Natural Ways How To Get Rid Of Pill Bugs In Garden

Pill bugs, also known as roly polys or sow bugs, are often found hiding in your garden. What attracts pill bugs to garden beds? They are drawn to places that are dark, damp, and full of decaying plant stuff. They love moisture and protection from the sun. Sometimes they eat dead leaves and things, which helps the garden. But sometimes, they eat living plants, especially young ones or soft fruits. This is when you want to find natural ways to get rid of them. You don’t have to use harsh chemicals. Many simple, earth-friendly steps can help with roly poly control in garden areas. We can explore natural methods to kill pill bugs or, even better, make your garden a place they don’t want to be. This guide will show you how to handle these little critters using organic garden pest control pill bugs methods.

How To Get Rid Of Pill Bugs In Garden
Image Source: growingspaces.com

Getting to Know Pill Bugs and Sow Bugs

Before we talk about getting rid of them, let’s meet these small garden visitors. Pill bugs and sow bugs look much alike. Both are grey, oval-shaped critters with many legs. They are not insects! They are crustaceans, like tiny land-dwelling shrimp.

Pill Bugs (Roly Polys): These are the ones that can roll into a tight little ball when you touch them. Like a tiny armadillo! This is their main defense.
Sow Bugs: These look very similar but have two small tail-like parts at their back end. They cannot roll completely into a ball.

Both types like the same kind of environment. They breathe with gills, which is why they need damp places. They mostly eat dead plants. But if there isn’t enough dead stuff, or if they get too crowded, they might start eating your healthy plants.

Fathoming Why Pill Bugs Show Up

Pill bugs come to your garden for a few simple reasons. They are looking for three main things:

Moisture: They need dampness to live. They cannot live in dry spots.
Food: They seek decaying plant matter, but will eat live plants if hungry or crowded.
Shelter: They hide under rocks, logs, mulch, boards, pots, and thick ground cover. These places keep them safe and moist.

If your garden has lots of wet, shady spots with plenty of hiding places and yummy dead leaves, it’s a perfect home for them. Knowing this helps a lot with preventing pill bug infestation. If you take away what they need, they won’t stay.

What Pill Bugs Do to Your Plants

Usually, pill bugs are helpful clean-up crew members. They break down dead things in the soil. This makes the soil better. But when there are too many of them, or if food is scarce, they can become pests.

Identifying Pill Bug Damage Symptoms on Plants

It’s important to know what their damage looks like. This way, you know for sure they are the problem.

Eating young seedlings: They can chew right through the stems of tiny plants. This makes the plant fall over and die.
Chewing on soft fruits or vegetables: Fruits that touch the ground, like strawberries, melons, or squash, are often targets. They make holes or chew patches on the surface.
Damage to leaves and roots: They can chew on lower leaves or tender root parts that are close to the surface, especially in moist soil.
Ragged holes: The edges of the holes they make might look a bit ragged, not clean-cut like some other pests.

You often see the damage at night because pill bugs are most active when it’s dark and cool. During the day, you’ll find them hiding. If you see damage and then lift a nearby rock or pot and find many pill bugs, they are likely the cause.

Gentle Steps for Organic Garden Pest Control Pill Bugs

The best way to manage pill bugs naturally is to change their home. Make your garden less inviting to them. This is kinder than killing them and works better in the long run for sow bug removal and roly poly control garden efforts.

Modifying the Garden Home

These steps focus on taking away what they need to survive and thrive. This helps a lot with preventing pill bug infestation.

H4: Clearing Out Hiding Spots

Pill bugs love to hide. If you take away their hiding places, they have nowhere to go.

Remove old boards, bricks, or pots: Don’t leave these lying around on the soil surface. They are perfect hideaways.
Trim plants touching the ground: If leaves or branches touch the soil, they create moist, dark spots. Lift them or trim them back.
Clean up garden debris: Remove piles of leaves, dead plants, or weeds. These are both food and shelter for pill bugs. Compost them away from your garden beds.

H4: Letting the Soil Dry Out

Too much wetness is the number one reason pill bugs stick around.

Water in the morning: Water your plants early in the day. This allows the top layer of soil to dry out before night comes, which is when pill bugs are active.
Don’t overwater: Only give your plants the water they need. Soggy soil is a pill bug paradise.
Improve drainage: If your soil stays wet for a long time after watering or rain, it might not drain well. Adding organic matter like compost can help clay soil drain better. Raised beds also help with drainage.

H4: Thinking About Mulch

Mulch is great for keeping soil moist and stopping weeds. But some mulches create the perfect wet, dark spot for pill bugs.

