Just as things are starting to look good around the garden, we notice small holes in the leaves, and some plants are just a few days short of being devistated at the rate it is happening.

We went to the local farmers market and talk to the "master gardeners" they said it was probably earwigs. We went to the local garden store and the expert there said to spray carbaryl, which is the same as Sevin. We were desperate to save our garden so purchased this and brought it home. I did not like the though of spraying insectiside around our mostly organic garden especially after reading about the product. We also have cats in the garden, I read it kills bees, trout, etc. The final straw was having to wear pants, long sleeves and closed toed shoes. I decided to look for a healthier alternative to spraying.

So last night I put a few of the Oil, Molasses, Soy traps around the garden. There were some small looking earwigs piled in each one this morning.

Having read previous posts about earwigs I realize we have some issues that are beneficial to there existence in our yard. I'll describe the garden in hopes of coming up with a plan to reduce the pest damage without using chemical warfare. The garden consists of two beds 12x10 feet each. We have a number of plants that are densely packed into the garden beds (mixed greens, potatoes, onions, squash). The second bed was a mess with weeds, so we laid a bed of mulch in the form of hay just a few days ago. Because of our schedule we are only able to water the plants at night when it is cool.

So those are the conditions in the garden that are encouraging our earwig population. Now that I realize i have a problem what can I do to fight the little menaces?

The tuna can traps seemed to attract and kill them and I will try the newspaper trick. How many of these traps and how far apart should I place them? Do I need to change them each night or can i let them marinate? Any other suggestions on how to fight them, besides getting rid of the mulch, then what do I do about the weeds?

Thanks for any help.

PP