Wood Lice

[Geoff]

What do you know about Wood Lice?
I always thought they were harmless to living plants and were only interested in the decaying but recently I have been less convinced.
In my propagating shed I had some nicely germinated Basil that I was about to move to a better situation when it was mown off. I was convinced it was a slug or a snail but couldn't find anything except Wood Lice.
Outside on an old wooden picnic table I have similarly lost some Pentland Brig, again only wood lice not slugs to be found.
Can they remove quite large seedlings like these or is it that I'm just not finding the real culprits?
If it is them how can I kill them?
I've searched RHS to no avail.

[Geoff]

Just as an afterthought used Google and came up with an RHS link that their own search routine didn't find.

http://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profiles0202/woodlice.asp

This talks about seedling damage as a possibility but not likely to be serious so I'm still interested in your thoughts on them.

[Johnboy]

Hi Geoff,
Over the years I feel that damage caused to plants by Woodlice has been quite considerable. They are night feeders and can attack plants right at ground level. These have been first year shrub cuttings and when they have been cleared from the area no more damage seems to occur so can only assume that they were the culprits.

[Jenny Green]

I agree that woodlice are responsible for far more damage than they're blamed for. In my greenhouse they'll always go straight for the vines of climbing french beans and melons, nibbling through the stalks at ground level. They also attacked the watermelons I tried growing a few years ago, even eating the leaves at ground level.
I protect the melons by growing them in pots with the bottoms cut out, put directly onto the border soil. The woodlice can't scale the slippery sides (though then the pots are susceptible to getting ants' nests in them). For the French beans I've been putting woodash right around the stems. This is effective (the woodlice can't cope with the powdery effect) but of course you have to water, which means the ash gets wet and you have to reapply. The problem was so bad this year I've decided to use the pot method for my beans next year.

[Johnboy]

Hi Jenny,
First we have Screaming Frogs and now it's going to be coughing Woodlice!!

[Geoff]

We all seem to be convinced they are enemies, JB talks about clearing them from an area, anybody got a how? I'm not organic but I don't want anything particularly nasty.

[richard p]

do chickens eat them? they are hard to squash cos they roll into little balls, a real infestation can be scooped up with a trowel and dumped in a bucket of water.

[pillbug]

I have woodlouse problem,I have tried the organic keep areas clear bit,but then you put a pot outside and after a few days they`ve moved in.I`ve had violas demolished this year and greenhouse cherry toms last year.The one thing that seems to work is ant powder at least on a solid greenhouse floor wih plants in grow bags,at least they hav`n`t infested the bags this year.

[Johnboy]

Hi Geoff,
A piece of bad writing on my behalf as it is the cuttings that get moved not the Woodlice.
Truth to tell the Woodlice are actually quite hard to get rid of but I think if good hygiene is used
the incidence falls dramatically.
It is a this point where I query the over use of mulching. I suppose one way of looking at is that just so long as Woodlice have plenty of decaying matter about they will feed from that and not your plants but I have yet to be fully convinced.
Where do mulching and good plant hygiene sit together
'cos in my book they are directly opposed to each other. I hasten to add that the only mulching that I do regularly is to use Comfrey leaves around my Tomatoes in the greenhouse regularly. This is more of an exercise to keep the weeds down rather than a method of feeding as I feed diluted Comfrey concentrate direct to the plants.

[retropants]

Over the last couple of years, woodlice have decimated our strawberry crop, by eating them hollow. It's not until you pick what you think is a great big fat ripe strawberry, that you find it is hollow, and home to a family of the little blighters. Is there anything we can do this year? They are already present int the strawberry bed, which we will be harvesting very soon. we scoop out the ones we see, but they just roll up and disappear into the soil

[madasafish]

guinea fowl eat insects and not plants.
Are they the answer?