I hear people say that pill bugs are good for the garden; they break down dead matter adding compost back into the soil. That may be true up to a point but I can vouch for the fact that they adore nothing better than violas and many defenseless seedlings, including beans and cosmos. I have always used the way my mother used to catch the nasty black slugs and large snails that visited our garden in England. Grapefruit skins. Orange skins work well too.
We are now into our 4th, 18 lb bag of Texas, ruby red grapefruit. We grow the best grapefruit here in Texas. We each have a half a grapefruit every morning for breakfast and the empty peel goes out into the garden. Every day I check underneath and dispose of the haul. There is always a collective noun to describe large groupings of a particular creature. Move aside crows, you have some company. This is crying out to be called a murder of pill bugs.
Good method! I'll try ...
ReplyDeleteI have a lot of pill bugs, maybe too!
That is an outrageous number of pill bugs, Jenny! Once in awhile I remember the grapefruit trick - darned things seem to love basil seedlings, too.
ReplyDeleteAnnie at the Transplantable Rose
Watermelon rinds work well, too! I toss them in the compost--I figure they can do good work in there.
ReplyDeleteThat is very cool- I had never heard that!!!! Amazing how many you got under that peel in one day!
ReplyDeleteThey sure collect fast and in all sizes, too!
ReplyDeleteJust checking in to see if you are getting comfortable with Blotanical. I noticed that you have not 'picked' blogs of others. Is this a feature of Blotanical that you have no interest or is it complicated for you? Did you read the FAQs under the Help tab?
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I don't have much of a problem finding rolypolys but I've never had the opportunity to scoop up so many of the things at one time. You see, I have a pet starling who considers these things an excellent treat. Thanks for the tip. :-)
ReplyDeleteWow Jenny, that is some pill-bug bounty! I remember my parents using the same grapefruit attracting technique in Scotland for catching slugs and snails and it was always very effective...I was in charge of checking the fruit before catching my school bus...ah the joy!
ReplyDeleteI love those 'Lady Janes'
ESP.
That is gross and an amazing tip!! I will have to try it out, because I lost every single one of my seedlings last year (a lot of basil).
ReplyDeleteTHANK YOU for a great tip! I don't eat grapefruit myself, but I picked some up for the sole purpose of using the peels as doodlebug traps! It worked like a charm and my wife was entirely grossed out by the number of bugs underneath the next morning! LOL! I moved them safely to the compost pile where they can do what they do best, not eat on my new transplants!
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