I desperately need help controlling earwigs

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JoParrott Richland, WA(Zone 7b) Jun 08, 2009

Ther are everywhere- in my pansy flowers, eating leaves from everything-dahlias, delphiniums, beans, sunflowers- I am afraid they will decimate my vegetables. Last year the few stalks of corn I had were loaded with them before I knew what they were. I have always lived in the south, and although we had lots of bugs, earwigs was not a problem. I am using carbaryl dust, granules, rotenone dust, and yet they thrive. Do they fly? If not would any sort of soil drench work? I have 50% malathion I could use- but of course not on the vegetables. Please, someone tell me there is a fix! Thanks- Jo in WA

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Pugzley Lake Elsinore, CA Jun 09, 2009

I'm no bug expert, though I should be with all of them I have over here.

I've got earwigs, too. They don't fly, but they wiggle that pincher all over the place in every direction.

They love to hide in mulch and anything that is dark and damp, so if you have anything like damp leaves or what have you, get rid of it and you will deprive them of many of their hiding places.

I took some vegetable oil, put in a drop or 2 of bacon grease and put it in small cat food cans and set them around in the garden. Tuna juice in veggie oil works, too. They crawl in and drown, but they can live for half a day under water. So make sure you dispose of them in the trash or something.

Also, you can take paper towels rolls, tp rolls or rolled up newspapers and wet them to damp. Put them around the garden, the earwigs crawl inside and love it in there. You can dump them out the next morning.

I also sprinkled some diatomecious earth around my plants on the ground and in the containers to try and ward them off. Don't know if it really works on them, but I have other chewing things, so I figured it can't hurt.

All of these things together seem to have worked. From all I've read, you'll never get rid of all of them, best thing you can do is reduce the numbers so they are not over running the garden.

I've not seen too many since doing all that for several days.

Hope this helps.

This message was edited Jun 9, 2009 2:47 PM

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ceejaytown The Woodlands, TX(Zone 9a) Jun 14, 2009

Excellent advice! Another aid can be found here: http://www.groworganic.com/item_PBR600_Slug_Saloon.html?utm_source=itl_061109&utm_medium=Newsletter&utm_content=Earwig_Trap&utm_campaign=itl_061109
It is a baited earwig trap.

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