I would imagine that the best biological control would be diatomaceous earth to control the pillbugs. You also mention earwigs and slugs, so it looks like you must have a lot of decaying organic matter in the garden. These are all creatures that love moisture.
Bill

Do you have ground cover plants in this bed? I ask because the year I had the most trouble with sowbugs, I had been letting a little 2" spreading sedum have its own way winding through perennials and the sowbugs found it a great, moist place to hide. I pulled it up and haven't had a problem again.

They like dark, moist, and will damage seedlings and new growth when found in large numbers....they can be a mess in a greenhouse. There is a sowbug bait available (looks much like a powder type slug bait)...the one I used to have was labeled sowbug, cutworm bait and I think the brand was Lilly Miller but its been some years. Corry's also makes one for use in vegetable gardens with a picture of sowbugs on the box but I can't recall the name of the product...not that being targeted for vegetables would necessarily make it any less toxic, there could be timing of harvest guidelines there that I don't remember.

Bill, I'm a great believer in mulching, so I do tend to have ongoing battles with earwigs and slugs. Strangely enough, I'm having the sowbug problems where I have or had relatively little mulch, almost no earwigs and so far, not a slug to be seen. We did have an unusually mild winter and wet spring, which does tend to encourage these kinds of beasties.

I always hope for a good week of really hard cold in the winter. It makes my life easier come spring, but in recent years we often don't get it.

I do have some ground cover there, but not very much. In the back, where conditions are cooler and moister and where the mulch is thicker and groundcovers numerous, I have no problems. Go figure.

Anyway, thanks for the advice. I'll go out and get some diatomaceous earth and/or some sowbug killer, if it isn't some nasty kind of poison.

Janet's Garden

Can anyone here tell me for sure that pillbugs and sowbugs cause any plant damage? I have loads of them because I always have decaying organic matter in the garden. I've just never noticed them munching on live plant material. Thanks.

Tina, I think that in most cases they are harmless. But I have caught them munching on my plants. I'm more inclined now to think earwigs are the main culprits. I'd gone out several times at night and not seen them, but the other night I found swarms of them on my lamb's ear, so I guess there's more of them around than I thought.

In the meanwhile, I've been told that dry cornmeal put in a homemade trap to keep it dry, is effective against sowbugs.

Janet's Garden

Hundreds of the little buggers make themselves at home in my garden. I've often thought that they have a symbiotic relationship with a nasty morning glory type weed that requires my attention. Maybe I should leave some for the sowbugs to feast upon, and they'll leave the rest of the garden alone. I do have bergamot growing, and worry now that sowbugs have caused it damage in the past. I just can't envision the fat little buggers climbing up the stems. Are they nocturnal feeders?

Sowbugs and pillbugs feed on decaying organic matter and are no threat to your plants. I would suspect slugs and earwigs are more likely to be causing damage.

Here is a link that might be useful: Sowbugs

I have seen Internet info that says pillbugs don't harm plants. Wish they would come watch them eat my radishes.

I have esp. had problems with cucumber seedlings getting clipped by them. It looks a little different from slug damage. I start cukes indoors now and they don't bother the older plants so bad. I have put old strawberry baskets over seedlings until they grow out of them and had success with that. I have problems with my beans too.

I just put on some diatomaceous earth around the bean and cuke seedlings and the radishes and it seems to be helping quite a bit.

I suspect that my compost may be attracting them. Maybe it could be better finished before I put it on the garden.

More often than not when people see Sowbugs, Pill Bugs, Wood Lice, or what ever else you might call these wee cousing of lobsters and crawfish, they are there cleaning up after something else did the damage, they seldom actually do any damage to living plants, even though many people have "seen it with their own eyes". Since these wee critters need a cool, moist environment to live in a well mulched garden is an ideal habitat, where they live happily and content on decaying vegetative waste, going around cleaning up your garden of dead plant tissue for you.
I would look someplace else for the real problem.

Pillbugs, sow bugs, roly polys.. the bane of my garden existence!! My place is crawling with them.. mulch or no mulch. Rain or drought unending. I have but to scratch bare earth and they come pouring out!
And they do eat live healthy plants!! They are going after my beautiful chard at the moment and last year they would put a hole into a tomato in all crawl inside and eat it from the inside out!! I would go to slice it and out would tumble pillbugs onto the cutting board.
I know of nothing that even slows them down. Last year I sprinkled, then dumped, bags of DE in my garden only to have them burrow under it and sleep. Same for wood ashes!
There are just some yards that have more than their fair share of pillbugs!

Don't listen to anyone saying they don't eat healthy plants. They are the only bug I've seen in my flower garden that eats my plants besides the occasional caterpillar. They love celosia and will eat every leaf and leave the rest. They are also eating my impatiens and my coleus. Diatomaceous earth is good for all bugs with an exoskeleton. It's like fine glass and destroys their joints. I'm putting some on the garden tomorrow. Good luck!

Pillbugs / rolly pollys decimated my peas and tender sprouts for two years. Contrary to the naysayers, it WAS pillbugs because I caught them in the act every night and early morning. I tried diatomaceous earth (they crawled right through it), cardboard rings around sprouts (they dug under them), rolled up wet newspaper (didn’t catch enough), oil/soy sauce/beer/you-name-it traps (didn’t catch enough). I honestly considered giving up planting the tender stuff.

After two years of failure, in year 3, I have organically won the battle with the pillbugs in my garden!! I am so elated I’m posting this on every pillbug garden thread I can find! This battle takes commitment. I recommend prepping your garden beds, and a week before setting out plants, go to war. (Or plant your seeds and immediately go to war!) Wet down the soil and about every 2 feet, place pieces of citrus peel (grapefruit or orange), or you can just cut up the fruit. Wait until it’s been dark a few hours. Bring a bucket of soapy water and a headlamp or flashlight with you. CAREFULLY pick up each piece of peel and shake it over the bucket. Tap it to make sure all bugs fall off. The tiny ones really dig in and hang on! There will also be many that stayed in the dirt where the fruit was. Quickly scoop them up and dump them in the bucket too. The first night I did this, I filled my bucket to a 1/2” deep of bugs! Just left them there overnight until they were dead, and dumped everything back in the dirt away from the garden. I kept this up every night for a week, and now just check about once a week. I rarely find large ones anymore, just the teeny tiny ones. I have raised beds and the bugs hide along the edges during the day. I keep pieces of peel around the inside edges and if they are going to eat, they choose the fruit over the sprouts. You’ll need to replace the peels when they begin to dry out.

Pillbugs are communal. I noticed pencil eraser sized holes around the edges against the wood. After digging, dozens big and small came out of the spot. If you notice these holes, place peel near them and the bugs won’t wander so far to eat (and potentially happen upon your plants).

My peas and lettuces are growing beautifully and barely a nibble has been taken out of them!

Lastly, I’ve read of many people that hand pick and throw the pillbugs into the compost heap. I would NEVER do this! It’s basically giving them a buffet to breed in. When you add that compost to your garden, you’re inadvertently adding these pests back in. Happy growing!