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fairy_toadmother

i quit!!!!! need moral support

fairy_toadmother
18 years ago

that is it! i am not planting any more seeds this year and probably not next year! i have tried,tried, tried to go organic. i hate using chemicals of any kind, including plant based. however, the earwigs are going to eat out my very existence. someday someone will look in a school yearbook and see a hole where my photo used to be.

they started at decimating my chamomile. from there, half of my sunflower seedlings are gone, my cucumber seedlings are gone, my squash seedlings are nearly gone, now i know why i never saw my carrots. even the furthest dream has occured: earwigs have also been eating my marigolds and lamb's ears! they will soon start on my tomatoes and popcorn, i am sure. most of my decoratives have little damage, except the lamb's ears, chamomile and marigolds. i planted the marigolds and dill attempting to repel things. obviously, earwigs are not to be stopped. i have placed out traps but there are too many things. my yard will be tin can alley. the trap next to my chamomile has not deterred them in the least.

i am ranting, but PLEASE help. i live in town, so chickens are out of the question. i know it is earwigs b/c i am the one who goes out a 1 am with a flashlight seeing brown moving masses where the leaf should be. they are soooo thick i stomp about 20 before i get off the patio. they are like overpopulated deer grazing on everything else b/c they already ate what they are supposed to. whoever heard of anything eating lamb's ears? aaaaaahhhhhhh!!!!!!!!

Comments (74)

  • vstech
    18 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I saw this in another post:
    RE: Getting rid of earwigs

    * Posted by: Kimmsr 4a/5b-MI (My Page) on Mon, May 23, 05 at 17:32

    Most likely earwigs are not your problem.

    Here is a link that might be useful:

    Here is a link that might be useful: Earwigs

  • fairy_toadmother
    Original Author
    18 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    carolinakate, i am not reall;y saying the bird poop is the cause, but certainly adds to it.

    hello, adam. dh mows the grass, can't really say how short but if it starts looking too long for a golf course he is ready to mow. 2-3 times a week in growing weather. when it gets hot and dry it doesn't get mown as much b/c grows slower. not scalped though, just trim,neat-look. we don't water the lawn and i rarely water the vegie garden or flowerbeds. i do have a soaker hose. i shouldn't say rarely! if i am trying to sprout seeds i TRY to keep the seeded (area only) moist. i have ran my soaker maybe twice since i planted. not since, since things are gone. now, i water my tomato individually. we had some rain, but now it is dry again. that really doesn't describe things well,huh.

    mosses are not growing in the backyard where my major problem is- only on the fence not on the ground. the yard gets sun from prenoon to afternoon in diff areas. basically, full sun to part shade for vegies.

    as is yours, ours is c/a whole house unit, so it has to drain. i thought that could be a problem for that area. this is across the yard from the vegies. just another contributing factor to the big picture, i suppose. i used to let it drip so i could get young plants a better start with the moisture. i will certainly try the saucer thing (if i can fight the jungle of daylilly :) )

    i don't know if the kiss me....plant is thick. mine isn't. i get a short stalk here and there. they are only 6 inches tall right now. they only got 2-3 feet tall last year. supposed to be larger. i think this section of the border gets more shade than the c/a end, so that is probably why they remain small? my sweet alyssum "mat" that forms certainly gives them hiding places. could you be thinking of love lies bleeding? that i did grow one year. it is exactly as you described. it got so heavy i had to stake it up.

    echinacea bed in #1, planted too close. full sun to part sun. i do not water it, i let nature do it. loads of iris that needs to be thinned. this is on the south edge of the veggie at the start of the wooden fence. the other one is in a full sun garden (approx) that is sparsely planted b/c it used to be shade till the tree was cut and turned my shadeplants into french fries. however, at this time of year, my shade plants that are there are up close and personal with this plant as well. this is the plant that has less earwig damage and is north of the shed. it does not sit as close to the fence as the other one.

    i always thought m;y veggie bed is full sun, except for right next to the shed. it receives reflected light off of the shed south wall as well (light colored, not dark). i have never measured or stuck around long enough to time the sun. i know it is in sun prenoon. i work afternoons and is still sun when i leave at 2:30 and longer. at 7 am, the sun is starting to encroach on the shade and get over the trees. we have maple trees all over the neighborhood that casts shade.

    frustrating? YOU KNOW IT!

    unfortunately, i like plants. so i plant things that end up sheltering the "uglies" my plastic garbage cans are never near my gardens. the covers are snapped down, and all year they have been pretty much empty. no water collecting.

    i will have to check on when the sun hits the ligonberry bed. even though there is a maple tree there, it gets pretty hot and dry. beds are somewhat raised b/c i added to the existing soil. next year will probably be settled some. i am rarely in the backyard prenoon. if i am not asleep (stay up all night) i am at school come fall semester or an appointment. since i cannot see it from the kitchen window, it is out of mind. i will have towork on this one.

    the siding doesn't appear to be wet. our gutters drain well and away from the house. but, lots of hiding places behind the siding! things are slowing down around the house perimeter (dh chemical man). good suggestion! it was just installed last year or the year before. this section is also an addition (along the ligon bed). slab foundation though!

    yes, the earwigs were on the fence in the green mossy stuff. there isn't any substance to it, but that is what it has to be. athey appeared to be eating it. the further to the corner you got, where the feeder used to sit, the thicker the earwigs got. i couldn't believe the numbers. there is also 2 cedar trees along here on the neighbors side. one thing i noticed, cedar doesn't faze them a bit. i ahven't seen their side of the fence, but next time i get a chance i have been wanting to talk to him about it. i don't believe he has any other feeders up. i overheard him about a month ago to the other neigbor that the birds ate his pepper plants so he took the feeder down. hmmmmmmmmmm. birds, or are they just the scapegoat.

