the rolly pollies are every where and they love my strawberries they eat them any ideas how to discourage them, i don't want to harm them just make them go away :rolleyes:
Last night I had a conversation with another member about rolly pollies. We were wondering if they are the same as sow bugs, which have invaded my home, outdoor containers and are just YUCKY! Sow and Pill bugs
Outside, Sow and Pill bugs aren't too bad of little creatures, actually in the realm of what mother nature intended, they are what you'd call the cleaner~uppers, or debris eaters!!!
When a plant grows, matures, and goes thru season's, there's parts of the plant that turns brown and dies, and when left there the pill/sow bugs come along and eat of the dead and decaying debris... Maybe they are thinking the strawberries would be also delicious too.
Maybe clean up the debris and things decaying around the strawberries....open the plants up and keep something somewhere's else, of brown paper, dead wood, dead piece's from plants, anything like stuff that would go into a compost pile and they'll go over there and be in seventh heaven..
Weezie, they little buggers are EVERYWHERE!!! On the patio, under the woodpile, under plant pots, in the soil, IN MY HOUSE!!! I'm being invaded! Guess that happens when you forget to wear your tin foil hat just ONCE!
My woodpile is dry, protected under a deck. These creatchies are just everywhere, all year round, every year. They just seem worse in the spring when the babies come out. Maybe I should let the chickens free on the patio - pill bugs are one of their favorite snacks.
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And for gosh sakes, keep an eye on your "tin foil hat"
My 6 year-old daughter thinks rollie pollies are just awesome! She plays rollie pollie "marbles" with them!! And any poor ladybug she finds becomes her new pet for the day. I give her credit, though...she does give it a glass jar with holes poked in the lid, a stick to climb on, leaves to eat, and a couple drops of water. She doesn't understand that ladybugs don't eat leaves, but... She's my little garden helper, loves her flowers!!!
That's sweet Sheri.. my girls are kinda the same way. Imagine me trying to explain to them we can't keep the ladybugs I bought to put in the garden.. they need to go in the garden to eat my bad bugs. LOL. They decided to help me sprinkle them around the garden.. each taking a few ladybugs to put out.
Ok, I think I have the smaller sowbug. I should take a photo. I picked up a bag of mulch that was left sitting by my deck since last summer.. one I never used up. When I picked it up, there was no ground, just a bazillion tiny roly polys! AAAAHHHH!!!! I dropped the bag back down & walked away quickly.
Rachel, If you do a FORUM SEARCH and type in COMPOST, you'll find a plethra of information on Compost and Composting!!!
If you have more questions about it, don't hestitate to start a new thread/post in Gardener's Chat about it and I will be more than happy to help you get one started!! I LOVE Composting!!!