Slater aka wood louse
 

These came up in another post. Do they do any damage to plants? I seem to
have quite few in the mulch on my veggie patch. Should I be worried?

Liz

Slater aka wood louse
 

Organic matter attracts slaters, which play an important role in
breaking it down, but unfortunately they do munch on young seedlings.
Staycalm wrote:
These came up in another post. Do they do any damage to plants? I seem to
have quite few in the mulch on my veggie patch. Should I be worried?

Liz

Slater aka wood louse
 

g'day liz,

they are there to eat the organic matter we get them but never noticed
any problems then we keep feeding our gardens organic matter on a
continuing basis.

snipped
With peace and brightest of blessings,

len & bev

--
"Be Content With What You Have And
May You Find Serenity and Tranquillity In
A World That You May Not Understand."

http://www.lensgarden.com.au/

Slater aka wood louse
 

No one read my post? Slaters, they do eat young seedlings. See ABC website.


len garden wrote:
g'day liz,

they are there to eat the organic matter we get them but never noticed
any problems then we keep feeding our gardens organic matter on a
continuing basis.

snipped
With peace and brightest of blessings,

len & bev

--
"Be Content With What You Have And
May You Find Serenity and Tranquillity In
A World That You May Not Understand."

http://www.lensgarden.com.au/

Slater aka wood louse
 

Jonno wrote:
No one read my post? Slaters, they do eat young seedlings. See ABC website.

Perhaps as a last resort. I'd take it to mean that you are not putting
enough organic matter, aka mulch, etc, on your garden anyway.

Both of us here have never had a problem with slatters eating seedlings
in 20+ years.


As to the ABC gardening information; largely unreliable in my books.

..

Slater aka wood louse
 

I worked with PC ABC and you are probably right.


Terryc wrote:
Jonno wrote:
No one read my post? Slaters, they do eat young seedlings. See ABC
website.

Perhaps as a last resort. I'd take it to mean that you are not putting
enough organic matter, aka mulch, etc, on your garden anyway.

Both of us here have never had a problem with slatters eating seedlings
in 20+ years.


As to the ABC gardening information; largely unreliable in my books.

.

Slater aka wood louse
 

Woodlice normally live out-of-doors where they hide by day in dark damp
places under stones and other debris, in cracks and crevices in paving
and fences and under flower pots, etc., emerging chiefly at night when
there is less chance of their drying out. The food taken consists mainly
of decaying vegetable materials (especially damaged fruit), dead
insects, fungi, etc.,
though they are known to damage the leaves of young plants and
occasionally the roots.
They do not spread any disease and are harmless to humans.So they do
damage some plants at times. Another source....

Terryc wrote:
Jonno wrote:
No one read my post? Slaters, they do eat young seedlings. See ABC
website.

Perhaps as a last resort. I'd take it to mean that you are not putting
enough organic matter, aka mulch, etc, on your garden anyway.

Both of us here have never had a problem with slatters eating seedlings
in 20+ years.


As to the ABC gardening information; largely unreliable in my books.

.

Slater aka wood louse
 

If anyone is growing these kind of crops, they may be a problem.
Seems they may be after moisture as they require this to survive....
The large numbers attacking crops and the current drought may be the reason.


SLATERS

Farmer, David Johnson, reports that slaters have caused extensive damage
to oat and wheat crops near Moree, northern NSW. Samples have been sent
to the Australian Museum for identification. Slaters are commonly seen
in domestic settings and generally not regarded as a pest of broad acre
agriculture in Australia.

Agronomist, Sarah Gleenie (Cotton Growers Services) reports that slaters
have recently damaged cereal crops on a number of properties in the
Moree region. Sarah says slaters have been a minor pest problem in the
past where they have been observed attacking emerging cotton plants.
Agronomist, Tracey Farrell (NSW DPI), has also reported slater damage on
a wheat crop at a property near Walgett, northern NSW. Tracey has not
heard of slaters being a problem in broad acre agriculture prior to this
year.