    oh, i have a sadistic joy when i have my soapy water :) they twist and contort nicely. sounds terrible, but true. i would never cause pain to anything really, unless it is a cockroach, slug,, tick or earwig. i even tried to save an earthworm that was in the wrong place at the wrong time and ws trying to high tail it out of there. (soapy water). i rinsed it off and let it go in the grass(no worries from sun 1 am). i ahve some diatomaceous earth. i don't think i will do the dustbuster. i am suspicious that my spray bottle is waking up one of the neighbors young children. they had their windows open.

    i am finding some small ones at this time. i hpe this is the last phase. the males i found definitely look like the european species. we ahve all kinds of crevices where the ground pulls away from teh foundation and patio. i have always known this as a problem, but i never knew the fence issue (never had to). i jsut know my neighbor is going to look at me like i am nuts. i also think he overheard me negatively remarking about his tree-topping (cutting off the entire top), so we shall see his reaction. i found a couple of dead earwigs when i went out last night. i am hoping it is from the ecobran. but, today, dh told me he sprayed the fence (ortho wicked stuff). so, it may not be from the ecobran. i received this from plantet natural. it contains 2% cabaryl. i read the label and got concerned about effects. but, at 2% should't be too bad, i hope. i am not sure how moisture affects it. it is a flake from grain type flour for the earwigs to munch. i only shook it in the beds and not the grass (spreader clogged b/c grass to long right now and dewpoint). oh, they also eat the dead earwigs that are lying around. i don't know if soapy water death or ecobran consumee remains to kill the consumer.
    i heard about the introduction of the parasite in california for european earwigs. don't know about illinois. i do believe we ahve had one of he DRIEST springs. i wondered if that was the problem- needing moisture so lush greens provided.

    good idea with row cover material until they can get big enough to withstand an onslaught. i ahve been running this through my head on a design that they wouldn't get through. it would need to be individual covers on a frame i think. i saw the cloth to keep out "moths." i am skeptical that anything could keep an insect off a plant.

    thank you so much, you have been very helpful and understanding, not scoffing, etc...

    i ahve been following the other thread as well. good luck on getting a garden going where you wnat it.

  • AdamM321
    18 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago


    Yes...you described it fine... :-) Sounds like you are keeping your grass a good height and not watering too much so I wouldn't think you were creating some problem there.

    As for your sun/part sun conditions. I have a similar yard. Maples all over the neighborhood and more part shade than full sun. I have done some thinking and planning on about the sun recently as we were renovating and adding new shrubs. I have very few places with "full sun". I used to think 6 hrs was full sun, but I was corrected by others that full sun is more like 8-10 hrs of sun. I have mapped my yard basically a long time ago to see how much sun I get. Most of my yard gets about 3 -4 hrs of sun, which surprised me, I thought it was more. The part that is along the foundation of our house faces east and the sun doesn't hit it till between 11am and 12noon, but by 3-4pm the shade is already there. This year I mapped again in our back border which faces east and the sun is there early in the morning like 6:30am, but one corner directly under the dripline of a large silver maple is already in dappled shade a couple of hours later and half the border only gets 2 hrs of sun due to shade from trees. One good size section has sun till 11am. That is still only 4.5 hrs of sun. My veggies are in sun only 7 hrs and they do okay but that is just barely full sun. You will help yourself out a lot to take the time to measure the sun in different areas. It just means observing and recording the times the sun hits each bed and leaves each bed. This takes some time and is different at different times of year.

    On the siding question...I was not thinking the siding was wet, but I wondered about UNDER the siding, you usually have the old wood siding and water can get under the vinyl siding if there is a problem. If your gutters are fine and water draining away from the house, then you are probably ok in that department.

    My best guess would be that the area where the feeder and the fence with something green on it may be the problem areas for you. I can't think of any other suggestions. I hope something you try helps. If you continue to have problems, the only other thing I can think of is that you find some help locally. A nursery that is super helpful and might come out and take a look at your yard and advise you, a friend who gardens or a local group...a gardening group or master garden program. Here in Mass, we have lots of resources, the MASS Hort society, the New England Wildflower Society, etc. I have called a number of places and gotten lots of generous people's help. If you can't find somewhere locally, take some photos of your yard and the fence and the bugs and the damage and post them to the forum and maybe some experienced gardener can spot something you didn't. It is a puzzle. If you don't have a digital camera, I am pretty sure you can even get a disposable camera and have them develop it onto something that goes on the computer.

    There are also a few other groups besides Garden Web. I have had help on Organic Gardening List a number of times. There is quite an experienced group there.

    There is also a group called Gardening Organically. Again, some very knowledgeable and commited people on that list. If you do a Google search, you can locate both these groups.

    The cover material can be placed around the bed and you can anchor it with soil all around it to attempt to keep the bugs out. I know it works for squash bugs. As a matter of fact, I think you have to take them off by the time they start blossoming because the bees can't get in to pollinate.

    Hope that helps. You have my sympathies and just hope you can get on top of it soon.

