SOB earwigs!

They're killing my plants. They don't eat any of the other potted plants just the hops. WTF? I sprinkled 7 on the leaves and around the surface of the wood chips and let it hang out all day on Monday. Then I blew off the excess because it was kind of thick and was worried about phytotoxicity when I watered over it. Well I just looked at my plants and the worst damaged leaves are almost completely eaten. So now I guess I need to rethink my plan. These bastards are everywhere around my house this year for some reason. Last year scary spiders and a scorpion, this year earwigs.

edit:

Sprinkle food grade (NOT SWIMMING POOL) diatomaceous earth all around the plants. The little buggers will walk in it and self destroy. It's like glass shards to them and most other creepy crawlies.

bosco

boscobeans said:

Sprinkle food grade (NOT SWIMMING POOL) diatomaceous earth all around the plants. The little buggers will walk in it and self destroy. It's like glass shards to them and most other creepy crawlies.

bosco

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o.k. maybe I'll try that. I know HD had some the other day. I think boric acid works too.

+1 to DE, if it rains or you water by sprinkling re-apply lightly. Shake it like baby powder, an old coffee can with holes punched in the bottom makes a good applicator. I use it for my plants, all natural, totally mechanical and no chemicals.

It can take a bit to destroy the invaders as it does not work instantaneously. However, it should do the job in one night, then continue as a preventative. Get a bit on the leaves, and around the plants.

I was under the impression that earwigs only really ate dead and rotting organic matter...

Homercidal said:

I was under the impression that earwigs only really ate dead and rotting organic matter...

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Oh No, not at all. they do prefer decaying matter, however, they are quite up to the challenge of eating live matter. Some earwigs also will eat other smaller live insects. A Healthy colony of them will leave behind skeletons and eat the entire leaves even sometimes, though this much damage is rare, their damage tends to be about like a slugs, without the slimy trail. Usually they won't do enough damage to a plant by themselves to kill it. They can though, easily so. Oddly enough some will eat snails and aphids which can both do far more damage to plants at a quicker pace.

BTW: You don't have to worry about Phytotoxicity with DE, or most insects.

Just as an example, last week I had a black widow with about 4 egg sacs in a garden box, a colony of ants and worms and god knows what else. I killed the adult black widow (sadly so, such pretty creatures), then spread DE everywhere inside the box. 2 days later, and from then on, not a single insect, worm, grub, ant inside the box.

Homercidal said:

I was under the impression that earwigs only really ate dead and rotting organic matter...

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I guess the population is so high that they don't have enough food. They hang out under the wood chips in the hot day and come out when I water at night. I overlooked them as the pest causing damage. It was killing me not seeing anything around the plants but these "harmless" bugs .

I'll have to look again, but I think I saw an earwig trap on the Internet before. We have a few where I live. They creep out the wife. They hide in the grill between uses and she finds them when she opens it up.

Oh, if you do get DE get the horticultural or food grade, this is a good place to get it, and you can eat some of it yourself every day, mix it in with a drink, it will help clean out your colon, and endocrinal system. You can also use it to take care of inner worms and parasites in your animals, by mixing some with their food.

Yeah I've had the same issue with mine here in GA, and treated with sevin dust didn't seem to do much to stop them ill have to take this box of pool grade DE back to home depot and get some food grade stuff.

One of the various traps I saw online indicated burying a beer bottle up to it's neck in the ground and pouring some molasses and oil in there to capture the buggers. They are attracted by the molasses and the oil helps keep them from crawling out (Although to be honest, I doubt they could climb a beer bottle That was just one of the containers I saw at various sites.)

At least it is not deer. Those crazy women ate three whole rhizomes of northern brewer, and all of the growth from all but one of my pots. I would think they would not like dirt taste. And yesterday I caught one in my pasture and missed her by a centimeter with my crescent wrench, without a flinch from her. I have a feeling the neighbors are hand feeding them.

Yesterday when I was examining the damage I noticed that it didn't appear to be any worse, so I'm gonna roll with it for right now. I also began lengthening the watering frequencies to every 3 days rather than every day until it gets back in the 90's again. The plants have developed and rooted in a little better. I'm trying to find the right frequency number but I'm not going to push it to the wilting point to find out. I think the extra moisture around the wood chips was part of the pest problem.