I just caught them in the act, after suspecting it was them for the past couple of days. They're munching on the berries just as they're starting to ripen. Today, my biggest strawberry plant with its especially sizable berries came under attack by what I called, 'roly-poly bugs' as a child.

I have a strawberry patch which expanded from three plants to eighteen over the past few years. I've been giving the berries seaweed extract for these past couple of seasons and cleared out all the weeds from the bed the other night. I then planted some purple basil, green basil, calendula and marigold in the same plot - in the generous spaces where the weeds had been. However, I'm doing what I call 'laidback gardening' this year as I'm just not up to that much work. That being said, I still have to humor my plant-loving nature somewhat.

The plants are currently bushing out further with some new leaves and the fruits are looking more plentiful and bigger in size than ever before. I'd dearly love to make use of/eat some of them, before the woodlice devour them all .

Please, does anyone have some suggestions? What can be done? Thanks for any advice/help.

Woodlice are scavengers: they will feed on strawberries already damaged by other pests, but they are often blamed for the damage itself.

So first thing you should do is to find out who the culprits of the primary damage are: they could be slugs, birds, mice or even Strawberry seed beetles. Once that culprit is dealt with, woodlice won't have the chance to feed anymore.

Thanks so much!

As of just a few minutes ago, I now caught a blackbird in the act of strawberry-munching so they're the main culprit.

I'd been thinking of getting some bird netting because only after I'd weeded the heck out of the strawberry patch so as to plant other things among them, did I realize how much my berries were now up for easy pickins...I have to admit that, last year, I allowed the weeds to remain for the longest time and harvested quite a number of berries.

I do have a concern with bird netting which has kept me from buying some just yet (am off to the gardening center today for more plants and some supplies). My husband told me that his dad (who was an avid gardener but retired from it now) used to have check the netting often because the birds would sometimes get their heads/necks trapped in it.

I keep odd hours due to my work and also because it's in my nature to so worry I wouldn't be there in case any of the local birds has this issue in my yard/garden. I don't wish to hurt any wildlife. I'd rather just buy strawberries at the market than do that.

At our Community Garden, we have raised beds separated by gravel paths. The woodlice population has been very high. Maybe because of the limited space and debris in these plots, there isn't enough for them to compost but they have been caught eating strawberries. If you google it, you will get a few hits on that. For these members, we have put down bowls of beer to cut down the population.