Use coarse mulch: Instead of fine mulch that holds a lot of water, try coarser materials like wood chips or straw.
Apply a thinner layer: Don’t pile mulch too thick around plants. A thin layer (1-2 inches) is often enough.
Keep mulch away from plant stems: Leave a small dry circle of soil around the base of young plants. This protects the most tender part.
Try different mulch types: Pine needles or gravel might be less appealing to pill bugs than wood mulch or straw, though they have other pros and cons.

Catching and Removing Pill Bugs

If changing the environment isn’t enough, or you have a sudden burst of them, you can try to catch them. This is a direct way for sow bug removal and roly poly control garden efforts.

Physical Collection Methods

These methods involve gathering the pill bugs to move them or stop them from reaching plants.

H5: Handpicking

The simplest method is just picking them up.

Go out at night: This is when they are most active. Use a flashlight.
Look under hiding spots: Check under leaves, mulch, or anything lying on the ground near damaged plants.
Collect them: Put them in a bucket. What you do with them next is up to you. You can move them to a compost pile away from the garden (where they can help break down material) or put them in soapy water to kill them.

Handpicking is great for small areas or if you don’t have a huge problem. It’s one of the most direct natural methods to kill pill bugs if you use the soapy water step.

H5: Making Simple Traps

You can use their love for dark, damp places and food against them. Homemade remedies for pill bugs often use this idea.

Melon or Potato Traps:
- Cut a melon rind or half a potato.
- Place the cut side down on the soil near damaged plants in the evening.
- Lift the trap in the morning. Pill bugs will gather underneath.
- Collect the trapped bugs and get rid of them (move or kill).
- Do this for several nights until fewer bugs are found.
Other Food Traps: Grapefruit halves, cabbage leaves, or even a damp rolled-up newspaper can work in the same way. Place, check, and collect.
Beer Traps: Pill bugs, like slugs, are attracted to the smell of yeast.
- Bury a shallow dish or container (like a yogurt cup) in the soil so the rim is level with the ground.
- Pour a small amount of beer into the dish.
- Pill bugs will crawl in and drown.
- Check and empty the traps often.
- You can also use a mix of yeast, sugar, and water if you don’t have beer.

Trapping is an effective physical garden pest control pill bugs method. It helps reduce their numbers without using any sprays or chemicals on your plants.

Creating Natural Walls and Barriers

Some materials are unpleasant for pill bugs to cross. You can use these to protect specific plants or areas.

Physical Barrier Methods

These methods make it hard for pill bugs to reach your plants.

H5: Diatomaceous Earth (DE)

This is a fine powder made from fossilized water creatures.

How it works: On a tiny level, the powder is very sharp. It scratches the outer layer of bugs, causing them to dry out and die.
How to use: Sprinkle a thin line of food-grade DE around the plants you want to protect.
Keep it dry: DE only works when it is dry. You will need to put it out again after rain or watering.
Be careful: While natural, DE can irritate lungs. Wear a mask when applying it. It can also harm beneficial insects, so only use it where needed, not all over the garden. Avoid using it where bees are active.

DE is one of the natural methods to kill pill bugs by drying them out.

H5: Copper Tape

Copper creates a small electric charge that bugs don’t like to cross.

How it works: When a pill bug touches copper, it gets a tiny, harmless shock. They avoid it.
How to use: Place copper tape around the rims of pots or around the edge of raised beds.
Make sure it’s a complete circle: The bugs can just go around if the barrier isn’t continuous.
Check for bridges: Make sure no leaves or mulch create a “bridge” over the tape that the bugs can use to cross.

Copper tape is a good preventing pill bug infestation method for containers or defined beds.

Other Natural Help

Besides changing the home and setting traps, a few other natural options exist.

Natural Sprays and Deterrents

These use common household items or natural substances. They are considered homemade remedies for pill bugs.

H5: Soapy Water Spray

A simple mix of soap and water can harm soft-bodied insects and other pests.

How to make: Mix a few tablespoons of mild liquid soap (like dish soap, but pure castile soap is better for gardens) with a gallon of water.
How to use: Spray directly on the pill bugs you see. This spray must hit the bug to work. It doesn’t stay and keep killing later.
Use with care: This spray can harm plants if used too often or in hot sun. Test on a small part of the plant first. It can also harm helpful insects. It’s best used as a direct hit method on groups of bugs you find.

This is a natural method to kill pill bugs on contact.

H5: Vinegar Spray (Use with Extreme Caution)

Vinegar is acidic and can kill bugs.

