How to control Pillbugs eating my strawberries?

Because of the warm beautiful weather we have been having here in Southern Louisiana, my Everbearing Strawberries are producing tons of new berries. Pillbugs are eating holes in every one of them. I don't have a picture of them but it is definitely the Pillbugs as I have seen them in action. Does anyone know how to control and or get rid of them without using chemicals? Yes, these are the roll-up type of bugs. Hope someone can help, Thanks!!!

The pillbugs are resistant to most everything, and they breathe through gills. They are not an insect, but a crustacean. Spraying them with an insecticide won't work. They have a shell. I suggest this way to control them ... Dig them out along with their dirt and remove them to another area, such as a compost or trash bag. I waited too long when they were chewing the roots of my Armeria, and the plants died before I knew what hit me. The plants were going downhill so I watered more, and thought I knew what was wrong. ... the plants were too dry!! When I started digging them out, I saw thousands of these pillbugs. I never did plant anything else in that area. They are searching for water and dampness, so if you give them more water, they'll have an easier way to survive!!

Karin ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

They typically eat decaying things not living plants...in the case of them eating the armeria roots, I suspect the armeria had probably got too wet and the roots were rotting and it was the overwatering/root rot that killed them, then the pillbugs moved in to munch on the already rotting roots. With the strawberries I'm not sure what's going on--when you say you've "seen them in action", what exactly did you see? I'd suspect that there's decaying material around which has attracted them but that it was something else chewing the holes in the leaves. My first suspect would be slugs/snails--I remember we had a strawberry patch when I was growing up and those were the #1 pest problem with them.

Tropics4me, I don't know if this will help you, but the comercial growers grow them in plastic covered rows to keep the berries clean and off the soil. While it's true that pill bugs don't eat growing plants, they don't seem to know the difference between decaying matter and soft fruit. Strawberry plants, especially if they are older plants, provide a good environment for them. My only suggestion would be to keep the surface of the soil dry and keep any old leaves pulled off. I gave up on the ones I had growing in a large container because of them. If they are in the ground, plant in high rows with either plastic or thick mulch, and water from a trench, so the plants stay dry and clean.
Carol

http://www.planetnatural.com/cgi-bin/planetnatural/lawn-garden-spray

In addition to the heavy mulch (I use pine straw) to keep the fruit off the ground, You might try using sevin dust at the base of the strawberry plants - under the mulch, where the pillbugs congregate. It is true that they are not insects, but this insecticide works on them. I have had to resort to this in the past.

I'm having this same problem in my compost bin which is teeming with pillbugs and baby snails. I also have a bell pepper plant in a container that was filled half with potting mix and covered with a thick layer of leaves as a mulch. The compost bin is mostly damp decomp leaves too so I'm getting this damp leaves theme. I could repot the bell pepper in some coco coir, but I've had it 2 years now and this is 1st time it's LOADED with bell peppers! Don't wanna mess that up, but if I don't do something snails n oillbugs will destroy the crop. HELP!!

I wouldn't worry about the pillbugs, they feed on decaying stuff which is why you're finding them in your compost. They typically don't eat living plants. If you're seeing damage on your plants it's from the snails or from something else you haven't spotted yet. For the snails, you can use something like Sluggo with iron phosphate as the active (make sure to avoid snail products with metaldehyde as the active...especially if you have pets), or you can put copper barriers around your plants. I think diatomaceous earth around the plants may work for them too but you'll probably have to reapply after rain.

Hi gymgirl! Well, as you know, our pillbugs feed on the base of plants too. Maybe they just aren't as smart as pillbugs living elsewhere. I'd fire up the compost, maybe by turning it and adding some stuff to get it heated up. That should take care of much of your problem in the future. For now, I'd remove those leaves that hide all of those critters. Ground up leaves are OK, but those whole leaves are great hidey holes. I use pinestraw and keep it away from the base of the plants. I agree with ecrane - use iron phosphate to kill off the snails. But for the pillbugs - again, Sevin dust just at the base of the plant, not on it. Wipes out those pillbugs, and isn't a long lasting pesticide. OK to use in veggie gardens too.

Thanks Ceejay! I truly want to harvest all those bell peppers. I'll keep yah posted!

We had a lot of "rolly pollies" in Alabama and I found that dusting sulfur around the base of the plant helped kill them and keep them away. I would regularly go out at night with my headlight and tin can of salt to collect any slugs, and that is when I found the pill bugs eating the pansies, lettuce plants and seedlings. I guess ours also were not smart enough to only eat decaying matter.

