i just sprinkled a anti bug ganrual thing on my gourd mounds for corn bore and earwigs and other annoying pests. I think i might have sionide (if thats how you spell it) and so you'd have to REALLY careful. You could go to a hardware store or garden store and talk to them about it they could probably help you

Get the slug and snail killer bait. It kills earwigs too.
Also, try watering in the morning so that the top of the soil dries by evening as the slugs-earwigs are evening creatures that love moisture. Another hint would be to put a systemic in the soil that kills all these guys & thrips (the no see ems that bite). Don't forget the insecticidal soap. Spray that on, and 10 minutes later rinse off with the hose.
These are ideas I've been told.
...Cristy-dahlia buddy of the IEDS

Hello all , thanks for the replies , Next year I am growing them in containers! The earwigs seem to be more beneficial then they are destructive.
I know they eat my dalhia's but I do not think they do extensive damage to other plants as I once thought.
Sure they nibble a variety of plants but damage is minimal .
The large amount of damage I believe comes from some other night insect .
My daughter is brave enough to go out at night and take photos and the first batch of photos showed many earwigs on several plants but I sprayed with neem oil next day and while the next night and the one after that there were still earwigs on my plants they were no longer being eaten except for the Dalhias of course.
L

What does an earwig look like? There is an insect eating on my dahlias, especially the new growth that comes out tender near the top. I have opened some of these leaves and found a small slender insect, brownish, maybe a bit more than a quarter inch long and it has little antenae coming out from it's back end. Is that an earwig? Also, something is eating my morning glory leaves, leaving large holes in them. Anyone have a guess on that? Thanks.

Here below is a link to its picture at bug.net .. They have pinchers on the end of their bodies.
I have since changed my mind about these insects . While they may eat some flowers Dalhias and clematis being favorites , They DO Far more benefit for the Garden .
They will hide in any plant/flower that has a tight leaf enclosure to keep cool and out of the sun during the day . They are night creatures. I have seen several do this on many varieties of my perennials and none of them are eaten . Just the two mentioned above .
But they are good snail predators and this keeps my Delphinium happy and growing strong for that alone they are worth it to me ..
Thanks

Wow, I was going to implore you to tell me HOW on earth an earwig could be beneficial. Living in the land of slugs and snails I have never once heard that they are good at controlling snails. Some of our mammoth slugs would pose a real challenge to the lowly earwig, pincers or not.

I'm going to read up on earwigs, but I'm not going to be nice to them unless they have some really, really good qualities and garden practices I don't know about.

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:642363}}

Hey Poochella ,
Here is a link that gives info on predator practices of earwigs and you are right I do not see snails or slugs .
Must be the ground beetles or maybe the rove beetles doing the work ?

All I know is I don't have slugs eating my stuff and if I do they are going in short order . I have many earwigs and while I see them on my plants at night and during the day I see no damage done by them . The damage comes from certain night catapillars , cutworms and the like which earwigs are predators of .
Check out the link .
L.
http://www.fcps.k12.va.us/StratfordLandingES/Ecology/mpages/ring-legged_earwig.htm

Here is a link that might be useful: predaceous Earwig

seventowers:
I had the same problem last year. I'd have a flower one day and the next, nothing but a petal or two! They were voracious. This year I put the dahlias in a raised bed surrounded by cuban oregano. It was a tip I got from a reader of Harrowsmith magazine. The cuban oregano is supposed to repel the earwigs. (?) My dahlias are only about 18" high, and I do have a few eaten leaves. The only other trick I've read about that I might try is vaseline on the base of the stems. Please note, I'm not approving these methods, just passing them along. Perhaps at the end of the season I can tell you if it worked or not. Good Luck!

Seven, that's an interesting link. I'm not sure that's the kind of earwig we have here, but in general the description of them as "viscious predators" of garden pests gives them some redeeming quality. "...eat animals bigger than themselves..." absolutely gives me the willies! LOL But if they eat dahlia petals I don't know how to rate them on the beneficial scale. I did like reading that they go after carpenter ants- a very clear and present danger here in the woods.

Next year I am growing them in containers!

