Roaches

[Guest Lucinda]

I notice roaches skittering away whenever a potted seedling gets picked up off the ground. Also found a roach inside a germination bin -- it had eaten away at the little paper holding the name of the seeds.

Do these nasty things harm young palms????

[SubTropicRay]

I don't believe so Lucinda.  They will however, eat just about everything else.

Ray

[www.dadluvsu.com]

ICK!  I sure hope they don't damage palms...  Never thought about roaches as a potential pest...  If you see roach damage (other than to your peace of mind) do report back!

[JLeVert]

I haven't seen roaches (palmetto bugs) eating any palm leaves, but I was having major foliage damage on a Cycas panzhihuaensis, so one night I went out with a flashlight to see if I could catch the offending reature who was munching on the cycad.  There was never anything eating the leaves during the day, so I figured it was either a nocturnal something or maybe I had a nutritional or fungal problem.

I was horrified to see all the new foliage on the cycad literally covered in roaches.  It was revolting even to a guy who grew up in Georgia where roaches are the state pet.     I calmly walked back into the house and reached for the first spray I could find that said 'Death to Roaches' on it and sprayed the whole writhing mass of them.   They never came back.  The moral of the story:  roaches may be doing more damage than you think.  Go out at night and see what they're up to.

[DoomsDave]

Many roaches eat decaying wood.  They are closely related to termites, and like termites have bacteria in their guts which allow them to break down and get nourishment from cellulose.

Cattle do something similar when they ferment their food in their "four stomachs."

I've never heard of them eating live plant tissue, so I don't think they'll hurt your palmlings.

dave

[MattyB]

They're probably just using your pots to hide under.

[Caryota_gigas]

I don't have a problem with roaches, but earwigs eat my palms, I know that for sure. They eat the new growing point, as well as undermining palms by eating the base and roots.