How to make: Mix equal parts white vinegar and water.
How to use: Spray directly on the bugs. Like soap, it only works on contact.
Major Caution: Vinegar will kill or harm your plants too! Use this only on paths, patios, or areas where you don’t mind killing plants and weeds. Never spray it on your garden plants.

This is a very risky natural method to kill pill bugs and should only be used in non-plant areas.

H5: Companion Planting (Deterrents)

Some plants might help keep certain pests away. While not a strong method for pill bugs specifically, having a diverse garden helps overall. Strong-smelling herbs like mint or rosemary are sometimes said to deter general pests, though evidence for pill bugs is limited. Focus more on creating a healthy environment they don’t like.

Bringing in Natural Friends

Some creatures in your garden actually like to eat pill bugs. Welcoming these friends can help with garden pest control pill bugs.

Welcoming Predators

Ground Beetles: These helpful bugs hunt and eat many garden pests, including pill bugs.
Spiders: Many spiders are good hunters in the garden.
Toads and Frogs: If you have a damp spot or small pond away from your plants, toads and frogs will eat bugs.
Birds: Some birds will eat pill bugs.

How to help these friends? Avoid using pesticides of any kind. Provide shelter like small piles of rocks or logs away from your plants (ironically, places pill bugs also like, but you want to give predators places too). Have a diverse garden with many different types of plants.

Putting It All Together: The Best Way To Get Rid Of Pill Bugs

So, what is the best way to get rid of pill bugs naturally? It’s usually not just one thing. The most successful approach uses a mix of the methods we talked about. This is the core of effective garden pest control pill bugs.

Combining Natural Strategies

Think of it as layers of protection and action:

Make Your Garden Less Welcoming First (Prevention): This is the most important step. Focus on fixing the damp, dark hiding places.
- Clean up debris.
- Water smart (morning, less often, check drainage).
- Manage mulch.
  This helps with preventing pill bug infestation before it gets bad. This is key for long-term roly poly control garden management.
Catch Them When Numbers Are High (Trapping): If you see a lot of bugs and damage, use traps.
- Put out melon rinds or potato halves overnight.
- Use beer traps.
- Check and empty traps daily.
  This directly reduces the population and is a great sow bug removal tool.
Protect Special Plants (Barriers): Use barriers for very young or valuable plants.
- Sprinkle DE around seedlings (when dry).
- Use copper tape on pots or raised beds.
Deal with Bugs You See (Direct Action): If you spot a group causing trouble, you can handpick them or use a direct spray.
- Handpick at night.
- Use soapy water spray only directly on the bugs, carefully.
Welcome Helpful Creatures: Keep your garden healthy so natural predators can help control pests.

The Focus on Prevention

Notice that most of the steps are about changing the environment. This is because pill bugs are there because they like the conditions. Killing them only works for a short time if the conditions stay the same. More bugs will just move in. By changing the conditions, you solve the problem at its root for effective organic garden pest control pill bugs.

Preventing Pill Bug Infestation Long-Term

Keeping pill bugs under control is an ongoing process. It’s not a one-time fix.

Keeping the Garden Tidy

A clean garden is less appealing to many pests.

Regularly remove dead leaves, fallen fruit, and weeds.
Store garden supplies like pots and boards off the ground.
Keep compost piles away from vegetable beds.

Choosing the Right Plants

Some plants are more likely to be attacked than others.

Young seedlings are very vulnerable. Protect them carefully until they are bigger and stronger.
Fruits touching the ground are easy targets. Try to support ripening fruits (like squash or melons) on bricks, straw (applied thinly), or special supports to keep them off the damp soil.
Healthy, strong plants can often handle a little bit of pest activity better than weak ones. Focus on good soil and proper plant care.

Checking New Materials

Be careful what you bring into your garden.

Check new bags of mulch or soil for pests before spreading them.
Inspect new plants for bugs before planting them.

Crop Rotation

Changing where you plant certain vegetables each year can help break pest cycles in the soil and keep soil healthy. While not a direct pill bug method, a healthy garden resists pests better.