Containers won't deter earwigs. Trust me, I've tried. I had one dahlia in a container on my deck. It had just about the same amount of earwigs as those in the ground. As much as I hate earwigs, and as many as I've had over the last few years (numbers constantly rising), I can't blame them for any major damage. The only thing that really creeps me out is when you create a nice arrangement to show off at work, and an earwig goes strutting by on the desk. JB's do more damage than earwigs, IMO.

Thanks to this thread I've now discovered what's been eating MY dahlias. Thought it would be helpful to repost for newcomers. Also, any new solutions to the pest-y problem?

Oh thats funny - a 2005 thread. I posted an article on another garden forum that I can't put my hands on right now but an excess of earwigs is an indication of the garden being out of balance in it's insect populations. I stopped using chemicals a couple years ago and the first year it was bad, but subsequently by continuing good garden practices, the populations of bugs and insects seem to have a balance. I have a lot of spiders - lots and lots. And I encourage them all. I also have toads, green frogs, leopard frogs, and tree frogs, and red, spotted and leopard salamanders. They all do their work. I posted a pic a few days ago on the Perennial forum of a tiny spider that had a much larger earwig wrapped up and had started to eat it.

The bad mammajamma I've got this year is Four Lined Bug. It has really decimated my geraniums and moved onto the mums. There have been some articles from the Ohio State Extension about Four Lined Bug moving into Ohio. I am going to cut my geraniums to the ground and garbage-can the debris. I'm also going to clean the offending garden areas thoroughly in the fall to get rid of any eggs or whatever they leave behind. I didn't pay attention to this pest last year and so have got more this year. I can let a few things get a hole or 2, but when they destroy the foliage I have to do something.

Well, an old thread and a good one as it explained the critter who was devouring my folliage.

I've given up on pesticides even the pyrethrin--as of this year. If I have to wear a gas mask, gloves and long sleeves to spray it, it stands to reason it should not be sprayed at all.

If you have all those frogs you must have a pond near by, no?

Sorry about your Four Lined bug. Hope it doesn't plan to migrate to NY.

After searching to hopefully find a non lethal way to get rid of the Four Lined Plant Bug, to no avail to speak of, I did run across this newspaper advice column in the link below.

The second Question and answer contributes to your problem with the four lined plant bug. A little late for this year, but plenty of time to get ready to attack them this fall. As they say prevention is the best medicine. Here is a copy of that question and answer. I hope they don't mind and if the moderators feel it best to delete it, please leave the link.

"QI have a huge area that is planted with Russian sage, mums as well as a few other perennials.

The problem is that almost all the plants have these tiny brown circles all over the top part of the leaves.

I don't know if it's a disease or an insect.

Chuck, Fair Oaks

Based on what you described, you may have a fungus or you could possibly have what we call four-lined plant bugs.

They are easily identified by the four black stripes running down their back. They have a range of hosts, including fruits, vegetables, flowers, herbs and cucurbits.

The associated damage consists of spots that look similar to fungal disease spot and can be misidentified as such. With piercing/sucking mouthparts, the four-lined plant bug removes the plant's chlorophyll. A toxin present in their saliva is also secreted during feeding that digests the components responsible for holding the plant cells together. This feeding produces white, dark or translucent spots 1/16 to 1/8 inch in diameter on the plant's leaves, which can merge together (if there is substantial damage) forming large blotches. Entire leaves can turn brown, curl up and eventually fall off. If feeding occurs on new growth, wilting may result.

The damage by four-lined plant bugs may be misidentified as fungal disease spots because of their similar appearance. When the damaged portion of the leaf falls out, a shot hole will remain that looks similar to fungal disease.

Four-lined plant bugs can be troublesome to get rid of. During the fall, the banana-shaped eggs are laid in the old stems of the plant. The eggs will overwinter and hatch in late April-May just after the plant's foliage emerge.

The agility of this bug contributes to the problem because when disturbed, the bug will drop to the ground or will hide and is therefore rarely seen.

In order to keep damage to a minimum, begin to check plants in midspring around May-June for damage. Start to use control at the first sign of damage, since just a few bugs can cause severe damage. Insecticidal soaps and summer horticultural oils prove useful as well as acephate or malathion. It is also possible to remove a lot of the old stem in the fall, which will likely remove egg masses. Look for the eggs; they are banana-shaped and highly visible and can be easily disposed of when there are no leaves on the plant.

