Rolly pollies, also called pill bugs, are moisture-loving crustaceans that usually help your garden by breaking down dead plant material. But when populations boom, they start feeding on seedlings, soft fruits, and tender roots, and that’s when most people want them gone. The good news: because they depend on damp conditions to survive, you can control them through a combination of habitat changes, traps, and targeted treatments.
When Rolly Pollies Actually Become a Problem
Most of the time, pill bugs are beneficial decomposers. They eat decaying leaves, dead roots, and rotting wood, recycling nutrients back into the soil. The trouble starts when their numbers outgrow the supply of dead material and they turn to living plants instead.
They’re nocturnal feeders, so damage often appears overnight. Young shoots, shallow roots, and soft-skinned produce are the main targets. Strawberries, tomatoes, cucumbers, lettuce, and beans are all commonly damaged. If you’re finding irregular holes in fruit resting on the ground or seedlings chewed at the base, pill bugs are a likely culprit, especially if you spot them curled up under nearby debris during the day.
Remove Their Hiding Spots First
Pill bugs need constant moisture to breathe through gill-like structures on their undersides. Without it, they dry out and die. That biological weakness is your strongest tool. Before reaching for any product, make the environment less hospitable.
Clear away decaying mulch, wet leaves, dead plant matter, fallen fruit, and rocks near affected plants. These are exactly the damp, dark shelters pill bugs seek out during the day. If you use thick mulch, pull it back a few inches from plant stems so the soil surface can dry between waterings.
Improve air circulation around your plants by pruning lower branches that rest on the soil, weeding densely packed beds, and training vining plants up a trellis instead of letting them trail along the ground. Elevate potted plants off the ground with stands so pill bugs can’t congregate underneath. Avoid overwatering. Switching from overhead sprinklers to drip irrigation keeps the soil surface drier and makes the area far less attractive.
Simple Traps That Work Overnight
Trapping takes advantage of the fact that pill bugs are predictable: they come out at night and cluster under anything moist and sheltered. Cut a cantaloupe, orange, or other soft fruit in half and place it cut-side down near affected plants in the evening. By morning, pill bugs will have gathered underneath. Check the trap early, collect the bugs, and dispose of them. A single fruit half can be reused for several days before it breaks down.
Hollowed-out potato halves work the same way. Place them cut-side down on the soil in the evening, then dump the collected pill bugs into a bucket of soapy water the next morning. Repeat nightly until your catches drop off. These traps won’t eliminate a large population on their own, but they’re a useful way to reduce numbers while you address the moisture problem.
Diatomaceous Earth for Garden Beds
Food-grade diatomaceous earth is a powder made from fossilized algae with microscopically sharp edges. When pill bugs crawl through it, the powder damages their outer coating and causes them to lose moisture and die. Spread a thin line of it along the edges of planting beds where pill bugs tend to travel.
The main limitation is rain and irrigation. Diatomaceous earth stops working once it gets wet, so you’ll need to reapply after watering or rainfall. Wear a dust mask when applying it, because the fine particles are abrasive to your lungs if inhaled. It’s nontoxic to pets and people once settled on the soil.
Organic Baits for Larger Infestations
When habitat changes and traps aren’t enough, granular baits offer a targeted next step. Products containing iron phosphate combined with spinosad (sold as Sluggo Plus or Monterey Ant Control) are effective against pill bugs and approved for use around edible crops. Scatter the granules evenly over the soil near problem areas at roughly half a pound per 1,000 square feet.
Iron phosphate stops feeding, while spinosad is a naturally derived insecticide. These baits break down into soil nutrients and pose minimal risk to pets, earthworms, and beneficial insects when used as directed. They also control slugs and snails, which is a bonus if you’re dealing with multiple pests chewing on the same plants.
Chemical Perimeter Treatments
For severe infestations, especially around foundations or where pill bugs are entering your home, chemical sprays and granules create a barrier they won’t cross. Products containing bifenthrin or permethrin are the most common options. These are applied as a band around the foundation of your house or along garden borders.
Granular bifenthrin products are spread at 2 to 4 pounds per 1,000 square feet, while liquid permethrin is mixed and sprayed along the perimeter. These are broad-spectrum insecticides, so they’ll kill beneficial insects too. Use them as a targeted perimeter treatment rather than broadcasting across an entire garden, and keep them away from flowering plants where pollinators are active.
Getting Rid of Rolly Pollies Indoors
Finding pill bugs inside your house feels alarming, but it’s almost always a sign of an outdoor problem rather than an indoor one. Large numbers breeding close to your foundation will occasionally wander inside through gaps at ground level. The pill bugs themselves rarely survive more than a few days indoors because normal household air is too dry for them. They typically curl up and die before they can establish themselves.
If you’re seeing them regularly, focus on sealing entry points. The most common gaps are at the base of sliding glass doors, around basement windows, and along cracked foundation walls. Install tight-fitting door sweeps at every exterior door. Apply caulk along the bottom outside edge and sides of door thresholds. Seal any cracks in the foundation with exterior-grade sealant.
Inside, check for unusual moisture sources. Damp basements, crawl spaces with poor ventilation, and ground-floor rooms with water leaks are the only indoor environments where pill bugs can survive for any real length of time. Fix the moisture issue, and the indoor problem resolves itself. A dehumidifier in a damp basement can make the space uninhabitable for them within days.
Putting It All Together
The most effective approach combines cultural changes with one or two active controls. Start by removing debris and reducing moisture, which addresses the root cause. Add traps to knock down the current population. If damage continues, apply diatomaceous earth or organic bait granules around affected plants. Reserve chemical perimeter sprays for situations where pill bugs are invading your home or where populations are genuinely out of control despite other measures.
Pill bugs reproduce slowly compared to many garden pests, so once you break the cycle of abundant moisture and shelter, populations drop noticeably within a few weeks. You don’t need to eliminate every last one. A small number of pill bugs decomposing dead material is a sign of healthy soil. The goal is to bring their numbers back to a level where your plants aren’t on the menu.