Suggestions for combating earwigs Please!

I have earwigs chowing on my petunias, marigolds, roses, beet tops, etc. They're everywhere and it is so frustrating. They are leaving the dusty miller, celosia, salvia, etc. alone however. Does anyone know of anything to combat this army of destruction that is relatively safe around small children and pets? It is so maddening to look out at all my hard work and seeing it being eaten to nearly nothing. Any help would be appreciated!!

-Stacey

hi designmom, I feel your pain. I lost dozens of seedlings to those critters. I finally bought some bait at the nursery and dusted with it everywhere. It's made by Lilly Miller and the active ingredient is carbaryl. I may grow a third eye, but at least I'll have my cosmos!

Hope this helps.

They eat dahlias like crazy too, especially the blooms. You can do something as simple as roll up a damp newspaper and lay it flat next to affected plants ( someone said a length of PVC pipe served well too) The earwigs will roost in the tube of whatever at night. You come out in the morning with a bucket of soapy water and dump the contents of the paper/pvc in for dispatching them once and for all.

Also you can mount inverted tin cans/coffee cups/drink cups on stakes next to the infestation. Put some 'nesting' material stuffed inside the can/cup. Straw, panty hose have been mentioned and I can't remember what else. Again, the plan is to come out in early morning and dump the container or shake it loose of earwigs into soapy water. EWWWWW.

What I can't figure out is how to keep straw in an upside down container so I just cut them in half with a pruning shears when I find them!

If I find the old link to an earwig combat article I saw last year, I'll post it here. I do know that a cut apart water bottle with soy sauce and oil only caught a huge slug.
Good luck.

Design mom, try this link:
http://www.projectcleanwater.org/pdf/ipm/earwig_pestcard.pdf

And when I said to mount inverted cans on stakes- that is a tactic used by dahlia growers, not necessarily good for the plants you mentioned.

Thanks for the replies. The article from the link was great and made me not hate these little critters so much. I think they actually saved my roses from the aphids so that is a good thing. The interesting thing is they are eating my petunias but not the spreading petunias. The spreading ones are instead spreading like wildfire and untouched (and really beautiful). A few of the marigolds are toast however...

-Stacey

Are they black and tiny? They look like aphids but the wrong color? My husband found a whole bunch of little aphid-looking (but black) pests near our dahlia blooms. They aren't on any part of the plant but the stem leading to the bloom and the very newest tiny leaves next to the blooms. My husband sprayed all of the dahlias just in case, but we had no idea what they were. They weren't on roses or any of my other flowers, just the durned dahlias!

No, these are most definately earwigs. About a quarter of an inch with pincers on the end. Ugly little guys. They really seem to be everywhere and I am darn tired of it! I was out pinching back my sweet basil today and I saw two of them out there chowing down. I have found them in my beet tops as well. They seem most fond of my marigolds and petunias however. I suppose that is why you grow marigolds around the base of tomatoes so they will eat the marigolds and never get to the tomatoes. I will be so upset if they eat my beautiful tomatoes I can tell you! At least I learned from the link Poochella sent they like to eat aphids which is a good thing which is why I found them around my roses. Also they like the damp from overwatering, which is what we do all the time. We have an underground irrigation system to keep everything watered on a schedule and my husband even hooked my veggie garden into it with little individual sprinkler heads (so awesome by the way). These earwigs are giving me a headache!! Time to bring out the bug killer. Insects beware...
-Stacey

D Mom, I found the quite dusty skeletonized carcass of an earwig in my kitchen window sill a month ago: left over from a ride in on last years dahlias! They are durable little monsters, for sure. Even though they eat our prize flowers and veggies, I guess they fit into the ecosystem somehow.

Marionslaten, the black things on your dahlias stems surely do sound like aphids. I've had them as thick as oil on some stems in the past. The good news is they can be dispatched with a firm squirt of water, either from the hose while holding the stem to prevent breakage, or from a squirt bottle if you have good hand strength. Once they're off the plant, they seem to disappear. I used to plant pole beans which also attracted the black aphids as a means of keeping them off the dahlias. But then I realized I could use that bean space for more flowers and fight the occasional aphid myself very easily.

Ladybugs are helpful too for aphids. But those earwigs are just hateful little buggers! Very tricky little pests, like my moles.

Something's eating my stuff but I have no idea what. It could be earwigs but I haven't seen them. Bunnies? Slugs? I do slug patrol and find very few. No trails either. I'm getting really peeved....