The best way to beat a lot of damage is to be observant early on in the year because once you start to see signs of damage, you have to act quickly. Four-lined plant bugs have only one life cycle per season.

The damage will usually stop sometime around the end of June, so spraying later than June for this insect is not usually necessary or effective."

Spock

Here is a link that might be useful: Ask Dan, The Herald in Orange County, CA

Thats pretty much what the Ohio State Extension says also about Four Lined Bug. Tracy diSabato-Aust wrote about this pest in her book " The Well Tended Perennial Garden". It was new for her om Columbus, OH back when she published it. The damage has now stopped and I don't see the bug anywhere so I guess this part of the lifecycle is done. I was thinking of just cutting down my geraniums altogether right now. Maybe I'll do part of them to see what happens. It also got on my mums but they have recovered nicely and put out new leaves that cover up the damaged stuff

This year seems to be a winner if you are an earwig. I think the damp is doing it. We have many earwigs this year and they are eating away at all the annuals that have been planted... marigolds, daisies, violas, nasturtiums, lobelia, red hot pokers, and also roses. Perennials seem to be fine. I am going to try putting saucers of beer into the troughs and the pots to see if that helps. I do not like killing bugs, but we have been overwhelmed by earwigs this year.

I am not generally bug-phobic. As an ex-flyfisherwoman (before children) I think bugs are pretty awesome.
But earwigs are one of the few bugs that give me the heebie-jeebies. Something was eating my dahlias too so I put out slug pellets-the pet friendly ones, and nothing has had a nibble since. Slugs, snails, or earwigs, they are gone now.

After reading this post I now know what has been eating my Dahlia's!! Last year I had marigolds which were like candy to the slugs and I promised myself I would not get them again. So I choose the Dahlia's and I swear it's as if I have 15 of them in a little 3 ft sq area. Are there any flowers they dont eat???? How do I get rid of these things, they are so gross and have just demolished my Dahlia's.

cocker_mommy if you don't have pets or care about animals that might get into it: Deadline slug poison or Corry's are popular out here, but horribly lethal to animals with the metaldehyde each contain. Hand-picking at night or early a.m. works wonders, and destroying any pearly eggs one might find just underground or under a nice foliage also drops the slug population dramatically. I use Sluggo regularly from early spring through fall. It takes a few days to stop the slugs, but is effective and nontoxic to animals.

I gave up planting marigolds in the ground here years ago: you plant a nice blooming plant one evening and by the morning you have slimed stubs of stem remaining. Not a leaf, not a bloom left from the slug buffet.

I've had earwigs mow down all new dahlia shoots, too! Grrrrrrrrr.

I was angry like THE HULK.

I moved the dahlias to a drier, sunnier spot in the garden. That worked for me. Take that, you puny crummy earwigs.

I have always used Sluggo as it is safe for pets in my yard and it has done a great job at keeping the snails/slugs away. It is easy to find at Lowe's.
After this post I am terrified of earwigs!

I have also had trouble with the ear wigs. When I purchased my home, there were some very large ear wigs here, the neighbors had large shade bushes that harbored them by the thousands. They have since subsided quite a bit, since i ripped all of the bushes out and destryed them. However, they still continue to eat my Dahlias and roses. I just went out there with the flash light, and sure enough, the ear wigs are out there. I sprayed all of my dahlias and roses with Garden safe brand, houseplant & Garden insect spray. I hope this works, I will report my results in a few days. I have not seen my dahlias bloom in three years because of the ear wigs eating them sooo bad....

Earwigs are an invasive species from Europe and are NOT native to North America. As such, I kill them whenever I see them. They came over in shipping crates in the 80s and 90 and did terrible damage to plants for the first years because they had no predators. They are NOT beneficial in any way, shape, or form. AND they bite people with their pincers. Horrible creatures that are the bane of all gardeners. Destroy any you see. They hide in mulch, and under slabs of stone or wood. Set traps around, remove wood and kill as many as you can while they scamper away. They ate my dahlias and elderberries…ALL OF THEM.