David says the number of slaters per cereal plant was staggering and
that individuals could be seen crawling up the plant and feeding mainly
on the tips of the leaves. Sarah believes stubble retention and the
amount of trash within paddocks seems to be correlated with slater
numbers. However, in David’s situation there was relatively little
ground cover and stubble retention had not been employed in the affected
paddocks. Re-sowing of some crops has been required due to the extent of
feeding damage sustained.

Slaters feed mainly on decaying organic matter and can be beneficial at
low population densities. At high densities, they can damage new
seedlings and fruit, such as strawberries in contact with the ground.
Agronomist, Sam Gall, says the slaters leave feeding damage of "windows"
of transparent leaf membrane, similar to lucerne flea damage.

Slaters are woodlice, belonging to the large group Isopoda. Contrary to
common belief, slaters are crustaceans, not insects. They have a hard
skeleton on the outside of their bodies and many pairs of jointed legs.
Slaters are oval, flat and segmented, growing up to 17mm long.

Slaters are an agricultural pest in South Africa where they often attack
lupins and canola. They are generally controlled via cultivation but
problems have worsened under non-tillage regimes. Peter Mangano
(Department of Agriculture, WA) has received some unconfirmed reports of
slater damage to canola plants this season in the south of Western
Australia. The cases have been at sites close to townships and the
extent of damage attributable to slaters is unknown.

Although slaters have not been considered a pest previously, it is best
to keep an eye on them. Slaters need damp conditions and will die if
exposed to open and dry situations. Similar circumstances could occur in
other regions or with other pests where stubble retention and minimal or
no-till practices are employed.

This new insight into slaters gives cause to question the effects of
other formerly innocuous invertebrates in broad acre cropping. We may be
observing a shift in the importance of pest species with changes in
farming practices. For example, Ken Henry (SARDI) received a report
earlier this season in South Australia of black Portuguese millipedes
(Ommatoiulus morelettii) causing suspected damage in canola. This
species predominantly feeds on organic matter and Ken says they have not
been a problem of broad acre crops in the past.

If you hear of any news or observe slaters attacking crops please send
your reports directly to Paul Umina and/or advise your local agronomist.
We want to determine whether or not this is an isolated situation.

Terryc wrote:
Jonno wrote:
No one read my post? Slaters, they do eat young seedlings. See ABC
website.

Perhaps as a last resort. I'd take it to mean that you are not putting
enough organic matter, aka mulch, etc, on your garden anyway.

Both of us here have never had a problem with slatters eating seedlings
in 20+ years.


As to the ABC gardening information; largely unreliable in my books.

.

Slater aka wood louse
 

Jonno wrote:
If anyone is growing these kind of crops, they may be a problem.
Seems they may be after moisture as they require this to survive....
The large numbers attacking crops and the current drought may be the
reason.

Which basically says what I said, if you do not have preferred food,
then they might eat your seedlings.

I grow a garden. I do not run broad acre agriculture. Slaters are very
helpful to me in breaking down organic matter in my "compost" bins.

Here, they are not know for leaving the bins and travelling the few feet
to eat seedlings. Even when they are in the garden, they'll chew on the
mulch, fungi, etc out of preference to seedlings.

In scorched earth gardening or agriculture, yes, they can be a problem.

Slater aka wood louse
 

Now we know why they dont damage them and why others say they do....
A lack of natural food....

Terryc wrote:
Jonno wrote:
If anyone is growing these kind of crops, they may be a problem.
Seems they may be after moisture as they require this to survive....
The large numbers attacking crops and the current drought may be the
reason.

Which basically says what I said, if you do not have preferred food,
then they might eat your seedlings.

I grow a garden. I do not run broad acre agriculture. Slaters are very
helpful to me in breaking down organic matter in my "compost" bins.

Here, they are not know for leaving the bins and travelling the few feet
to eat seedlings. Even when they are in the garden, they'll chew on the
mulch, fungi, etc out of preference to seedlings.

In scorched earth gardening or agriculture, yes, they can be a problem.