Do Sow Bugs Eat Orchids?!

[gixrj18]

Since we have had an over-abundance of rain lately, I've noticed a lot of sow bugs (rolly pollies) living in my media, and on my wood mounts. I've read that they aren't harmful, but heard that they are. Does anyone know if they eat orchids? If so, I read that normal insecticides don't phase them. My Venus flytrap isn't big enough to eat them all....how do I get rid of them?

[BikerDoc5968]

Google Pill Bug, Roly Poly bug. Wikipedia has a general article on them: Woodlouse - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia I believe someone also had a thread about centipedes which would fall into the same arthropod group.

[Orchidophile]

I am sure they only eat decaying plant material, but they are in the pot because of the humidity. They need humidity to survive because they are crustaceans and need to keep their "gills?" from drying out.

[AndreaM]

Having rolly pollies in your greenhouse/garden indicates there might be other critters around your orchids so this signals to me a need to start a pest management system whereby you spray your favorite insecticide once a month or twice a month to get rid of any pests, including rolly pollies. We have a zero tolerance for bugs and have set up a system of spraying at a set time each month.
Hope this helps.
Andrea

[epiphyte78]

Up until recently, I would leave pill bugs alone when I found them, but ever since I caught them eating the new fronds of my resurrection fern, I squish them with my tweezers. I haven't caught them in the act yet, but I wouldn't be at all surprised if they are also eating the tender new shoot and root growth of my orchids.

One time a new shoot on my Dendrobium cucumerinum completely vanished. There wasn't any slime trail that slugs usually leave but there was a pill bug right next to the orchid... which was mounted around 5' off the ground on a Ficus benjamina branch and relatively far away from the other orchids mounted on the tree.