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pests Snails & Pill Bugs/Doodle Bugs

Eephus Man

Eephus Man

Okay y'all,

I want every weapon in the arsenal to protect from these guys. In my backyard, they are a true nuisance. Anything that goes in the ground fresh gets chewed to pieces. Old growth is generally left alone, but it takes awhile (until stems are pretty woody).

Anything planted direct is just plain dead.

My raised bed is about 10' X 3'. I want to coat the soil, edges of the bed and a good foot outside of the beds with whatever I can get my hands on to kill, kill, kill.

And this year, I'm okay with killing some beneficials too. In my pots, I keep it organic and I have all kinds of awesome lady bug-type goodness. But back there, it's a war and I don't care.

Hit me with what you'd do to form a DMZ and to kill any eggs/interior intruders. I'm all ears.
 
pillbugs are bad?

They require a lot of moisture... If you let the soil dry out in between waterings that should drive them off...
 
jsschrstrcks said:
pillbugs are bad?

They require a lot of moisture... If you let the soil dry out in between waterings that should drive them off...
Click to expand...

Man, they LOVE new growth. When they have a mass hatching they terrorize new growth on anything I have out there. And recently (I think its snails this time) all my kale was stripped to the veins. This time it was NOT new growth.

I did just chop down a tree to give the garden more light, but this is ongoing, even in the summer. No problem with moisture retention then. I'm ready for a barrier of some kind...
 
I dunno - here in florida I have them all over, but they ignore my peppers... They live under the wooden border to my garden though. Maybe they just like pine better than my plants.

If they started to attack my plants, I'd declare war...
 
Bury a small container and fill with beer to the top, make sure you use old stale beer you just couldnt finish the night before. It is a magnet for bugs...
 
Oh yeah! Forgot about the beer traps! What Budweiser was made for! Thanks for the reminder, SS.

So right now I'm thinking...

Sluggo
DE
Beer
Neem Oil
 
You could strip a piece of copper wire, and circle the trunk with it. I would use a stranded with so you could spread it wider. Just a thought...
 
Hmmm, far as I know pill bugs just eat decaying plant matter. They will eat dead roots etc. I've pulled up plants infested with them but they were just eating the dead root matter because after I transplanted it with the pill bugs, they plant was still unaffected by them. I think they will eat seedlings though. Hmm, maybe you have some freaky pill bugs. I have tons of slugs! I have to put out a bowl of beer for them. They love beer and I guess get drunk in it and drown. If you're worried about horned worms, they love to eat dill and fennel. I plant those to detract them from my peppers and kill them by hand. They have never touched my peppers ;) .
 
Dulac said:
Hmmm, far as I know pill bugs just eat decaying plant matter. They will eat dead roots etc. I've pulled up plants infested with them but they were just eating the dead root matter because after I transplanted it with the pill bugs, they plant was still unaffected by them. I think they will eat seedlings though. Hmm, maybe you have some freaky pill bugs. I have tons of slugs! I have to put out a bowl of beer for them. They love beer and I guess get drunk in it and drown. If you're worried about horned worms, they love to eat dill and fennel. I plant those to detract them from my peppers and kill them by hand. They have never touched my peppers ;) .
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I had always heard that about pill bugs, too, but have caught them red-mandibled on pepper starts. And yeah, they MOW down seedlings, too. They are particularly fond of legume seedlings. Healthy eaters, I guess.

The BT is for my pots. I seem to get one flush of horned worms each year. But I also just had an infestation of some kind of smaller green worm as well. Devastated several pots of lettuce. I'm applying in the hopes they don't find the peppers, although they may prefer the more supple lettuce.
 
Eephus Man said:
I had always heard that about pill bugs, too, but have caught them red-mandibled on pepper starts. And yeah, they MOW down seedlings, too. They are particularly fond of legume seedlings. Healthy eaters, I guess.

The BT is for my pots. I seem to get one flush of horned worms each year. But I also just had an infestation of some kind of smaller green worm as well. Devastated several pots of lettuce. I'm applying in the hopes they don't find the peppers, although they may prefer the more supple lettuce.
Click to expand...

Odd, maybe when the pill bugs are really hungry they go after living tissue.
 
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