In article ,
Tumbleweed wrote:
"Carol Russell" wrote in message
...

Just an update.
I have now removed the ivy, there was one small birds nest but
thousands
of
woodlice and I would think that they may damage the tree.

By tickling it?

They live on soft, usually decaying, vegetable matter and cause no
harm in the garden except occasionally to seedlings (and not often
to them). They were merely sheltering.

They were not just sheltering but living there eating either the ivy or
the
tree, when they run out of preferred food they eat what they can get, in
this case they would have caused possible entry for pathogens into the
tree.

No they werent, they were eating decaying matter, thats what woodlice do.

And probably not the matter trapped by the ivy, as that is usually
fairly hard. They have VERY weak mouthparts, and could not possibly
damage the bark of even an established annual, let alone a tree!
They might JUST be able to eat leaves that had already been damaged,
but probably only when the leaves had already started to rot.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren,
University of Cambridge Computing Service,
New Museums Site, Pembroke Street, Cambridge CB2 3QH, England.
Email:
Tel.: +44 1223 334761 Fax: +44 1223 334679