    Adam

  • fairy_toadmother
    Original Author
    18 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    regarding siding, we had the old asbestos tile siding (yikes). i believe we had that removed, then house wrapped with stuff that looks similar to landscape fabric that allows air and moisture to pass through. otherwise, insulation, osb or plywood (not sure which), and wall studs. not sure how to tell if it is wet without taking siding off. there are no telltale signs, so hopefully it is dry. our gutters are also new and we had cleaned them after the maple heli's dropped. hmmmmm. we have a drain incorporated into the patio when it was poured. the downspout enters at one of the inside house corners and runs through a pvc drain to the grass. hiding place? i just realized this could be a fair toad shelter...if only...

    i dare say that the earwigs may have peaked and are now slowing down. but, i took the last 2 nights off from earwig patrol. i am sure cleaning off the moss from the fence would help. unsure about moss killers. personally, i like the looks of moss, so hopefullly there is a level "we" can compromise. i like rocks and the thought of a pond, so i have to take everything else with it if i decide to continue. i would like to think that this is just a "peak year" for earwigs and next year will be less, but it seems every year there is more, so it must be our lay out. i dread the thought of using chemicals in hopes that an amphibian will return to my yard (and other consequences)!

    thanks for that tip on covering the fabric with dirt. i would think once things are ready to bloom they could withstand some earwig damage, especially if the numbers get under control. shhhhhhh, don't tell them, i now have 2 new sunflowers trying to grow, and the squash are starting to break the soil line. numbers do seem lower in the vegie area. my popcorn hasn't been damaged much more, and my good tomato has less visitors, i think.

    my ligons received sun b/t noon and 1 today to start. shade was only from the eave of the house at noon (@ 1 ft.) and was gone by 1. off to work at 2:30, but i know the sun is very intense at this time of day. i rethought the vegie and the small flower area to its south edge. full sun, i am pretty sure. the east of the shed with the hostas get more sun this time of year, enough to burn the tips of the hostas, but not enough to grow nice lavendar. hostas give thick shady shelter though. i used to have ajuga until i saw how much the slugs loved it. it came out! takes over anyway.

    i will admit that i have been lazy at mapping my yard. i don't like to conform. i just never got into those details and planted what would fall in between. now i pay for it. i am maturing: never was interested in starting a garden journal either until this year. for my poor memory from one year to the next, i need one to remind me when i should have done things, what i used, and when. scenario for next year: was it july or august that the earwigs pop exploded? :) this would also be a good place to add overlays of garden plans and sun exposure.

    thank yo for all your help and the other organizations. i have 5 day short vacation this week. hope to get to work on some if these issues. i will also be away from the cpu.

  • fairy_toadmother
    Original Author
    18 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    this could be another flag, or a correlation anyway:

    this year, i also have an overabundance of boxelder bugs. i have boxelder nymphs by the hundreds, if not thousands. i had never seen the nymphs before. the numbers i have made me collect some and take to the extension service for identification. this fall....

    at this point, they don't bother me. i know they feed also be sucking plant juices (at least the nymphs), but the plants i have found them on do not show the effects. somehow, our yard became the perfect nursery.

  • zucchini
    18 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    WoW..what a post!! I read some, but there is toooo much to read..I do know that earwigs are in abuncance one year and not another...My plants are being eaten like crazy this year..the beans that finally have leaves..are chewed up, the basil..well forget about it, and I grew it indoors from seed along with my tomatoes..lettuce gone, cucumbers gone, zucchini leaves chewed, even my hot peppers have had their leaves chewed up..tonight I put out petri dishes of beer..so if it is slugs I will see them..last year I found that the earwigs drowned in the beer too...I sprinkle ashes on all the leaves and use a soapy/oil/water mixture...this is my worst year ever..all tomato plants have spots on their leaves or yellow, or curling...I refuse to use chemicals...but I do yell at the bugs..hey they don't hear me! I am ready to give up too..but have to put things in perspective. I plant veggies (over 120 tomato plants) because I love the process..I know I would miss doing it..and hopefully I will find what I can grwo with less problems. My garlic looks good...You are not alone...
    ;-) Martha/zucchini

  • AdamM321
    18 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Hi fairy toadmother...

    Sounds like you are doing a little better. :-) I just have to say that from your posts it is easy to see that you are very interested in your garden. And it sounds like you have a lot of energy to spend on it.

    As for the mapping and the journal, I didn't do the mapping for quite awhile when I first started gardening and only when I found I was making mistakes with placement I finally did it. It is time consuming and you have to have a few sunny days to watch the patterns all day.

    As for the journal, it is a great idea. I still don't keep one. *sigh* I know I should. I start one every once in awhile and then get distracted and busy and forget to keep it up. Well, thanks for the reminder...maybe it is time to pick up the old journal I started a few years back and try it again. See, you encouraged me to do better!

    Keep plugging away and give yourself a pat on the back. You are a committed, hard worker and I hope it pays off for you. Enjoy your garden this year.

    :-)
    Adam

  • organica
    18 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Fairytoad:
    For some reason, perhaps unknowable, you have an imbalance in your garden environment. We had something like it 10 years ago when we started ours - slugs, slugs, slugs. We went outside every night for a couple of hours with a flashlight and bowl of soapy water. The numbers were overwhelming. Stick with it and your persistence will cut the population down to manageable levels. It might take a few seasons but you will succeed. In the meantime, work on creating a healthy soil.

