5/9/2017, 12:30 pm

I tried putting down pieces of grapefruit rinds when I ran out of melons, and not only do they trap rollies, but the slugs love them, too. This explains a lot. I couldn't figure out why my seeds weren't germinating. I didn't know the rollies ate sprouts and I didn't even know I had slugs. Rolling Eyes

CapeCoddess 5/9/2017, 3:35 pm

countrynaturals wrote:I tried putting down pieces of grapefruit rinds when I ran out of melons, and not only do they trap rollies, but the slugs love them, too.

They like grapefruit rinds, eh? How weird. What kind of melon peels were you using and did they work, too?

countrynaturals 5/10/2017, 10:52 am

CapeCoddess wrote:
countrynaturals wrote:I tried putting down pieces of grapefruit rinds when I ran out of melons, and not only do they trap rollies, but the slugs love them, too.

They like grapefruit rinds, eh? How weird. What kind of melon peels were you using and did they work, too?

Cantaloupe rinds worked like magic, but only until they dried out, so that was 1 day. Next time, I will cut them into smaller pieces and save some in the fridge, moistened. The slugs weren't even tempted, however.

I just checked the grapefruit rinds and they're loaded with slugs and rollies. I think the best way is to change them out twice a day. I wouldn't want any of those beasties to eat their fill then wander off and miss the next bus to the compost heap. Rolling Eyes

countrynaturals 5/26/2017, 11:44 pm

Okay, here's what I've learned: They like it damp. Once the sun comes out, they hide underneath, and if the rind dries out, they wander away. This morning I was out there before 6am, strewing rinds all over the Salad Bar (sfg). I watered everything down, then came back a couple of hours later. Here's what I found:
Rolly Pollys Rollie10

These stinkers have really set me back. I grew beans and kale in Jiffy Pellets and put them out today, but I've direct-sown daikons and corn salad 3 times and never got a single sprout. Evil or Very Mad

Today I replaced most of my dirt (I'm old-school sfg) and tonight I set out more rinds. Tomorrow morning I'll see how bad things are. Maybe I can plant the daikons in some sort of rings, but I may never get any corn salad. Sad

**sanderson** 5/27/2017, 1:01 am

Wow! Do you pick the rind and critters up and throw away?

countrynaturals 5/27/2017, 10:58 am

sanderson wrote: Wow! Do you pick the rind and critters up and throw away?

I throw it all into the compost for chickens to play with. Twisted Evil

I thought it was all over, but Katie had some fresh melon rinds to get rid of, so I put them out last night. This morning they're loaded again. Sad

I don't know how they ever found this waist-high bed and now I'm starting to believe there's a never-ending supply of these creeps. I WANT MY GARDEN BACK! WAAAAA! Rolly Pollys 671790

**sanderson** 5/27/2017, 3:57 pm

Ah, the chickens get them. Rolly Pollys 3170584802

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