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Rollie pollie bug problem

BL4ZE20

Member
Hey guys I put out two nlxak47 plants and i've been having some problems with rollie pollies. One of my plants was a small clone about 5 inches tall and when I checked on it one day it looked bad (all the lower leaves discolored and falling off) and I noticed rollie pollies crawling all around the stem and out of the soil. My other plant is a bit bigger about 1.5f and when I checked on her I noticed rollie pollies crawling out of the soil also, especially if i moved the main stem around more would come crawling out. I've been trying to use Diatomaceous earth whenever I check on them but the rain just washes it away so it's not effective for very long. I'm mainly worried about my biggest girl cause it seems the smallest one has quit growing she's been out for about a month and hasn't grown at all. I'm not sure what rollie pollies even do to cannabis plants but i'm guessing whatever damage they do is what stopped my one plant from growing.

So i'm looking for some other options on how to treat this problem?
 
from what I know, "rollie pollies" mainly eat decaying plant matter. You might see growth slowed, yellowing leaves, etc. from too much rain or cold temps- might not be the bugs, consider all the factors.
that said, if you want to kill bugs fast theirs plenty of nasty chemical products for that purpose at most hardware stores- as a last resort.
But I doubt its the pollies fault.
good luck.
 
G

Guest

I know it sounds strange, but ive lost 2 plants to rollypolly's this year. Or at least i had a healthy plant one day, then i start seeing dozens of rollypollys comming out from around the root area, the plant began to yellow and when it died all the roots were gone.

Its a first for me but appears to be very true.
 
Could it be that the roots began rotting before the rollie pollies showed up? Iv'e had plants get swamped out/ rot away at the base, the roots won't grow into saturated soil with a lack of O2.
The rollies need moist places to live and if they are living around the base of your stems- it might be too favorable an environment for them and also be causing the primary problem- root rot.
I see rollie pollies as kinda like carpenter ants, they usually only eat wood that is already beginning to rot, and rollies generally go for rotting plant material but with a high enough population I could see how they could do some damage- but again its the environment that favors high numbers.
 
On a side note, for all those interested check out the Organic Pest Control sticky before you follow my advice on using chemical pesticides- like I said: last resort.

Peace.
 

Mr. Stinky

Member
pillbugs, sowbugs, armadillo bugs, rollie pollies. they dont eat the plants. if you have them and your plants are dying, its not their fault... they are cleaning up your mess :smoke: sowbugs have the same effect in a garden as do redworms. they eat decaying plant matter, and they poop fertilizer. they also drive away other less favorable bugs. just like lady bugs, lacewings, redworms etc, you want to keep your rollie pollies around.
 
G

Guest

That's pretty much what i have believed for years Mr. Stinky, and to my knowledge this is the only incident in nearly 40 yrs of outdoor growing that would indicate anything different. But.....

I make my own soil additive out of compost/peat and a dozen microelement ingredients. When i go to cut my plant for the season, i take 3 gallons of the mixture and work it into the spot after ive cut the plant so as to prepare for next year.. After years of doing that in the same spots, the soil is very rich.

I had one spot where i grow a couple of big plants that i didnt get to prepare last fall, so about 2 weeks before planting, i mixed in 3 gallons of the additive. I noticed it full of rolliepollies but didn't think it a problem. The 6" seedlings i planted grew well for a few weeks but i kept noticing more and more rollie pollies and then, when they began comming up right where the stem is, the plants began to yellow and die. When i opened the hole, there were thousands of pollies. I shoveled out 2 shovels full of dirt and replaced it with carried in soil and a new plant and the plant is now waist high. The other plant had a similar story. Only the 2 plants planted with compost full of pollies did my plants die and after the pollies were gone, the plant is growing fine.

I don't know what to think.

Im gonna check out your input climbinghigh
 

SantaCruzNtrls

New member
For all of you out there arguing that sow bugs don't eat cannabis, you're wrong. We have a large greenhouse that is being overtaken by sow bugs which are eating the stalks of our plants and potentially devastating our crop.

Our treatment plan: Shop-Vac as many of the little bastards as possible. Spray stalks and soil with Fight-All from Vital Earth, then apply Slugo PLUS to the entire surface area of the soil.
 

P-NUT

Active member
Veteran
I had a problem indoors from pill bugs getting into my lower buds a few rounds ago. They where eating my lower popcorn buds and dying in them. Never seen anything like it before. The following round half my cuts mysteriously died within a week of transplanting. I found pill bugs eating the stem. My solution that seems to have worked so far is putting mulch down. I put all my leaves and stems from trimming back as a mulch and they seem to eat that. I also put a toad in each 30 gallon pot and some green anoles i caught in the room as an extra precaution. So far no more roly polies in my bottom buds. I think i bred them in my worm bins because i put some pieces of oak bark on top to hold moisture.
 

Dday391

Member
I had cups with seedlings and fresh soil. I thought it was slugs but couldn't find any, there were thousands of the sow bugs everywhere in the soil the cups were sitting on I didn't think it would be a problem. They ate the stems of ask of them. I thought they weren't harmful to living plants but i was either wrong in that or i didn't see what was really eating them. I'm pretty confident it was them though. Diatomaceous earth worked at first but it rained every other day so they just came right back.
 

Coughie

Member
Sluggo Plus.

It's Iron Phosphate + spinosad, and they are definitely attracted to it. Worked for me.

Make sure its Plus though, mentions pill bugs and sowbugs right in the label and its OMRI certified.

They were eating my plants and I found them dead in my flowers as well.
 

P-NUT

Active member
Veteran
If you wanna trap some off then put some rotting vegetables down and they will be all over it. Or mulch heavily and they will leave the plants alone usually. Oak leaves work well.
 
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