“Roly-poly,” “potato bug,” and “pill bug.” These are just a few of the Armadillidium vulgare, a type of woodlice, go by. And while these unassuming — dare we say “cute” — creatures are seemingly harmless, they can also feed on ground-level plants, which can leave them susceptible to bacteria and rot. On the other hand, these earth-roaming crustaceans can actually aid in eating decaying plant matter, working as natural decomposers and, improving the quality of your soil. So you don’t want to kill them or necessarily even ban them from your yard entirely. But you can banish them from areas where you don’t want them with an easy, cheap, and humane pest control trick. Just throw some orange slices into the mix.
The orange works as a food bait trap. Just cut an orange in half, put one or both sides in your garden plots where you’ve seen roly-polys, and leave it alone overnight. The next morning, check the orange slices, and you should find a trove of garden-loving bugs. Remove the fruit and use a small trowel to pick up bugs, taking care not to crush them. Put the bugs in a bucket and relocate them to an area such as a composting pile, garden bed with decaying plant matter, or outside of your yard.
Why an orange?
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Oranges aren’t used to keep pests out of your plants but to draw them to a single location. As crustaceans, roly-polys require a lot of moisture, which a fresh citrus fruit has plenty of, more than a fairly dry fruit like an apple or pear — you could also use other citrus like grapefruits. Roly-polys live off decaying plant matter for the most part, but if the fruit is easily accessible and detectable, they will go to it. Leaving an orange half in the garden gives these nocturnal critters a central location to flock to, making it easier for you to collect them. You can even use the same fruit for a few days in a row before needing to replace it.
It is important to note that pill bugs are not inherently bad for your garden and, in fact, can improve the quality of your soil — they generally only cause real damage to a garden in large numbers, so don’t fret if you still have a few remaining after your orange fruit has been discarded. If you want to put the roly-polys to work throughout your garden, just spread them evenly amongst your plants once you’ve collected them from the fruit. Notice that they are beginning to concentrate in one part of your garden again? Just cut another orange, lemon, or lime in half and repeat. The citrus method helps to control roly-poly populations without losing out on their wonderful benefits in your garden.
