There's nothing better than a fresh strawberry from the garden. Unfortunately for one gardener, a large group of rolly pollies agreed a little too enthusiastically with that sentiment and called some early dibs on their fruit.
What happened?
The Reddit user posted a video and a plea for help on the r/gardening subreddit.
(Click here if the embedded video does not appear.)
The footage showed a large group of rolly pollies, also known as pill bugs, feasting on a pair of fallen strawberries among some wood chips.
"How can we eliminate them quickly?" the original poster asked the community. "They're eating the strawberries before we can pick them."
Why does it matter?
When gardeners lose ripe fruit to pests, they also lose the time, effort, and money they put into growing it. Growing your own food should be a great way to save money on produce, while preserving more of the nutrients that can be lost on the way to the supermarket.
It is also a great way to tap into the mental and physical benefits of gardening. Of course, the mental side of things takes a hit if pests are wiping out crops, as in this gardener's case.
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It would also negate the positive environmental impacts of not relying on mass-produced and shipped produce if they had to run out to scratch their itch for strawberries.
What's being done?
Fortunately, the Reddit community had plenty of recommendations to help the OP salvage their strawberries. The most common solutions were surprisingly simple.
"Put something to elevate your strawberries off the ground, or they will be eating really well," one commenter suggested.
There was some debate over whether rolly pollies were the main culprits or just feeding on fruit that had already been damaged by slugs, rot, or too much moisture.
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"This one was either chewed on, stepped on, or rotted out from there being too much moisture on it," one user commented. "These guys are just the cleanup crew."
To address some of those issues, other commenters suggested pairing straw mulch with the higher elevations. One user suggested reusable net bags, as others pushed for Sluggo Plus, an organic pesticide.
The overall consensus was to keep the fruit off the damp ground and make the bed less appealing to moisture-loving pests. With better elevation, less decaying wood material, and slug control as options, there was definitely a lot for the OP to work with.
They updated their original post with some clarifications and some ideas for their next steps. For one thing, they were on board with installing straw and removing wood chips quickly. They also said they'd explored beer traps, but so far they were overwhelmed by the number of bugs. Sluggo Plus looked to be the next thing they wanted to try.
"Glad to have brought everyone together to discuss these destructive lil monsters," they concluded. "Down with big pillbug!"
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