Gymgirl - I have a heavy infestation here this year! They have destroyed almost all of my WS seedlings and transplants. It's like my mulching has made everything worse! I am now scrambling to get my veggies established, and re-seed my flowers. I just bought a Sluggo type product where iron phosphate is the main ingredient and will be applying that to my plant areas today.
ecrane3 - sorry to burst your bubble, but they DO NOT limit themselves to dead material.

I heard the other day that cutting a potato in thirds and putting it in the ground skewered on a stick works. You put the potato in the bed with the problem a little ways away from the plants and the bugs are attracted to it as it rots. In a week you can pull it up and scrape all the bad bugs into the compost or trash. Not sure if it really works, but it sounds interesting.

I don't think that the iron phosphate is supposed to work on pillbugs - it's for snails and slugs. But please let us know if you have success with it!

Sluggo Pluss II is iron phosphate, and so I thought I'd try it since I couldn't find the sluggo P, I have no slugs or snails so I hope I didn't throw the money away. I have tried coffee grounds and can't say that it has done anything. My garden is way to big to try manual removal or egg shells. Keep your fingers crossed for me. I did have about 20% of my potatoes lost to pill bugs last year, but they were not rotting.

oh my god! Here i was giving these little buggers a pass and now i see them eating my hollyhocks in the light of the day! I've got a huge population this year and they are going nuts on all the new growth. I've been blaming my strawberry problem on the slugs and snails for years. Bah! They are taking out some of the seedlings too - (tears)! I thought the sluggo just wasn't working but the earwigs and pill bugs are the real culprit. I've been using cinnamon essential oil mixed with a little Dr. bronners on my newly planted seedlings and on the soil just around the base to repel the slugs and snails until they are big enough to handle a few chomps. This is working!!! However, it doesn't work on the pill bugs. I've been adamantly opposed to sluggo plus but now i think i see this may be necessary. What do you all think is less likely to harm beneficials? DE or Sluggo plus?

Also, i hesitate to use DE because i have a one year old who loves to help me garden, weeding my newly planted sunflower seedlings right out, disbudding any flower within reach, and sowing some pretty far flung carrots and things. He's really quite a help and loves it ; ) lol! This makes beer/oil traps and or collars for seedlings also not particularly effective as they attract the baby first, ew! Again, what do you think? Spinosad (Sluggo Plus) or DE whats better for the bees? Does this count as highjacking a thread?

Earwigs will sometimes gather under and around old fruit slices put in the garden. You can go out at night and collect them (drop them in a coffee can of old vegetable oil.)

For me, DE has not been very effective when pill bugs are a problem. Little guineas and chicks are quite effective however - they gobble them up LOL!
We use a spinosad product called "Come and Get It" for fire ants and it doesn't seem to have affected the bees since we spread it on the ground (it is a bait for the ants.)

Interesting!

Sluggo and Sluggo Plus - two similar, but different products is the safe organic answer to snails, slugs, and pillbugs among a few others listed. I recommend buying it 5-10 pound bottles as it is much cheaper per pound and does not go bad. I first purchased a 20 bag of Sluggo many years ago and it lasted me almost 4 years with regular heavy applications.

The best product for snails and slugs ONLY is Sluggo - it contains Iron Phosphate. This is usually quite a bit cheaper than the Plus.

If you have Hostas, Marigolds and other favored plants of snails and slugs and no pillbug problem, you need this product. It is very safe, and although I don't recommend eating it, it is safe/non-toxic even if accidentally consumed by people or pets. You would have to ingest a lot to even notice any effects.

The better product for both snails/slugs and pillbugs, and a couple others listed is Sluggo Plus. It contains iron phosphate and Spinosad, both naturally occurring soil ingredients much more concentrated in bait pellets that attract the problem pests and do them in. At least on snails/slugs the iron phosphate disrupts the digestive tract of them and they quit feeding and die over a 2-3 day period from lack of food.

The Spinosad in Sluggo Plus will take out the pillbugs and a few other bugs in similar fashion.

I recommend this product VERY HIGHLY as a must have, can't do with out this gardening aid. My Hostas would be non-existent! I have been using it for over 6 plus years and it has taken care of all my snail/slug problems above. With the Plus, it now controls my pillbug problem as well.

Broadcast tips - Wet down the areas to be treated to draw out the pests in the evening. For your first time use broadcast liberally, then reapply a light dose about 5 days later. Treat again two weeks after the second application to break the egg to adult cycle. Thereafter, an occasional light broadcast every 3-4 weeks or if you see a problem. Don't forget to throw some over your neighbors fence or nearby beds to keep a barrier defense in place.........

Thx !