    I can't remember if someone pointed out that earwigs generally prefer eating decaying matter. So an overly clean garden can spur them onto your plants. Best of luck.
    --O

  • fairy_toadmother
    Original Author
    18 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    i can't believe i am such an idiot! i found a couple of nest or roost areas. at the south end of the fence on the veggie and 4x4 bed is a utility pole on the neighbors side of the fence. lucky for me, it is chainlink right there. i finally shined my flashlight into the deep, 3+feet long, and 1/8-1/4 inch wide crack. i thought about it before but was concentrating on my plants. now that things were seemingly getting under control, i found my refocus (i am sorry if i repeat myself).

    i squirted my soapy water in there, and they just kept runnning out, seemingly endlessly AGAIN. now, i cannot believe my eyes: albinos! tell me they are just shedding their "skin"! actually, the pole was after my other idiotic move. on the north fence running east west dh has a deer target. i had dreaded opening that up! i moved it away from the fence and found the first albinos. opened up the deer and more hundreds of earwigs! i found a third SET of "albinos" were they had been feeding on the mossy part of the fence. i have NEVER seen any of these before. they were large, seemingly see-through, with black eyes. even the pinchers were white. no literature says anything about "queens" like termites. yikes!

    adam, thank yo for saying i am a committed, hard worker. personally, i think it is more like obsessed and i need to be committed! i am a night person with no children, so these things are crawling around in my mind and i have to feel like i am doing someting about it! (had a nice mini bonfire the other day :) nope, not the fence, but idiot me with an old log 24x10" in my veggie area that i wanted to keep to grow mushrooms on. i really have gone over the edge. every earwig that was chased out with the hot flame was further seared with a hot poker at my hand! it slow burned for hours until i had to go in to bed. i almost got the marshmallows out. see what a day off from work can do for you?

    organica, thank you for the support and fair warning to look for the less obvious!

    i have my first set of true leaves on my new resewn cukes, squash, and sunflowers! they hadn't made it to this point until now. shhhhhhh YIPPPPEEEEEEEE! situation improving and hopeful!

    thank you, everyone for the support! it has kept me from quitting.

    i never did get the ecobran spread on the lawn, but i believe the sprinkling in the beds have helped along with the pickings. they definitely eat it, since the stuff is still in my spreader and there are dead earwigs that had crawled in there to feed. it is covered enough to keep my critters out, also.

  • AdamM321
    18 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Glad things are looking up. :-) It figures that there were some sort of major nests. Otherwise, it just didn't sound like you had any plants or moisture problems that would draw them in such numbers. I hope you can do something with the areas you found the nests in. Is there a possibility that you can "caulk" the crevices/cracks that they are nesting in?

    Glad to hear you have growing veggies..[g] It would be a shame if you didn't get some benefit from the garden this year, after all your hard work. Glad you are hanging in there!

    :-)
    Adam

  • K
    18 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I've thought about you every time I see an earwig. I am so happy for you!
    K.

  • fairy_toadmother
    Original Author
    18 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    carolinakate, how funny for my memory to live on in an earwig (did you smoosh it at the same time? :) that would leave it easy prey for the birds. i have actually seen the european house sparrows (whispered, of course, this "dirty word" in some circles) come down to the fence in the morning and eat the dead ones i sprayed. i began to worry about residual soap on their digestive systems. a major reason why i prefer no chemicals.

    adam, i must thank you again for stating the "obvious." i would have never thought about caulking those cracks! it really helps to have someone pick my brain, as well. i have even taken the nights off from earwig patrol! now, that says a lot.

    our indoor earwigs are increasing in numbers again, so i believe the other hatch is migrating. of course, this makes me keep an eye on leaves. it has been very hot here, so i try to observe from the kitchen window.

  • AdamM321
    18 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Fairytoadmother...if you are getting them in the house, I would bet there is some fairly obvious entry for them. Either they can come in under the door or there is a crack in the foundation or something. See if you can spend some time watching their coming and going to figure out where they are coming in. I did this with ants and didn't get any back this year. If you can figure it out, you can also caulk any obvious cracks and if it is under the kitchen door, you can add a metal sweeper to the bottom of the door that will keep them out. I also have heard other people say that laying that line of borax around the foundation or across the landing outside the kitchen door really made a difference. Do a Gardenweb search on borax and you can read some of the posts on the topic.

    Take a walk around the foundation of your house and see if there is any evidence of insect entry or any obvious cracks in the foundation. Also, do you have plantings right up to the house? Try pruning back any shrub branches touching the house, etc.

    With the ants...they can be attracted by crumbs or sugars or oils. With earwigs, I think it is moisture that attracts them. Could you have a leaky pipe anywhere? Water from the shower getting on the floor and seaping into the cracks on the floor? Damp towels? Moisture in the basement? We have no water in the basement, but in the summer it does get moist on the walls if we get a lot of rain, so we run a dehumidifier nonstop in the summer and are having to empty it every day.

    Adam

  • K
    18 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Yes, of course I smash them! It's like eating all your food for the starving children in [name your mother's favorite country to cite]. "Don't let that earwig get away! Do you know what fairy_toadmother is going through with earwigs in Illinois?!"
    Again, glad to hear things are getting under control.
    Adam, I never thought to look for cracks in the house to caulk. You may have helped me solve my perennial ant problem!
    Thanks.
    K.