Gwen

i'm having the same problem with earwigs they are even crawing on the outside of my apt. weather must be just right here in west richland this year lol

thanks for the advice Pooch. chemicals dispatched the first batch of them. I hate using harsh stuff as we have a fair number of hummingbirds visiting us. the little black pests are not back as of yet but something is still eating at the leaves. I'll check that link you provided and see what else I can do. I don't want my first crop ever of beautiful dahlias to be ruined.

I've been putting out tuna cans with beer in them for slugs (they LOVE Trader Joe's Dutch beer in white cans, only $3.99 a sixpack, like it much better than Bud) and was amazed to find one near my biggest foxglove with lots and lots of dead earwigs in it. Looks like earwigs like beer too! Also I have learned that neither slugs nor earwigs seem to mind if the beer is a bit diluted from watering or rain, and the can doesn't need to be full, either. Since I put out lots of cans (we have cats for a good supply) it can run into bucks to keep them filled with beer, but half full with diluted beer I can handle. And it works great! Just toss the yucky stuff to the back of the bed and refill!

dirtynails, if you grow that third eye, be sure to post a photo. We'd be interested in seeing that. LOL.

designmom, check out this thread on getting rid of earwigs at GardenWeb. There are a variety of non-toxic ideas...
http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/load/organic/msg051520163415.html?25

Wow tiffanya, what a great link! There is some great tips. I will definately try the cans with the beer in it. These nasty little buggers love to get into my dogs food dish at night and work on the kibble they left behind (I have to feed my dogs outside so my 16-month-old daughter stays out of their food!). Fortunately, I have seen little evidence of slugs around here. We are probably just a tad too dry. I found them in my basil the other day when I was picking some to make spagetti sauce...it is so maddening. They are starting to nibble on the leaves of my jalapeno pepper plants as well. My husband will be so disappointed if we don't get a yeild from these and they go to the bugs! Jalapenos and cilantro were his only two requests from my veggie garden. Marigolds were his one request from my annual garden and they are being eaten to nearly nothing at all. He is most disappointed as he picked out some really unusual varieties of marigolds this year. Thanks for the info everyone!

sandas, where are you in W. Richland? We are up on Bird Hill near the new Yoke's. It is so awesome having a grocery store literally a one minute drive away!

-Stacey

I can't believe your dogs leave kibble behind. My two dogs are fed separately, then they go and lick each others bowls! Not a spare kibble to be seen.

Holy cow...I had no idea that the earwigs would eat pepper plants.

I was thinking the same thing. I have to feed one dog outside while the other is kept inside. Then she comes in, the other goes out and eats his. After licking Kenzie's bowl. Then when he's done, Kenzie goes back out to lick Tag's bowl. LOL I am always amazed at people who have dogs that won't eat themselves to death.

Gwen

LOL Gwen. Kenzie and Tag sound just like Duke and Dutch.

Not only do they clean their kibble bowls, but they also make sure the kitchen floor is dog-lickin' clean!

No kibble left behind here. If a cat should drop a bite out of it's mouth or bowl the dog is waiting there like Jaws to consume! Ditto for the dinner table.

Marigolds are just torment to grow in slug country. I swear I've planted wonderful bushy plants in the ground one day (before becoming enlightened) and found only slimy stalks in the a.m.- all leaves and buds/blooms magically disappear. The only way to grow them is off the ground HIGH on a deck or hanging planter, or with tons of slug bait as a soil amendment at lower levels. The smart businessman/woman would make slug bait out of marigold parts!

One of my dogs detests dog food so he tends to leave it except when my husbands adds good stuff like leftover spagetti or bacon grease. The other one (a fat golden retriever) waits to see if Tully is planning on finishing his dinner before she even thinks about digging into her bowl. She is on food for fat dogs and doesn't think much of it! It's not working I might add; she is fatter than ever.
I did find some sort of caterpillar or worm on some of the petunias. Maybe they are working in tandem with the earwigs. The front garden bed is a little pathetic looking with all these critters having a feast each night!
-Stacey

designmom i live down the hill behind the cop shop right now i'm just trying to keep things alive with three pinched nerves in my neck and a vertabrea that has decided to do its own thing.
i finaly gave up and used some seven because i found the earwigs in my torch lily that i grew from seed three years ago. i've found that the pesky things love to hide in sweet william then come out for their meals when no one is around. BUT I WILL RULE AND WIN THE BATTLE hehe

In early to mid spring you can see tiny things running around. Get them then! Keep an eye out for them. I can't stand those buggers.