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audreyrama

Earwigs! How to handle?

audreyrama
10 years ago

I have major earwig damage on new shoots,
They seem to prefer Huldine and Candida and are eating all the new buds and teeny leaves.
Is there a non-pesticide way to deal with these?
We have a lot of bees and I want to keep them around and safe.
how are you guys coping with them?
Audrey
One year since I planted my first clem and I'm addicted!
Pic of Jack that was on the property and we moved it couple feet and one 90 degree turn over, the massive rootball weighed over a 100 pounds and needed 2 guys to slowly shuffle it over.
More than double the bloom of last year.

Comments (3)

  • gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)
    10 years ago

    Trapping earwigs is pretty effective but you need to keep on it :-) A tuna fish can with some remaining on the bottom and salad oil mixed in or fish-flavored catfood is a big attractant. Sink the can even with the soil level - the earwigs are attracted to the scent of the fishy oil, fall in and drown.

    Or you can try rolled up newspaper or cardboard, slightly dampened. Tuck in the garden where the earwigs are hanging out just before dusk. In the morning, collect and destroy, either the entire paper tube (enclose in plastic bag and discard) or by shaking the earwigs out into a bucket of soapy water.

    Keep at both methods until populations have reduced to where you are no longer catching any.

  • NHBabs z4b-5a NH
    10 years ago

    I thik that this has been a bad earwig year in many places. About 2/3 of the way down the thread linked below there's some info on getting rid of earwigs not using standard pesticides.

    "I went out at night with a flashlight. I had to try different times to catch them. Too early in the evening and I would see nothing, and waiting for early morning was too late, they had done their damage and gone back to bed. But once I found the time to catch them in the act, a simple paper cup with soapy water, flick them into it and they can't get themselves out. Repeat nightly and this will get the problem under control."

    " . . . My sure fire earwig bait. I have never set this out in the evening without having some earwigs in the container in the morning. Note--baby earwigs are grey and turn red as they age so don't think it is another bug. Baby earwigs are ravenous when they hatch and can strip a plant down to the stem in 1 night
    Bait for Earwigs.
    Equal parts of full salt soy sauce, cooking oil and (molasses or corn syrup). The molasses or syrup is bait to attract them--the oil doesn't allow them to crawl back out and the salt in the soy sauce finishes them off and makes the mixture dark so they think it is just a hole. Put it in a small container. I use those small scoops from laundry soap and place a stone on top but you can use any small container even the bottom of a soda or water bottle and anything for a lid. Cover 1/2 inch of the bottom of the container with the mixture and bury it up to the brim in the soil where you have a problem with them. Prop a lid over it so it doesn't get diluted by rain and so it is a nice dark place for them to hide for the day--ha. When you prop the lid, leave a small space for them to crawl into the container. You might have to wait a couple of days for it to work, but the first time I tried it I used a baby food bottle and it was full to the brim with little grey baby earwigs the next morning. I was surprised at just how many I did get. Try it. It really works"

    Here is a link that might be useful: I am bit fed up with . . .

  • audreyrama
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    This worked amazing the very first night.
    Used a kippers can, long and shallow , salty soy sauce, canola and threw in a couple cubes of sugar bc I didn't have any corn syrup
    Flat can means I don't have to dig around too much and just inset in soil and placed two rocks across.
    Pretty disgusting what I found the next day!
    Lots of adults, few babies!
    Have laid a few more traps around other spots.
    Thanks nhbabs!

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