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- To: b*@micron.net
- Subject: Re: mulching:(Sow Bugs and other miseries)
- From: M* <M*@aol.com>
- Date: Fri, 3 Apr 1998 23:20:17 EST
In a message dated 3/27/98 9:15:30 AM Pacific Standard Time, bmprc@micron.net writes: << I plant directly into the soil of my (unheated)greenhouse.(Recognize that this provides an ideal evironment for them and their breeding..)This and every year the tender young seedlings are "grazed"on by them.Needless to say convincing others who have never witnessed this behaviour is very difficult.I seldom try anymore. >> Hi, when I first moved into this house about 6 years ago, I began growing veggies where none had been grown perhaps ever before. I planted some bush bean seeds. The pill bugs were horrific. I had never seen anything like it before. They were so numerous they appeared to be a writhing gray mass on the cotyledons of the beans as they broke the soil surface as they ate them to the ground. I had to start trapping them in home-made gizmos. The best were sinking clear plastic cups flush with the soil surface and 'baiting' with watermelon rind. They would go in, and not be able to crawl out. The other effective means was to put out fresh, moist sweetcorn cobs which they clung to, and go out in the morning and shake the 'bugs' off into a container. Thank goodness time and ecological balance have returned the pill bugs to a more normal numbers. Janet.
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