Sow Bugs in a Vegetable Garden
​Sow and pill bugs can cause damage in an organic vegetable garden. The presence of large numbers of these pests may require pest control.

Sow Bug Pests May Damage the Vegetable Garden

​Sow bugs and pill bugs are curious little creatures of the garden. Children call them roly-polys and like to poke the pill bugs so that they roll up into tight little balls. Most people find sow and pill bugs to be harmless. This is true when they are few in numbers, but sometimes they over breed and become true garden pests.
Sow and pill bugs are closely related and at first glance look pretty much the same. The way to tell them apart is that pill bugs can roll up fully into a ball. Sow bugs do not roll up as tightly. The bugs have tight segmented shells and multiple legs that can be seen scurrying along. Both kinds are true crustaceans, related to shrimps. Sow and pill bugs, though they need constant moisture, live solely on land.

Sow Bugs and Garden Mulch
The vegetables in a garden are probably not the origin of a sow bug infestation. It’s more likely that garden mulch is the source of the insect nursery. The bugs thrive in old dead leaves and tend to live under garden mulch and waste. Within the mulch, sow bugs eat dead, dying, or decayed vegetation. They need the moisture that the mulch holds.

A vegetable garden may attract sow bugs, especially if it is mulched. The sow bugs like the moist garden environment. Let’s face it, insects eat their share of the bounty of gardens. There are some people who feel that sow bugs are not the culprits that actually do the damage. They claim that other insects nibble the leaves and sow bugs move in later to clean up. This is not always the case in a vegetable garden.

Damage to the Vegetable Garden
Sow bugs usually eat only dead materials, it’s true. But sometimes they will also eat tender young shoots. This becomes a problem in the early plantings, especially of beans, where the sow bugs crawl into the gap in soil as the sprout emerges and eat the first leaves before they push out. This damages the new sprout so that it can never recover. Loss of the first few leaves effectively kills the plant. Here are some plants known to be damaged by sow bugs:
  • lettuce
  • radish and beets
  • green beans
  • strawberries.
In the vegetable garden, early spring crops such as lettuce and radishes are the first targets. Sow bugs are quite often found among tender lettuce leaves. They thrive in the shady moist environment. A radish patch also makes a welcoming hang out for sow bugs. The bugs crawl up the leaves and make little round nibbles into the top of the radishes just below the soil line. They are also known to take a bite or two out of ripening strawberries.
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Controlling the Garden Pests
Sow bugs tend to eat only the soft tender parts of plants and generally leave established plants alone. Later in the growing season, sow bugs are not the ones that are eating the plants. Snails, slugs, beetles, and many other insects share in the feast of the garden. Vegetable gardeners can control the sow and pill bugs with organic diatomaceous earth. By keeping their numbers low, sow bugs will not create much damage. The secret is in understanding these roly-polys and maintaining garden pest control.
Author: Karla Beatty
Use Diatomaceous Earth
​Vegetable gardeners can control the sow and pill bugs with organic diatomaceous earth. By keeping their numbers low, sow bugs will not create much damage. The secret is in understanding these roly-polys and maintaining organic garden pest control.
Read more articles about natural pest control, organic gardens, and a greener environment.

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