  • fairy_toadmother
    Original Author
    18 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    lol!! K.

    adam, we definitely have a moisture issue in the bathroom. mostly, we find them along the ceiling of all places (and the floor). they like to hitch a ride on the outside door so they can drop in when you open it. or, drop on your head which is always a joy. things are better though. the front door was one of their nests(?) or hiding spots in the crevice b/t the new siding and new storm door. i am sure the foundation/ concrete slab has entrance cracks. there is also the big gap in the back storm door step and doorway. oh, and that one is up about 6 inches from the patio with a metal sweeper. during the beginning of this dilemma, i was spraying here constantly with mixes of cedar, bay, etc. it only repelled my cat. it has been about a month and he still acts like he wants in but something is offending his nose :)

    did i mention that i have another theory, speaking of ants? i understand that ants follow phermone trails or something like that. i honestly believe that earwigs do also! as an example, there is one spot by the (in the house) chair @ 4 feet up the wall. while sitting, one crawls up and we remove/kill the little *****. it isn't long before another is there. this goes on, and they are very consistent. so, i am sure they follow trails. there is nothing on this wall to attract them. i second the moisture as an attraction as well.

    i wish i had a basement!

  • Miss_Mudcat
    18 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Dear fairy_toadmother,
    I hope what I am about to say is not too repetative. I didn't read through all of the responses that you've gotten already, but I wanted to tell you about my similar experience and what I did to end it.

    I lived in Wisconsin at the time, in an old (100 years) house with a slightly damp basement. I had my garden in the small sunny spot in my backyard, which was surrounded by lots of shade and dampness. I gardened organically, and as you know, mulch, mulch, mulch is the mantra! I agree that mulching is a VERY good thing, and I do it now that I live elsewhere, but one thing is certain - DO NOT USE MULCH when you have earwigs! You must clear out all mulch, and dust mercilessly with D.E. (Diatomaceous Earth). I don't know what your environment is like there, but you may never be able to use mulch. If you reduce the earwig population this year, I wouldn't recommend using mulch next year and perhaps only very cautiously the following year.

  • fairy_toadmother
    Original Author
    18 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    miss mudcat, thank you, you are very right, it seems! they had been leaving my strawberries alone lately,, but the tower grants lots of hiding places. well, the heat had been taking its toll so i laid some straw "on top." it has been a couple of weeks, but coincidence or not, they were all over them 2 nights ago. it could also have been the second seasonal emergence, too.

    also, under my honeysuckle is loads of fallen leaves that i have left. well, this same night i found the little sneakers in it. the problem is, if i pour soapy water for the earwigs, the worms are attracted to the same area and start heading for the hills. :( i hate it when that happens. i am also very careful not to squirt a sleeping bumblebee on my echinacea. i am worrying that it has a residual effect for the next day. i am afraid to find out.

  • ocdgardener
    18 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Wow - Long thread with Long messages. --- I haven't read them all. Just want to say - hang in there organically. I know when I first started it seemed like nothing would get rid of all my pests - whitefly, aphids, .... Now after a few years I rarly see "bad" bugs. I think the longer you are organic the better your little part of the world becomes. Don't give up on being organic!!! The earth will thank you!!!

  • jen28
    18 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    fairy toadmother,

    I feel your pain! Those nasty creatures have eaten everything I put in the ground! This is my first attempt at gardening and I mulched the heck out of everything because its so hot here. Once I went out at night and found the culprits I removed all the mulch and put out beer traps - I get hundreds every night. I also cleaned up around the garden area - I had a lot of weeds and with my bad back I just couldn't keep up. I found a big nest when I started thinning my overgrown rhubarb. I dusted the heck out of it with diatemaceous earth and the numbers seem to have dropped drastically. And to think I blamed the poor birds for eating all my strawberries! These earwigs are worse than roaches, and I'm from Florida - that's saying a lot!

  • fairy_toadmother
    Original Author
    18 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    *big shudder*
    cockroaches, yhiiiick.
    i have put in many hours and it has paid off! i received a lot of help and ideas here for which i am very thankful! i also think i caught up by the second emergence just in time. now, i probably get migrators from neighboring yards and from nests i didn't find. there is always one.
    trying, trying, trying to keep organic principles in my yard! if only i could have a bantam!

  • granite
    18 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Check your city ordinances....one bantam is a "pet", usually the restrictions are against having a flock of fowl.

  • celestial
    18 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I just placed 3 traps last night (all homemade -- just empty liter soda bottles w/ hole cut in side, filled w/ some maple syrup, soy sauce, oil and water -- set on side, place either againt rock or in a shallow hole so no tipping) this morning, they were FULL of the little buggars (bye bye earwigs) Gives me a warm fuzzy feeling :)

    -Celeste (was at the "I quit" point too until this morning.)

  • fairy_toadmother
    Original Author
    18 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    oh, celeste, isn't it wonderful??!!

    granite, i did wonder about "pet" isssues??? hmmmm, where was that farmer's ad? :)

  • budnspuds
    18 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I haven't had time to read all the responses but I just purchased a book called Grandmother's Critter Ridder book by Dr. Myles H Bader on QVC one day and I looked up earwigs.

    Here are some things listed:

    It says:

    "They are very beneficial since they enjoy feasting on aphids and many other pest bugs. They clean up a lot of decayed materials and are active at night. When they are cleaning up the leaves and such, they find pests and kill them. If you don't want them around they can be eliminated using one of the following methods.

    Safety first: If they get in the house, one of the best repellants is to use diatomaceous earth place around baseboards and windowsills. This will last a long time and still be an effective natural killer.

    Daily News to the Rescue: If you want to trap earwigs, just lightly spray a newspaper with water and then roll it up loosely and place it near an area that you have earwig activity. Allow it to remain overnight, then remove it and place it into a well-sealed container for disposal. Since they are beneficial this is only used inside a house.

    Oiling An Earwig: To make an earwig trap, just use a straight-sided container and fill it half full with canola oil. Leave wherever the problem exists and clean out whenever it has sufficient earwigs in it. The oil can be re-used. Use only if you are overrun with them.

