A lot of woodlouse in my compost. Should I try and get rid of them before putting this compost in my planters?
by Triingtolivee
A lot of woodlouse in my compost. Should I try and get rid of them before putting this compost in my planters?
by Triingtolivee
6 Comments
Also, I understand these are essential for breaking down organic matter. I just wasn’t sure if they would affect or eat my roots when I use these in my planters for the garden this year. Just an excessive amount and I wasn’t sure if that was good or bad. My thinking is I may just let the birds eat what they can for a week or so and let it sit before transferring to my garden.
Fun fact though: They are not insects but are related to crabs and lobsters.
Depending on the type some roly polies (woodlouse/pillbugs) will nibble on live plants, once you start moving it into your planters and messing around in it, that usually makes them skeddadle.
They only occasionally eat seedlings and only when their preferred food sources are unavailable – decaying organic matter. They will only be a problem if you carefully pick thousands of them out of the compost and discarded the compost and put the bugs in your garden.
Their diet is actually rather similar to crabs and shrimp, their relatives. And there are huge isopods in the deep ocean. They all eat material that is low density of calories but they make it work
Also, not sure why the downvotes for asking a question
I wouldn’t be concerned, except that they could be an indicator that there’s a lot of woody bits in the compost which could mean that the compost isn’t completely ready yet/is very woody. I might do a few tests if I had have some ready plants.
I’d do my best to remove most of them before applying to veg beds.
They do seem to love my sunflower and melon seedlings. Last year I found a lot of them crowded around decapitated seedlings haha.