Earwigs... I don't want them to choose what I plant.

[justusforus]

This is one of my least favorite pests, not that any are my favorite. I choose not to grow artichoke, not because they did not grow well, not because I don't like them (they are one of my favorites) but because of what happened when I first grew and harvested a large crop.

So beautiful were the artichokes, I laid them on the counter and filled the sink with water. As they bobbed about, I notice seemingly thousands of ear wigs scurrying amongst the leaves and on to my counter tops. To this day, I have grown only "bug proof" plants. Plants with hard skins or shells and really no place for "infiltration".

I have heard of the beer traps, but is there any "magic bullet" to rid me of these pests. Any suggestions appreciated. I want to choose what to plant...and not have the bugs decide!

 

[zigs]

You can use bundles of hollow twigs, they shelter in them and you then tap them out and squash them.

Or you could put a ring of vaseline round the Artichoke flower stems before they form.

 

[TheCrazyPlantLady]

Diatomaceous earth is supposed to work well against earwigs. I've used it with great success for ants, but I've been too sporadic with my fight against earwigs to tell you whether it really works or not. And that is mainly because the earwigs are just in my flowers, and not so much in my vegetables, so I've been ignoring them.

I understand your dilemma - I find earwigs revolting. And they are very prevalent where I live, because it's so humid. I was thinking of growing corn, but then decided I didn't want to deal with the earwigs that I knew would be swarming them. I have started growing anything that I want to save from the bugs up on my deck, which is a story above the ground. They eventually find the stuff, but luckily the frogs find it too, and like living in my planters, so it's worked pretty well. I don't know if you can grow artichokes in a container or not (I've never grown it) but it's always an option.

 

[Gardener]

I understand your pain, as I also have had a similar situation, but not so severe. I was so close to cooking a slug. I grew a jalapeño in my garden and I cut it open, took out the seeds, and cut it into smaller pieces. I was about to add it into the pot when I saw a little white squirmy thing. It was a slug! I had no idea how it got in there because there were no holes from the outside. It looked like a perfect jalapeño from the outside. I stopped growing them now, just because of that, so I guess it's similar to your shocking experience.

What do you guys think? How did it get in there?

 

[TheCrazyPlantLady]

I understand your pain, as I also have had a similar situation, but not so severe. I was so close to cooking a slug. I grew a jalapeño in my garden and I cut it open, took out the seeds, and cut it into smaller pieces. I was about to add it into the pot when I saw a little white squirmy thing. It was a slug! I had no idea how it got in there because there were no holes from the outside. It looked like a perfect jalapeño from the outside. I stopped growing them now, just because of that, so I guess it's similar to your shocking experience.

What do you guys think? How did it get in there?

I think it was the slug version of Houdini. We may never know his secrets!

 

[Steverd]

One of the best earwig traps I've used is the old slug trap baited with TUNAFISH. You know these traps, You take a plastic soda bottle and cut the top 1/3 off. Turn it around and stick it into the bottom half. Make sure that this is no escape gaps or else put tape around it. If you have earwigs, they will be in that trap. For some reason they love tunafish!! Trust me on this one. It's organic and works.

 

[MindyT]

How did you find that they like tuna fish? I would have never thought of that or imagined that was possible. That's definitely a new trick to put up the sleeve!

 

[justusforus]

I will try the tuna fish/bottle trap as well. Now if they stay away from my plants along with the other tips I wll be so happy. The slug story is what really bothers me and I never want to ever see that happen. I remember when I brought in a great crop of artichoke and filled the sink with water and out came a flotilla of earwigs. There were not near the pot to be cooked but that cured me from growing them again. Until now..I will give it another try. Thanks all.

 

[ACSAPA]

It can make you lose your appetite when a gross pest is hiding in something that you were going to eat. When I used to have basil, I found a huge fat worm or caterpillar that had basically cemented itself to one of the plant's branches and I was so disgusted by its bloated, fat corpulence that I cut off half of the basil and threw it out.
I hate pests and the earwig incident that OP went through would have freaked me out.

 

[Whitewolf2578]

I understand your horror, I just harvested some of my tomatoes last night and saw a small little hole in like two of them. So I am thinking "Well a bug must have chopped on it and then moved on" Boy was I wrong, I cut them open and it was so weird, there were earwigs embedded in the flesh of the tomato. It was freaking gross.

 

[Meowmie]

I think I will cut my tomatoes open on a cutting board over the side of the sink with the garbage disposal in it from now on!

Earwigs love water, and can not back up. Use straws that have the ends pinched closed, keep the straws moist, they will crawl in and sit at the end with no way out.

 

[Chuck]

Earwigs are scavengers. They are mostly beneficial but at times do cause damage to fruits, vegetables, seedlings and flowers. They also feed on many damaging insects found in your garden. They feed on dead and decaying plant matter thereby helping the decomposition process. Personally I leave them alone unless things become unbalanced in my garden and their numbers increase to be out of proportion. If that happens I spray with Orange Oil or Spinosad. Earwigs lay their eggs in the soil so if you do not want to ever see one again put out beneficial nematodes in the early spring

 

[elo]

Earwigs are the bane of my existence! I battle them every year as they get into EVERYTHING; the bird feeder, the newspaper (in the tube!), the mail, my grill and all my beautiful flowers! They love to eat my knock out roses and dahlias most of all (nearly eating an entire plant in just a couple days!). I cut a beautiful bouquet of roses and had the same "artichoke experience" described above. Dozens of the little buggers scurrying all over my table. YUCK! I am going to invest in orange oil and diatomaceous earth immediately!