    Give them a home: If you place a small amount of dry moss in a few matchboxes and hang them from sticks around the plants they will climb up in them to spend the night and you can dispose of them every morning.

    Bantam Hens love Earwigs: Bantam hens will hunt for earwigs all day and will consume large quantities of them as well as other pests. They may peck at a few pieces of veggies or fruit but they do more good than harm."

    What is so ironic is today my husband emailed me from work and said he was grossed out. His tag on his shirt was bugging him today so he went to check it out and there was an earwig with his tail in the air ready to bite him. He was so grossed out because we never see them in our house and wonder how it got in his clean and folded shirt in the house. Now we will be shaking out our clothes. ;)

  • fairy_toadmother
    Original Author
    18 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    hey, sounds like a very interesting book! i will see if my library can get it.
    thanks so much! i have had to shake my clothes many times before dressing.

  • paulns
    18 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    If you leave your clothes on the line overnight the earwigs are liable to get in them. Next day you fold them with the laundry. We always check clothes inside out, esp. the seams, before bringing them in. Really is nothing sacred. :)

  • loraditch
    17 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    If your problem is as simple as earwigs then your answer is simple too. Just plant Marigold flowers in between your plants. Earwigs can't stand the smell of marigolds.

  • fairy_toadmother
    Original Author
    17 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    loraditch, thank you for the suggestion. also, interesting that you should mention marigolds. i did plant them b/t my rows and the earwigs ate the blooms first and then the foliage!

  • boxbeast
    17 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Virtually everything I've read about earwigs lists marigolds as one of their preferred meals.

  • jmtern
    17 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    oh, dear...i can SO relate! i have eight cats (indoors w/ a run); three dogs; fish (in a pond); and a finch. i think i can stand one more critter, and i see a hen in our future.

    (too bad i can't put that bratty finch to work--lol.)

  • prairiemoon2 z6b MA
    17 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    ftm...little did I know that when I was trying to help you with the earwigs last year, that I would have them bad this year. *sigh* What was different this year than last? Rain, rain, rain and mulch, mulch, mulch.

    I have not had the energy to really attend to them, so I have let them run rampant. I am sure I will be sorry next year, but I just couldnt' keep up with them.

    Marigolds...YES, the same thing happened to me. I had these really bushy plants but no bloom? ! Flashlight in hand, I discovered earwigs eating the buds.

    They also had a feast on the cucumber leaves, but I am letting them, since I have more cucumbers than I can eat right now and the vines are looking pretty bad and I want to pull them all out soon. So eating the cukeleaves seems to be keeping down damage in other parts of the yard.

    I tried the rolled up newspapers and found none in them. I haven't tried the soysauce/oil mixture. Maybe I will give it a try this weekend.

    ftm, what did you find was the most effective measures you took and how are they this year? Did you have a lot of rain there too?

    PM2 [aka, adamm321]
    :-)

  • fairy_toadmother
    Original Author
    17 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    oops, sorry i took so long! you weren't trying, you DID help me!

    i can't compare this year to last year. first, i am not growing much of anything in my veggie garden this year due to lack of time. i have two sunflowers...the rest didn't germinate. i am pretty sure about that b/c i should have found stem stumps at least. borage and cilantro reseeded on their own. i have noticed more slugs than last year, BUT we have had much more rain as you. speaking of borage, as bristly as they are i cannot believe the way earwigs were dining on them.

    i have noticed that once the plant is mature, they can deal with being eaten. they still ate on my lavendar blooms- another curiosity. lavendar is such a fragrant plant, but so is the cilantro and they get after that. they still devour my kiss me over the garden gate down to stems.

    what i think helped the most, besides cleaning out that old stump, was going out every night with dish soap spray in hand. i will also credit the ecobran that i treated the lawn with. i purchased this from planet natural. i didnt treat the lawn with it this year, but i do think i hav less earwigs than last. i am guessing though. at first i thought i had almost no problems. i based this on the fact that none of my clematis blooms were eaten. i then decided that it bloomed earlier this year, or the earwigs emerged later.

    i also had not noticed them stacked like sardines around the door or like cockroaches on the siding. but, dh used pesticide around the house exterior as soon as they started to come in. he also spot sprayed the fence that they dine on. now, i bet if i cleaned off that moss they would go elsewhere. the neighbor still has the birdfeeder up and i find them in my squirrel feeder. my biggest attach is every few days i spray soapy water into the crevices of the utility pole. they still pack like sardines in there but i find less each month. however, i am on midnight shift now and so haven't assessed the situation in a month.

    i am being optimistic and think that my efforts made a difference for this year. unfortunately, they have not recognized my "do not cross this fence" warning and still come from the neighboring yards.

    the only place i used ecobran this year was in the flower beds. i sprinkled it just after the first earwig emergence and a couple times more b/c it kept raining. i don't recall sprinkling more when the males emerged, but i know dh sprayed again with that stuff you dont mention here.

    btw, it says grasshopper bait, but it works. they even crawled into my spreader, ate what was there, and died.

    Here is a link that might be useful: planet natural

  • fairy_toadmother
    Original Author
    17 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    well, i have another dilemma to add! my kiss me over the garden gate feeds the earwigs like kings. why do they like it so much? so, i thought i would pull but i like it this time of year.

    new dilemma, same plant, diff bug. first time this year- ever! i now have jap beetles. i find them on the kiss me. but, i find them nowhere else? perhaps i should keep it as a trap plant?

