Do Waterbugs or Cockroaches Eat Seedling Vegetables ?

[Bryan D.]

Hi Have been having a problem at night with outside waterbugs or Roaches Eating My newley emerged gaden seeds. Anybody else ever had this problem ?

 

[Chuck]

Hi Have been having a problem at night with outside waterbugs or Roaches Eating My newley emerged gaden seeds. Anybody else ever had this problem ?

I don't know about waterbugs but the big Palmetto bugs or the large roundish-shaped roaches certainly do. I don't think that the household German roaches do but not certain or at least I have never seen them do so. In my gardens over the years it seems that lettuce seedlings or any leafy green vegetable seedling is their favorite snack. I usually mix boric acid and powdered sugar together and dust the area when and if they show up. Mainly seedlings are decimated by pill/sow bugs.

 

[Bryan D.]

Appreciate the information. As a retired commercial grower in Ohio I never had the problem on the farm ( rural ) Downsized and now in a small city this problem with eaten newly emerged seedlings happened. Have seen the bugs in the grass at night. Loved watching an early morning bluejay hunting them the other day. Have applied some diatomaceous earth and love the boric acid sugar bait trick.

My family ran a roadside truck market for many years. We grew 500 Tomatoes on drip irrigation with injected nutrients to feed them about 3 Acres of sweet corn and about 200 Cantaloupes. In all those years never saw the roach problem, nasty wake up call to say the least.

Thanks Again
Bryan D.