Roly-poly
Roly-polies are related to lobsters, and they have pouches like kangaroos. They are not insects, and they scamper faster than you might expect. Though literature extols roly-poly usefulness in breaking down plant materials in the soil, their tribe is one hundred percent responsible for the withering demise of my melon seedlings. I had to replant, but what do I do now because the roly-polies are still there in swarms? The new seedlings need security guards because one of them has already been preyed upon.
But first, science talk. Roly-polies are crustaceans in the order Isopoda. News reports from the Carboniferous period indicate isopods originally lived in water, but some of them climbed ashore and became terrestrial isopods. This was before Pangaea split apart into continents.
Though they are not insects, roly-polies are called pill bugs and belong to the family Armadillididae. They have seven body segments (which reminds scientific-naming people of armadillos apparently) and seven pairs of tiny legs which can scoot across a surface with surprising pace. If you want a photo, get the camera ready ahead of time.
When distressed, pill bugs can roll into a ball for protection. An English major in the 16th century coined the term conglobate for this talent. Pill bugs have two antennae in front but nothing posterior which differentiates them from very similar sow bugs which have small appendages at the back end and therefore cannot conglobate. The two are closely related to each other (and lobsters) and inhabit similar damp shady environments, my melon patch in particular.
We should all use the word conglobate as often as possible.
Female pill bugs have a pouch covered by overlapping body segments on the underside in which they keep eggs and as many as 200 tiny white rolled-up hatchlings. Science wants us to know this, so I’m spreading the word. Also, somebody watched closely and discovered females don’t need no males to reproduce! Whoa! Maybe you do, maybe you don’t.
Pill bugs might live for three years, so the smaller specimens you see are simply younger than the larger ones. Like earthworms, they generally feed on decaying plant matter in the soil which is beneficial. They are also opportunistic and will nibble on ripe fruit like strawberries and tender plants like my poor defenseless melon seedlings.
Roly-poly chewing paraphernalia cannot damage tougher plant material, so one option for a gardener might be to start melon plants, for example, in pots and transplant only when they are too tough for our favorite crab cousins. Fair warning: I tried this with disappointing results.
I also tried inoculating a swath of the bed with garlic powder and hot pepper powder before transplanting five hearty melon seedlings. Two of the five are still alive and maybe tough enough to survive. The latest strategy is slobbering scented organic hand soap around and even on the newest tiny recently emerged seedlings. I am trying to coexist peacefully with the pill bug brethren because they have no ill intent toward me. Everybody needs to make a living.
This particular bed is a hugelcultur bed with plenty woody matter down below. Pill bugs dream of such a garden of eatin’… decaying woody parts mixed with damp leaves covered over by leaf mulch and compost. I created heaven on earth for roly-polies.
However, I hope to get melons for my effort, so the next strategy might be to surround each plant with diatomaceous earth but not the entire bed. I might get what I want but leave room for pill bugs to roam. Am I trying too hard? I don’t try this hard with poison ivy.
I would never eat a lobster (or a pill bug) and I wish them happiness, but let’s be honest – I’m trying to get my hands on some melons.