  • prairiemoon2 z6b MA
    17 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Hi ftm :-)

    Sorry I forgot I made this post..lol. I was just posting about a new bug in the yard and noticed this post again. Well, for some reason the earwigs in the yard have certainly calmed down. At least I am just not seeing any damage and I have no idea why. I didn't do anything.

    I found that I had checked the rolled up newspaper too soon. They actually did hide in there and as long as I kept them wet and then scooped them all up into grocery bags and threw them out, they worked pretty well. I could have done quite a few more rolls, if I had the time. So for someone else who has this problem, the newspaper rolls, once you give them about a week for the bugs to discover them, will trap them and you can scoop them up and throw away in the morning and put out more that night. I haven't tried the soy sauce routine. I have no idea why they like one plant over another. They did in my yard too.

    Gosh, sorry to hear you have Japanese Beetles, but they are usually pretty slow to just flick them into a container of water. I would just try to keep hand picking. I can't imagine that you would need it as a trap plant, only because there are so many other plants they seem to love too, unless you would rather they eat the KMOTGG over other plants. But maybe it is a draw to your yard too?

    Sorry to hear you didn't get to vegetable garden this year. Maybe you needed a break from it too. [g]

    thanks for the response. :-)

  • fairy_toadmother
    Original Author
    17 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    glad to hear things are improving. they are probably calming down also since the second wave/ male earwig emergence is past. now, it is just catch up. i haven't been out to see what is going on out there. you are right in my needing a break! what i have out there is doing just awful as well! oh well. survival of the fittest :)

    i am keeping a bowl of soapy water available to drop the jb's into.

    hoping you harvest is bountiful :)

  • whitejade
    17 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Hi ftm ,

    I have some thoughts / ideas that are out of the box from regular gardening principles but thought I'd share them for whatever you may find them to be worth....the largest thing I've noted over my years of gardening is that insects are great teachers of personal boundaries. As in OUR personal boundaries. What happens in our yard, in some way, at some level, is a play on things happening within us in other words. You don't mention as to whether your neightors are experiencing this nightmare with earwigs as well.....and of course any practices that increase moisture and shade will be great for slugs and earwigs...but...that is just a surface example of outer landscape mechanics really. What's going on in the inner landscape? Inside US?

    So taking this from an outdoor , gardening / house perspective to one of an inner perspective could shed light on items you are working on personally - and this can and does span years usually, depending on what we are doing. When you make your peace with whatever is happening within, then you will likely find less earwigs too...

    Most people think this is crazy talk, that there is no real way an insect infestation could be related to their inner emotional states or to a learning curve in setting personal boudnaries. But I see that this is actaully so quite often. The "Dragons" we face in our outer life are a reflection of what we are doing inside. And as we come to grips with and work on those things within, then we will find long term solutions for the outer happenings too. Far more easily / naturally than we'd otherwise find...you are expending a lot of energy (or were, before taking this year off of veggies) and research and such to deal with this problem. So from my life, here's what I find....when I shore up the emotional sdistress I have been either trying to deny or petulantly pushing away, then , like the next day, I will magically figure out the solution to my problem. I will "find" THE crack to put my caulk in or I will find that we had a slow leak somehwere that was the causative factor...in other words, I will then find the basic "real world" solutions that fix things for good.

    Working on our inner landscape can almost magically resolve outer landscape problems! And we *all have these in our lives.....
    hope you find this helpful,
    Chris

  • fairy_toadmother
    Original Author
    17 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    thank you, chris, for taking the time and for that insightful post! all too true. i will have to meditate on it now ;)
    some times we just have to learn to let things "go."

    as a sidenote, i would say my neighbors are all having the same problme. as a matter of fact, the earwigs run to "their" side of the fence and are thicker on the other side from what i can tell.

  • claire23
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    The earwigs ate my marigolds, some people say they won't but I saw them at night on the plants stripping the leaves.

  • lillgardnr
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    earwigs...hummm....
    i hadnt thought of that...something ate 15 of my 30 sunflower seedlings. left just the stems sticking out of the ground...i blamed the geese, because i see them out there picking at the ground. but sure enough i did find a nest of earwigs when i was moving some rocks in the garden... i think ill head back that way with some soap...thanks for the idea...never knew what they ate.

  • riverminty
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Well, you apparently get many more earwigs then I do here. :( I rarely see them. Mostly potato bugs and worms and the like.

    But I'm also glad it's more bearable for you. :) Personally, with the expense and the work that goes into making our clay-like soil decent, I really like to grow things via pots that sit happily on our deck- the most damage that comes to them are from casually-pecking doves or birds up there. Also, most bugs seem to die in small containers of dirt. It's a limited system, but I find that they stay quite protected in their natural habitat, yet away from some other elements. *Shrug*

  • lapageria
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I so relate to this post! I started having problems with earwigs after just two years of gardening. I was told they were ok, but they kept eating EVERYTHING, specially Marigolds, butterfly bush, cone flowers and peppers. I used collars, diatomaceous earth, newspaper rolls, old hose pieces emptying them on soapy water. In the end I just went out at night with a flash light, a plastic container which I kept shaking so they could not climb, and then dumping them in the floor and stomping on them. In the end they became weaker, but I am not sure all my efforts made a dent. I started noticing these flies in the garden, stalking the earwigs at night, and apparently they inject them with larvae that eventually kills them. My garden was too new, and now the bugs have finally levelled off. I still see earwigs, but the damage is much less (fingers crossed). Hang in there, organic works, it just takes time to heal dead soil.

