Hello!

My wife and I just put in a ton of hardwork getting our gardens renewed, only to find something has immediately started to eat the seedlings we planted.

Can anyone help us identify this plant eater? Looks like a tiny isopod/pillbug to me.

We live in southern Ontario, Canada.

    • essteeyou@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      9
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      1 month ago

      I dig holes around my plants and sink plastic cups into the holes, leaving the rims at ground level. Woodlice fall into the cups, and then I can give them to my chickens. It doesn’t catch them all, but it seems to give my plants a fighting chance.

      • verity_kindle@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        4
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        1 month ago

        My chickens won’t touch them , but will greedily eat all other garden dwellers, caterpillars, grubs, etc. 1/10, defective hens, should I turn them into tendies?

  • Jtee@lemmy.worldOP
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    12
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    edit-2
    1 month ago

    Here’s a close up ( if there’s a better community to ask, please let me know!)

  • TammyTobacco@lemmy.ml
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    10
    arrow-down
    2
    ·
    1 month ago

    Throw some diatomaceous earth on your plants and it’ll kill the roly polys on your plants.

    • essteeyou@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      11
      ·
      1 month ago

      DE will also kill ants, spiders, ladybugs, worms, and other bugs that may be beneficial to your plants. I use it very sparingly.

  • Kuvwert@lemm.ee
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    8
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    1 month ago

    That’s a Rollie Pollie Ollie! Dunno what anyone else calls it though. My mom used to put Diatomaceous Power at the base of the plant to keep them safe from these guys, squash bugs, and other hungry little pests

    • Jtee@lemmy.worldOP
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      1 month ago

      I’ve heard them called that before! I’ll be purchasing some Diatomaceous earth today.

  • evasive_chimpanzee@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    6
    ·
    1 month ago

    Definitely a pillbug/isopod of some sort. Usually, they eat dead plants, at least in my experience. Is it for sure eating, or is it just crawling on there? The way a whole chunk of the leaf is missing is similar to the damage you see from slugs.

    • Jtee@lemmy.worldOP
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      2
      ·
      1 month ago

      We thought it was slugs at first but made some beers traps and got nothing.

      Came out at night and I watched this guy chomp down for ~3 mins before I scooped him up and sent him on his way.

      I’ll be purchasing some Diatomaceous earth today.