Table of Natural Pill Bug Control Methods

Method Category	Specific Method	How it Helps	Pros	Cons	Best Use Cases
Environment Change	Remove Hiding Spots	Takes away shelter and moisture zones.	Simple, long-lasting effect.	Requires ongoing cleanup.	General garden maintenance.
	Improve Drainage	Reduces soil moisture, less appealing home.	Fixes root cause of moisture issues.	Can take time and effort (adding compost).	Areas with heavy soil or low spots.
	Water Smart	Soil surface dries out faster.	Easy habit to change.	Needs consistency.	All garden beds.
	Manage Mulch	Less dense, dry mulch is less appealing.	Easy change.	May need to buy different mulch.	Around plants prone to damage.
Physical Removal	Handpicking	Directly removes bugs.	No cost, very targeted.	Time-consuming, best at night.	Small gardens, spot treatment.
	Food Traps (Melon/Pot)	Attracts and concentrates bugs for easy removal.	Simple, cheap, uses waste food.	Needs daily checking.	Near damaged plants, areas with high numbers.
	Beer Traps	Drowns bugs attracted to yeast smell.	Easy to set up.	Needs checking, may attract other things (slugs).	Targeted areas, multiple spots.
Physical Barriers	Diatomaceous Earth (DE)	Scratches and dries out bugs crossing the line.	Effective when dry.	Doesn’t work when wet, can harm helpful bugs/lungs.	Protecting young seedlings, specific plants.
	Copper Tape	Bugs avoid crossing due to mild charge.	Long-lasting when placed correctly.	Can be costly for large areas, must be a continuous ring.	Pots, raised beds.
Natural Sprays	Soapy Water Spray	Kills bugs on contact by breaking down outer layer.	Uses common items, works fast on contact.	Only works on contact, can harm plants/good bugs, no lasting effect.	Direct hits on visible groups of bugs.
	Vinegar Spray	Kills bugs on contact (and plants).	Uses common items, effective killer.	Kills everything it touches, harmful to plants.	Paths, patios, non-plant areas only.
Biological Control	Encourage Predators	Natural enemies eat pill bugs.	Long-term balance, healthy ecosystem.	Takes time, not a quick fix, requires avoiding pesticides.	General garden health, complement to other methods.

This table helps see the different natural methods to kill pill bugs or control them and when to use them. Combining methods usually gives the best results for roly poly control garden efforts.

Frequently Asked Questions About Pill Bugs

Here are some common questions people ask about pill bugs in the garden.

Are pill bugs harmful to my garden?

Mostly, no. Pill bugs usually eat dead plant material and help make the soil better. They only become harmful pests when there are too many of them or when they run out of dead stuff to eat. Then they might start eating young plants, soft fruits, or tender leaves.

Do pill bugs bite or sting?

No, absolutely not. Pill bugs are harmless to people and pets. They do not bite, sting, or carry diseases. They just want to hide in damp places and eat.

Why are there suddenly so many pill bugs?

A sudden increase usually means conditions are perfect for them. This often happens after lots of rain, if you’ve added a thick layer of new mulch, or if there’s a lot of dead plant material building up. Check for excessive moisture and hiding places.

Will eggshells help get rid of pill bugs?

Some people believe crushed eggshells around plants can deter soft-bodied pests like slugs and snails because the sharp edges are hard for them to cross. However, pill bugs have harder bodies and many legs, so eggshells are less effective as a barrier for them compared to something like DE or copper tape. Eggshells are good for adding calcium to the soil, though!

Can I just leave the pill bugs alone?

If you only see a few pill bugs and no damage to your plants, it’s usually best to leave them. They are part of the garden’s clean-up crew. They are only a problem if their population explodes and they start causing noticeable harm to your plants. Monitoring is key.

What time of day should I look for pill bugs?

Pill bugs are nocturnal, meaning they are active at night. Go out after dark with a flashlight to see where they are and what they are eating. During the day, look for them under rocks, mulch, pots, or garden debris.

Are pill bugs the same as woodlice?

Yes, “woodlice” is another common name for pill bugs and sow bugs in many parts of the world, especially the UK. They are all part of the same group of land crustaceans.

Wrapping Up Natural Pill Bug Control

Dealing with pill bugs in the garden doesn’t require harsh chemicals. By focusing on making your garden less attractive to them, you can manage their numbers naturally. Remember, these little roly polys and sow bugs are often helpers, eating dead stuff and improving soil. It’s when there’s an imbalance that they become pests.

Start with cultural changes – manage moisture, reduce hiding places, and keep the garden clean. If numbers are still too high, use simple traps to reduce the population. For protecting specific plants, consider natural barriers. These natural methods to kill pill bugs or deter them work best when used together.

Choosing natural, organic garden pest control pill bugs methods helps protect the helpful insects, the soil, your plants, and your family. It’s the best way to get rid of pill bugs while keeping your garden healthy and balanced. With a little effort, you can enjoy your garden without pill bugs eating your harvest. This ongoing effort is key to successful sow bug removal and overall roly poly control garden maintenance.