  • buglady_2007
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Are you sure it wasn't slugs that are eating the plants but your are seeing the earwigs? I would put out some slugbait (beer in a bowl that is buried level to the ground for organic) and see what you find.

  • lapageria
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    burglady_2007 says "Are you sure it wasn't slugs that are eating the plants but your are seeing the earwigs?"

    (Sigh) This is the normal reaction of people who have not had the earwig plague. As for any bug, none is bad until they are too many. Going out at night with a flashlight and seeing them eat your plants... and no sign of slugs, I can say I am pretty sure! Fairy toadmother, you have all my support.

  • happymomof2kids
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I know this is an old thread, but just in case someone else wonders upon it looking for help here is a totally organic solution for earwigs and other creepy crawlies. This won't work for aphids, but great against earwigs, slugs and snails.

    Go to a local Greenhouse, plant supply, or hardware store. Ask for diatomatious earth. It looks like a white powder. It is completely natural. Spread it on the surface ground around the plants. When the buggie wuggies wonder through it, it goes through their skin or ecto skeleton and kills them by drying them up. It won't harm you, but i still recommend washing it off when done applying it as I would recommend with anything anyway.

    We use to recommend this all the time at the garden center I worked at years and years ago and never had any complaints. Works wonders.

  • macheske
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Sevin works great!

  • arledgeiv_earthlink_net
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I too feel your pain. It is a constant battle with earwigs in our garden. Yes, tuna cans with oil catch some of them, but if you get 20% of 500 earwigs your garden is still going to disappear overnight. They ate 70% of my bean seedlings in 2 nights. Seedlings that were both healthy and covered with D E. They eat Diatomoaceaous Earth like salt on my plants. I've had them eat an entire adult squash plant, nothing left but the veins, overnight. Planted 12 marigolds yesterday, 3 partials left this morning . I've also removed every concievable removable shelter for them in my yard, taking out many of the sandstone rocks that were edging and landscaping. They apparently just moved out of the yard, as the plants closest to the property line have been first to get devoured. Organic gardening and making your own compost takes a ton of time and energy, and a couple hundred dollars a year between plants, water, drip system parts (it's dry around here) renting a tiller in my case, gas from collecting manure, coffee grounds and and straw, and bags and bags of D E and other attempts at controlling the pestilence. If I don't have a garden because of the rapacious earwigs then it's all wasted time and energy. So finally I threw in the towel and dusted with 7, completely defeated but not willing to not have any garden at all. I want to know what will completely turn them away and most of the posts here don't really seem to understand the unbelievable extent of the problem that I know you have. kind advice and all, roll up some wet newspapers, put out tuna cans, D E, make sure your plants are healthy, it must be your soil, etc but so far I haven't really seen anything here that approaches solving our problem. So basically what I'm saying is, "I feel ya". Freaking seven dust. but I have bean plants.

  • arledgeiv_earthlink_net
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I too feel your pain. It is a constant battle with earwigs in our garden. Yes, tuna cans with oil catch some of them, but if you get 20% of 500 earwigs your garden is still going to disappear overnight. They ate 70% of my bean seedlings in 2 nights. Seedlings that were both healthy and covered with D E. They eat Diatomoaceaous Earth like salt on my plants. I've had them eat an entire adult squash plant, nothing left but the veins, overnight. Planted 12 marigolds yesterday, 3 partials left this morning . I've also removed every concievable removable shelter for them in my yard, taking out many of the sandstone rocks that were edging and landscaping. They apparently just moved out of the yard, as the plants closest to the property line have been first to get devoured. Organic gardening and making your own compost takes a ton of time and energy, and a couple hundred dollars a year between plants, water, drip system parts (it's dry around here) renting a tiller in my case, gas from collecting manure, coffee grounds and and straw, and bags and bags of D E and other attempts at controlling the pestilence. If I don't have a garden because of the rapacious earwigs then it's all wasted time and energy. So finally I threw in the towel and dusted with 7, completely defeated but not willing to not have any garden at all. I want to know what will completely turn them away and most of the posts here don't really seem to understand the unbelievable extent of the problem that I know you have. kind advice and all, roll up some wet newspapers, put out tuna cans, D E, make sure your plants are healthy, it must be your soil, etc but so far I haven't really seen anything here that approaches solving our problem. So basically what I'm saying is, "I feel ya". Freaking seven dust. but I have bean plants.

  • tfb4me
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Have yo tried DE? Put the DE on the ground around the plants so they have to walk thru it. It will do more damage on them then in them. I don't see dusting your plants working all that well. I would think they would damage the earwigs to the point where they would stay away from your plants by choice. Worth a try.. Opps just noticed this is an old thread.

  • cold_weather_is_evil
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    You know you're replying to a message written 9 years ago?

  • timber494
    7 years ago

    EARWIGS CAN AND DO EAT MOST ANY SEEDLING OR PLANT DOWN TO JUST A NUBBIN. TAkE A TRANSPARENT PLASTIC CUP, CuT THE bottom OUT AND PUSH IT DOWN OVER THE SEEDLING, SMALL PLANT ETC. SLUGS, SN A ILS, EARWIGS, ROLY POLY'S ETC HAVE A HARD TIME CLIMBING THE PLASTIC SIDES. NEXT, SPRINKLE DE ON AND AROUND THE PLANT. WHEN YOUR PLANT HAS GROWN STRONG AND MUCH LESS TENDER, REMOVE THE CUP AND REUSE NEXT YEAR.