Where do woodlice in the home and in flower pots come from, and how should you get rid of them?

Woodlice generally refer to the common pill bug (Porcellio scaber and related species), also known as shufu, fupan, shugu, shunian, and dijishi. So where do woodlice in the home come from? How do you kill them? How do you get rid of the ones in flower pots? Pest-control expert Xiao Zhi explains that woodlice like to live under rotten wood, fallen leaves, stones and the like, and sometimes also appear in houses and courtyards. So woodlice in high-rise homes may crawl in from the drains, and woodlice in ground-floor homes may also crawl in from the drains or from outdoors. As long as the home is not damp, they still find it hard to survive.

1. Are woodlice harmful to humans?

Woodlice, also called pill bugs, are harmless to humans.

Woodlice are a kind of traditional Chinese medicine, with the effects of breaking blood stasis, promoting diuresis, detoxifying and relieving pain. Pill bugs pose no direct harm to people; in fact, some people raise them for medicinal use or experiments.

However, woodlice are still pests.

The common pill bug mainly harms tomatoes, rapeseed, cucumbers and so on. Symptoms: adults and larvae damage the leaves, causing notches; in severe cases they can eat the leaf flesh completely, leaving only the veins and petioles. Adults are 9 to 15 mm long, ranging from brown to grayish blue, with the edges of each dorsal plate yellowish white; when touched, the body can roll into a ball, so it is also called the ball bug or watermelon bug. The Toxoplasma it carries mainly invades the human eyes, brain, heart, liver, lymph nodes and so on, causing corresponding organ diseases; after a pregnant woman is infected, the pathogen can infect the fetus through the placenta, directly affecting fetal development and causing fetal malformation.

2. Methods to completely eliminate woodlice

1. How do you kill woodlice on a lawn?

1) Do not apply organic fertilizer that is not fully decomposed.

2) Keep the lawn clean and promptly remove weeds and garbage.

3) Chemical control: when the infestation is heavy, you can spray 10% imidacloprid wettable powder at 2500 times dilution, 20% fenpropathrin emulsifiable concentrate at 3000 times dilution, 2.5% deltamethrin at 3000 times dilution, 2.5% cyhalothrin emulsifiable concentrate at 3000 times dilution, etc.; you can also combine this with control of lawn underground pests by spraying 50% phoxim emulsifiable concentrate at 1000 times dilution.

2. How do you kill woodlice in the home?

1) Woodlice like dampness, so pay attention to ventilation and dryness inside the house.

Air out off-season clothing again, then store it in compression bags or storage boxes. Putting some mothballs in the wardrobe, cabinets and every corner is a very effective method.

2) Preparing the solution and how to use it

Materials: a spray bottle, a chlorine-containing disinfectant such as 84, and tap water; pour the disinfectant and water into the spray bottle (ratio: 1:5); spray directly at the insects.

3) Methods to eliminate and kill woodlice

Non-chemical methods are not very effective. The chemical was applied to every spot in the bathroom; on the first day the effect was not great, and not many woodlice were killed. On the second day the effect was obvious but not thorough; by the third day it was about done.

4) Some dead corners in the bathroom and kitchen must be thoroughly cleaned; the drainpipe area must be kept dry, and any water should be cleaned up promptly. Clothing, bedding and daily necessities can be taken outside to air out when the weather is good. When at home, keep the air moving as much as possible. In addition, you can place some desiccant in the corners of the room; if there are children at home, pay special attention to where you place it.

3. How do you kill woodlice in the field?

1) Applying poisoned soil

Mix 2.3% deltamethrin or 20% fenvalerate with soil and scatter it on the ground, using 50 to 100 grams of pesticide per mu mixed with 10 to 20 kg of soil.

2) Spraying pesticide on the ground

Spray with 50% dichlorvos at 500 times dilution; if after applying the pesticide you cover the ground with a curtain or other covering, the insects, fearing light, will hide inside it and die from poisoning.

The main reason pill bugs and woodlice breed in the home is that the home environment is too dark and damp, which provides favorable conditions for their growth. To eliminate woodlice at home, the useless methods are basically only prevention; if you want to eliminate them, you still need to use some chemicals.