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pests Please assess the potential threat/benefit of the following bugs to my crop:

HwyBill

HwyBill

Banned
I have a large community garden in the lot behind my house. Every so often, a truck pulls up and dumps a huge pile of mulch to be used by the gardeners.

I take buckets of this unidentified mulch to use as bedding material for my plants when I transplant them into large plastic containers and move them outside to finish the course of their lives on my back deck.

When I brought up my latest batch of mulch to transplant with, I noticed the following bugs in the soil while transplanting a 2' tall cayenne:

1. A roley-poley. I'm not sure what their scientific name, or even their common name is... but when I was a kid we called them roley-poleys.

2. A spider. Sorry I don't know much about spiders, but I will call it a "wolf spider" since it seemed familiar-looking, and was covered in gray/brown hair. On top of that... she was dragging a very large egg sack behind her.

3. Some sort of centipede looking contraption. Maybe an inch and a half long. Dark gray.. I've seen this type before, but I can't specifically identify it.

Can anyone provide any sort of assessment on whether these animals will be beneficial or harmful to my garden?

Sorry.. no pics.. it's dark outside.

Thanks for the help/advice.
 
I believe Roley-Poleys are also called pillbugs. I have never had problems with them eating anything, but my friend says they tear her garden up. I have considered googling it, but I have scores of them, without seeming to have any problems...

Spider = good I should think. Unless you don't like spiders.

centipded = bad, as they sting. If it really is a centipede :)
 
jsschrstrcks said:
I believe Roley-Poleys are also called pillbugs. I have never had problems with them eating anything, but my friend says they tear her garden up. I have considered googling it, but I have scores of them, without seeming to have any problems...

Spider = good I should think. Unless you don't like spiders.

centipded = bad, as they sting. If it really is a centipede :)
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1. Yes.. pill bugs. I've heard them called that before. Hopefully they are as harmless to my garden as they seem to be to me personally.

2. Indifferent to spiders. Rather embrace them if they eat other, more annoying insects. Will TOTALLY embrace them if they are beneficial to my garden.

3. Not worried about getting stung. More concerned about what their affect on my garden might be.
 
never seem to have problems w/ centipedes though i see them often enough, roly poly seem to aerate the soil by tunneling through it, so i leave them alone, spiders eat lots of other nasties, over the past 2 years i have had several plants w/ resident spiders on them and they seem to have less aphids and other pests than the plants w/o is this coincidence? possibly, but dont f**k w/ a good thing right!

Ají hombre said:
"bugs." hah. yeh, not a one of these is even an insect let alone a bug, but whatever. If they're all you have in your garden, you are extremely, extremely lucky.
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+1 aphids, hornworms, cutworms,pepper maggots, whiteflies, slugs and Mites just to name a few now these are"bugs" worth worrying about!
 
Ají hombre said:
"bugs." hah. yeh, not a one of these is even an insect let alone a bug, but whatever. If they're all you have in your garden, you are extremely, extremely lucky.
Click to expand...

I chose the word "bugs" for lack of a better term.

Insects would not be good either, as spiders are not arthropods.

Spiders are arachnids, pill bugs are isopoda, and centipedes are chilopoda.

Despite arguing semantics, I was just generally seeking advice on how I should deal with these particular animals.
 
Pillbugs - I think they only eat dead/rotting plant material and shouldn't be a threat to your peppers. Not confident in that, but I wouldn't worry. Their waste is probably good for the soil.
Spiders - Hug them and pet them and name them George, and have lots of baby spiders of your very own.
Centipedes - Unless they're biting you, ignore them. They're predators, not plant eaters.
 
pillbugs (a crustaceon) ignore them.

Spiders? Ignore them, and don't disturb their web.

centipedes? Personally I kill them. My nephew helps me garden, and I don't want him to grow up with terribly memories of gardening as a little one.

More predators = better.

Pillbugs might actually be beneficial, they poop out copper, which you likely know aids in respiration and photosynthesis.
 
Wulf said:
Pillbugs - I think they only eat dead/rotting plant material and shouldn't be a threat to your peppers. Not confident in that, but I wouldn't worry. Their waste is probably good for the soil.
Spiders - Hug them and pet them and name them George, and have lots of baby spiders of your very own.
Centipedes - Unless they're biting you, ignore them. They're predators, not plant eaters.
Click to expand...

jsschrstrcks said:
pillbugs (a crustaceon) ignore them.

Spiders? Ignore them, and don't disturb their web.

centipedes? Personally I kill them. My nephew helps me garden, and I don't want him to grow up with terribly memories of gardening as a little one.

More predators = better.

Pillbugs might actually be beneficial, they poop out copper, which you likely know aids in respiration and photosynthesis.
Click to expand...

I am kissing Sofia Vergara right now
 
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