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WOOD LICE

potting shedpotting shed Posts: 14
in Problem solving

how can I rid my strawberry patch of wood lice ( bakers )

every time I pick my strawberries they have been nibbled by the pesky pests. I have tried ant powder no good. wasp nest powder again no use. this year wood lice seem everywhere and so are their mates.

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  • BobFlannigonBobFlannigon Posts: 619

    I usually pick them out of my greenhouse by hand, you might be able to reduce their numbers that way.

    I'm not sure what else to suggest really, your options are fairly limited; either take away the food source (i.e. move the strawberry plants) or hire a shrew and his frog buddy to do a few days' labour in exchange for some free food. 

  • nutcutletnutcutlet Posts: 27,445

    I doubt if the woodlice are eating the strawbs, usually slugs doing that.

    They aren't insects so maybe those insect killers you're using aren't going to help.

    They won't help the environment either and I wouldn't want to eat the strawbs afterwards



    In the sticks near Peterborough
  • potting shedpotting shed Posts: 14

    they are wood lice when I pick up a strawberry they are all in the holes chewed in every fruit. I have never had this before but this season they are all in and on my fruits

  • potting shedpotting shed Posts: 14

    I do not use  pesticides as a rule, my main thing are beer traps around.

  • WateryWatery Posts: 388

    I know some people don't believe woodlice eat strawberries, but I too have seen them inside the holes.  I don't know if something else makes the holes and the woodlice crawl inside to finish or if they start them. 

  • Pete.8Pete.8 Posts: 11,340

    I'm with nut.
    It'll be slugs that cause the damage and the wood lice are just opportunistic.
    Stop the slugs and the wood lice won't be interested


    Billericay - Essex

    Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
    Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    Watery says:

    I know some people don't believe woodlice eat strawberries, but I too have seen them inside the holes.  I don't know if something else makes the holes and the woodlice crawl inside to finish or if they start them. 

    See original post

     That's exactly what happens ... they don't have chewing biting mouthparts so they can't bite into a fruit, but once the surface has been breached they can give the inside flesh a good suck.

    Get rid of the slugs and the woodlice will be stymied.  


    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • ryderclannryderclann Posts: 1
    It is pure B.S saying woodlice won't attack, strawberries, we have zillions in our strawberry patch and they are causing devastation, I see them at it all the time. They just ate through a cucumber plant and that's dead. I just got woodlice powder, so it's war on them. Does anyone know if I can eat my strawberries by just washing them, it's impossible not to get pwd on the fruit.
  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    ryderclann said:
    They just ate through a cucumber plant and that's dead. 
    It's dead. Exactly. That's what woodlice do - they eat dead stuff, or stuff that's already damaged.  :)
    I think if you read the above posts, you'll see the advice. 
    Up to you whether you eat them or not. 
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    Would i eat insecticide? No way ... not even sprinkled on strawberries or cucumbers. 🤑☠️

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





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