Rolly thingy bugs........

I don't know what they are called here in the US but they roll up when you get near them are dark grey in color. Will they harm plants? They populate under my pots on the porch and in my yard. How do you get rid of them? If they don't harm anything I guess I could live with them there but they are just nasty little boogers

They're commonly called Roly-poly (or rolly-polly), pill bugs, more formally known as Isopods. Contrary to popular reassurance that they don't harm plants, this article says otherwise: http://insected.arizona.edu/isoinfo.htm (which tracks with my suspicions that those little critters are up to NO GOOD around my plants :O)

Aha!--always had my doubts too, about those creepy little critters!

ugh, it says that they'll eat live plants too :(
How do you get rid of them? It didn't mention that.

Here's another article that discusses prevention and control: http://www.accupest.com/html/pillbugs___sowbugs.html

I think their scientific name (Armadillidum vulgare) is most fitting ;~)

thanks for the info..........looks like there's no easy way to get rid of them though as they like moisture and I can't keep the moisture away from under my pots :(

I have 3 dogs too so chemical use may be out of the question as I don't want them to get sick.......yuck, have to put up with those things :(

I'll have to figure something out as there seem to be tons of them and they keep getting more of them

Flowox, try raising your pots up on little some of those little pot "feet", or on two short sections of 1x1's per pot. Maybe that additional air beneath them will thwart the buggers somewhat.

well, pot feet I can't afford because I have too many of them. I'll try to make up something though to raise them some.........will have to figure out what and how.........LOL

Small pieces of scrap lumber make good free/cheap "feet" - they just break down in a year or two unless you happen to have some scraps of pressure-treated lumber. I usually use 1" thick lumber, cut into 2" or 3" squares, and use three per pot.

will try that, thanks Terry :)

Yep, that's what I meant by 1x1's, just scrap. You can probably raid the scrap bin at one of the local lumber yards for pieces - just ask them. :)

I got a couple of pieces at Carter lumber today.......just 2 though, the guy seemed like he didn't want to part with his scrap..........LOL

I'll have to cut them into small pieces now :)

bump - it's that time of the year again..

Just my two cents, for what it's worth. In most cases that I've heard of, rolly-pollies don't do much harm to plants. As the link you gave said, they may eat live plants, but that is generally in times of moisture stress and as far as I have seen it's pretty rare. They much seem to prefer to eat decomposing material. The main problems they cause are in vegetable gardens when fruits are left directly on the ground - i.e. tomatoes, squashes, cucmbers etc, because this tends to soften them like rotted material. Generally for me, mulch under the fruits and veggies did the tirck.

Two years ago, it was a very damp year and I had tons of these critters in my gardens. I watched them carefully (Yes, I'm weird that way - I love the bugs and bug-like critters. It's what I do). One day I watched while about six to ten of them ate a dead flower head off of one of my flowers. I checked the next day, and they hadn't touched the live parts. I didn't have to dead head practically any of the flowers in that garden that year - hee - yay for me. They also ate the old, dead leaves off of some of my Swiss chard that I neglected. This year has been cool and the weeds have been merciless and tiny - thus much hoeing, so less cover and less rolly-pollies for me. Back to dead-heading and picking off the yellowed leaves.

Good picture, Night_Bloom! Would you mind adding it here, too: http://davesgarden.com/terms/go/1497.html (You're welcome to add your own opinion/definition of them at the same time ;o)

Thanks, Terry, and I'll definitley add a picture, but I may have an even better one I could add for you, or at least one that's a bit clearer when enlarged. (Believe it or not I have many - occupational hazard as I lecture about these and similar critters to Master Gardeners in my state - so I tend to take a lot of pictures for my slides).

I also have a great picture of its cousin the sow bug - very similar to rollypollies, but they can't roll up and they have uropods in back - I'll give a picture here, too, because rollypollies and sowbugs are often found together.

A cousin of the Rolly polly - the sow bug. Note the two appendages in the back (uropods) not found in rollypollies.

Even better! You'll find a separate entry for the sow bug in Garden Terms (let me know if you need help finding it...) And if you have any other common garden critter (friend or foe) pics, they're always welcome!

Great to have your help Night Bloom. And welcome to DG.
sidney