I left my planter of 8'x10' full of organic soil and mulch for several months here in South Florida 10a/b zone. I want to start planting vegetables again because I notice the only thing on there, a pot of yerba buena, which is now taking over, is sitting there atop all this grass and weeds. I removed some mulch and started digging a little and already found three roaches. Even if I get rid of them with DE, wouldn't I end up with lots of germs and faeces from them in the soil? I know I have read they are a good source of nitrogen but seeing as they are unsanitary creatures I feel at a crossroads. Any help would be greatly appreciated, thanks!
Hi there ! Are you sure they are roaches ? South Florida is well known for palmetto bugs and wood roaches ( which are not the household variety) ! We have them here in Texas as well! If they are in your compost and you want to remove them,,sprinkle sevin dust and work it into your compost pile ! They actually do little damage to the compost but I try to remove them from the leaves under our trees ! Raking all the leaves away will also help ! They like organic matter !
Do you have chickens? I bet they would love the cockroaches! My guess (only a guess) is the cockroaches can be a disease vector and worsen asthma. I would wear a mask and plastic gloves while cleaning up after them and dispose it in plastic bags in the trash. If growing food crops there, I would not grow foods that contact the soil (turnips, carrots, radishes, potatoes, peanuts) but stick with ones that produce higher (corn, tomatoes, peppers, vining beans). On the other hand, there are bugs everywhere. We don't have cockroaches but we have lots of other bugs and we don't worry about them much.
Ha !! These roaches,, if thats what they are,, are just bugs and pose no danger to humans ! But they are a pain in the butt !!
Thanks Zigs. I appreciate your advise Mart and Daniel. To answer your question Mart, they are Florida Woods Cockroaches, I learned. They do not invade homes as much. They do love mulch though! like you said.. organic matter. My take on this is that I should be super careful and try to remove them.. I suppose I shouldn't worry about the quality of the soil afterwards, but keep in mind not to have mulch or leaves or anything on top of that soil before actually planting. Although, I do get a feeling that it will be pointless and that they will come again anyway so why even remove them...Daniel's thoughts on growing tall crops makes sense though. Should I even try to remove the cockroaches?
