permaculture

["Kate Halstead" <rockyprairie@earthlink.net>]

>From my experience here on the wet west side of Washington state, if the sow
bugs are in the strawberries already, there's not much you can do to save
this year's crop. You could try to spread some straw or alfalfa mulch around
the plants and under the berries to make things a little more inhospitable
for the sow bugs to climb from the moist organic-enriched soil onto the
berries, but I doubt that would be too effective at this late date. You can
also try hand-picking at night when they are most active, but I'm guessing
you have enough berries to make that a daunting task at best. If you do try
this, chuck the bugs in a bucket of soapy water. You might try discovering
if there is some type of bait you could put in the rows the bugs would love
more than your berries--rotten fruit, banana peels, etc. Then you would have
a little easier time collecting them at night.

Sow bugs love organic material. I'm guessing you probably amended your berry
soil with an abundance of compost this spring. I learned the hard way that
you can overdo things.

I started a new garden in prime glacial till (read "gravel with bits of
soil" here) several years back. I had purchased several yards of good
compost to start the improvement process. Around the perimeter, I dug holes
a few feet apart, amended heavily with compost, and planted squash seeds.
They came up only to be promptly eaten off. I thought slugs were the
culprit, baited and replanted. Same result.

Finally, I discovered the sow bugs were coming out at night and literally
devouring the tender seedlings. I know all the books say they don't eat
plants, my experience (and obviously yours) tell a different story. I tried
a heavy dose of pyrethrum dust, didn't seem to phase them a bit. After three
plantings, I finally bought plants that were past the tender stage and those
survived. Too tough to eat I guess. The next year I had no problems, but
when I added compost, I reduced the amount, dug it in well, and did it long
before planting time to give it a chance to break down. Did not have the
problem again.

Another thing to note--the rest of the garden was put in with transplants I
had started, they had the same overabundance of compost, but no sow bug
issues. They seem to be very picky--it has to be very tender growth or they
don't bother. Unfortunately your berries are right up their alley.

Chickens and other birds don't do an effective job (I had free-range
chickens that had access to these areas) with sow bugs after the fact,
mostly because the bugs are generally out at night and the chickens are not.
If the birds had access to the area long before harvest time, they would
probably help reduce the populations, but at this late date they would love
your strawberries much more than the sow bugs.

Sorry to not be too encouraging. Most likely they won't be near the problem
next year unless you overdo with organic materials in your berry beds.

Kate
Tualco Valley, zone 7
Washington State


-----Original Message-----
From: permaculture-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org
[mailto:permaculture-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of Douglas Cooper
Sent: Saturday, June 11, 2005 5:44 PM
To: permaculture
Subject: [permaculture] Sow bugs eating the strawberries

Hello
I live on the Canadian west coast. Sow bugs are eating up ALL our
strawberries. I am not allowed to have chickens or other birds of that type
on the property. Any sugestions on how to control them would be most
appreciated.

Doug Cooper
Powell River BC


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