Last Updated on April 12, 2022 by Real Men Sow
Just as I was going to harvest my ripe strawberries, I found a big hole on the underside of the fruit. On closer inspection, I’m finding the hole frequented by scores of hungry woodlice. At first, I wasn’t too concerned, but over the last couple of days, it has got beyond the joke. I’ve managed to get rid of the woodlice to just four ripe strawberries out of dozens of the fruits.
Getting Rif Of Woodlice Or Other Pests
Although I’m devoting this post to woodlice, caterpillars and slugs are also very annoying creatures to have around. Caterpillars tend to eat up my precious kales, so removing caterpillars in my garden has been another task on its own. Keeping slugs away from my plants has been a hard but common task to do. However, one occasion has taken me by surprise. You assume you’ll only lose some salad leaves to the slimies, but I certainly didn’t think I’d be racing the woodlice population to my newly ripening strawberries.
Easy Advice to Keep Woodlice Away
Since I began growing my own veg, I’m come to terms with a few things, especially where pests are concerned. Slugs eat lettuces for example. It’s just something that happens, and gradually I’ve realised that the only way to get close to combatting their prolific munching nature is to sow so many seeds that there is enough harvest for the both of you.
How to Get Rid of Woodlice Eating Strawberries
I was at a complete loss as to what to do. I did some googling, and the best suggestion I could find was ‘grow your strawberries in hanging baskets’. That’s a lot of hanging baskets…
Nothing on the Internet seemed conclusive. Other suggestions included keeping things tidy. Woodlice like dark, damp places, so cutting off dead leaves and removing anything nearby that they can hide and shelter under is said to be very important.
Do Woodlice Eat Wood?
It dawned on me. As the old saying goes, the clue is in the name! Back when I was creating my strawberry patch, I had a brief moment of attempted artiness. I’d rescued some nice old bits of sleeper and planted my strawberry plants around the sleepers.
Woodlice Attracting Wood
Sleepers, which of course, are made of wood – which woodlice not only eat but hide and shelter in. Right there in amongst my prized strawberries are two big, woodlice-attracting lumps of wood. It’s like a woodlice paradise. Why wouldn’t they want to live there? It is really time, to get rid of woodlice, once and for all!
How to Get Rid of Pests?
The plot then thickened further. There is also a school of thought that a woodlouse’s teeth aren’t strong enough to chomp into fruit and vegetables, and instead, they are opportunistically finishing off what a slug or snail has started. Again, this makes sense. My garden is full of slugs and snails, and they’re not just interested in lettuce. Plenty of them gravitate towards my strawberry patch, and a quick rummage around the plants will find them hiding out there.
Keep Woodlice and Slugs Away From Strawberries
All of which leaves me two things to try, starting with extra night-time slug patrols. If the tooth theory is true then the little woodlice aren’t actually going to cause me any problems, and flinging as many slugs into the green bin will save strawberries.
But just in case, I’ve dispensed with the sleepers, and with them literally hundreds of woodlice. The sleepers were brimming with the things, and I’d venture that their mouths were smeared a strawberry shade of red.
So for now, its watch this space as to whether the strawberries are saved, or my rescue attempt has come too late. I’ll report back if any difference is made, but if anyone else out there has any other ideas, this desperate allotmenteerist would love to hear them!
Pigeons are eating mine, along with the dwarf beans, and digging up my pea plants. Also something has decimated my cut and come again lettuce, not sure what this is. If all the animals could input into my money saving spreadsheet that would be good!
I’ve occasionally had those kind of holes in my strawberries and it is usually slugs. I try and remove dead leaves etc so they have less places to hide.
As for the woodlice, sounds like they are opportunists. It will be interesting to see if things change now you have removed the sleepers. Do keep us informed.
do what i do. i put out a bowl of cat biscuits. they prefer chomping through those to my plants!
There’s a rat eating mine!
I’ve had problems with woodlice eating strawberries. Interestingly, we haven’t bothered with straw or matts this year as the soil is dry and my feeling is that fewer fruits have been nibbled.
My strawberry plants are in a hanging basket (plastic) and the woodlice are eating the fruits just as they ripen.
I have only just found your site, and I would like to offer my tale of woe. This is the first year I have ever had a problem with woodlice eating my strawberries but there are hundreds of them and they’ve got a taste for my strawberries. I don’t understand it maybe it’s a collective conscience thing or something. Anyway great post.
Same thing going on on my plot – I have two raised beds of strawberries – pigeons pull the unripe berries off the plants, slugs and woodlice share the hole-munching duties…was trying to see if i could find any evidence of whether or not slaters do eat the berries or just hide out in them….