FaTRippz
Full Member
Posts: 30
Joined: Fri Aug 05, 2011 4:19 pm
Location: California

Earwigs: Pest or Beneficial

I have a slight earwig, also a small aphid and mite, problem. I moved into an area with quite a bit of earwigs. Ive done some research and I'm getting mixed opinions about them. I don't know if theyre beneficial or if theyll just eat my veggies and seedlings. They have started to munch on my sunflower but I wont care if they eat small holes in my leaves as long as theyre eating aphids and mites. anyone have any ideas or opinions about this.

User avatar
nedwina
Senior Member
Posts: 118
Joined: Fri Feb 05, 2010 12:28 pm
Location: CT River Valley

FaTRippz wrote:I have a slight earwig, also a small aphid and mite, problem. I moved into an area with quite a bit of earwigs. Ive done some research and I'm getting mixed opinions about them. I don't know if theyre beneficial or if theyll just eat my veggies and seedlings. They have started to munch on my sunflower but I wont care if they eat small holes in my leaves as long as theyre eating aphids and mites. anyone have any ideas or opinions about this.
I consider them kinda neutral, myself. They're icky to suddenly discover, but they don't do much damage here. Your best bet is to wait & see. If there's enough aphids & mites around for them to eat, they may not turn their attention to your seedlings.

GardenGnome
Greener Thumb
Posts: 755
Joined: Sun Jan 29, 2012 6:26 pm
Location: paradise,ca

The only thing I have with earwigs is in the artichokes but a bucket of water fixes that.
If they eat little pest and do less dmg or none keep them.

User avatar
digitS'
Super Green Thumb
Posts: 3925
Joined: Sun Sep 26, 2010 1:10 pm
Location: ID/WA! border

I don't know how anyone could be "fond" of earwigs. Maybe, a really tolerant person - Gandhi . . .

They can probably be rightly blamed for eating holes in lettuce - yep. And, they do an absolutely incredible number on my dahlia blooms!!! To keep them from just destroying the dahlias, they get sprayed there. Tuff to kill but . . . I'm not sure if dahlias would even be otherwise possible to enjoy where most of them are growing in my garden!

In the veggies -- cover is the best friend for the earwig since birds seem to be their worst enemy. Along with their buddies the slugs, the "cover of darkness" must be all a nightmare out there near the old board fence and bushes :shock: .

Try to get physical "cover" away from your veggies. Coarse mulch isn't anything I go for in the gardens. Boards and such should be carried off. If you can't remove it - like that fence & the bushes - it is best not to plant within a nighttime "earwig/slug stroll" from it.

Just my 2¢ .

Steve ಠ_ಠ

User avatar
PunkRotten
Greener Thumb
Posts: 1989
Joined: Sat Apr 16, 2011 8:48 pm
Location: Monterey, CA.

They are a huge problem in my garden they probably cause the most damage out of all the pests I have/had. I know they are beneficial too. But if they are damaging plants you probably have an excess and should look to reduce their numbers. I am unable to direct seed anything to the ground cause the minute it comes up they destroy it.

They are even attacking mature plants too.

mscratch
Senior Member
Posts: 101
Joined: Sun Feb 19, 2012 7:59 am
Location: S.E. Mo.

Earwigs=pests to me. I am wondering if they are more of a regional problem in some states and areas than others? Our flowerbeds in Maine were ravished by them, our home in S.E. Mo. totally free..go figure?? We had put down 30 large bags of cedar mulch in those beds for weed control and decorative value in Maine and that mulch provided them with unlimited hiding and escape. I sprayed up close to the cement foundation where they seemed to like it most and never was free of those pests. lol, got a whole new set of varmits and bugs here now but no earwigs.

User avatar
jal_ut
Super Green Thumb
Posts: 7447
Joined: Sun Jan 18, 2009 10:20 pm
Location: Northern Utah Zone 5

Pest!

User avatar
rainbowgardener
Super Green Thumb
Posts: 25279
Joined: Sun Feb 15, 2009 6:04 pm
Location: TN/GA 7b

I would say it depends - depends on how many of them you have and what you are growing. A few of them in your garden can be beneficial, they do eat aphids and stuff you are glad to get rid of. But apparently some times/ places, they show up in swarms and that is never good.

"European earwigs feed on a variety of dead and living organisms, including insects, mites, and growing shoots of plants. They are voracious feeders on soft-bodied insects such as aphids and insect eggs and can exert significant biological control under some circumstances. In yards that are planted to turf and contain mature ornamental plants, damage by earwigs is unlikely to be of concern.

European earwigs can cause substantial damage to seedling plants and soft fruit as well as to sweet corn."
https://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG/PESTNOTES/pn74102.html

jal_ut grows a lot of corn, so you can see why he doesn't like them.

FaTRippz
Full Member
Posts: 30
Joined: Fri Aug 05, 2011 4:19 pm
Location: California

can grasshoppers cause foliage damage ive seen a couple of them jumping around.

User avatar
jal_ut
Super Green Thumb
Posts: 7447
Joined: Sun Jan 18, 2009 10:20 pm
Location: Northern Utah Zone 5

can grasshoppers cause foliage damage ive seen a couple of them jumping around.
Oh, yes! If they get bad, they can eat everything green.

User avatar
rainbowgardener
Super Green Thumb
Posts: 25279
Joined: Sun Feb 15, 2009 6:04 pm
Location: TN/GA 7b

Yes, grasshoppers are closely related to locusts, remember the plague of locusts? Remember the "miracle of the gulls" ? An early settlement of Mormon pioneers around Salt Lake City, UT whose farms/livelihoods were being threatened by a swarm of grasshoppers devouring everything in their path, when a bunch of seagulls showed up and saved the day. Incidentally, it is said that the swarm of grasshoppers came after an especially mild winter.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miracle_of_the_gulls

FaTRippz
Full Member
Posts: 30
Joined: Fri Aug 05, 2011 4:19 pm
Location: California

pics coming soon

Tonio
Green Thumb
Posts: 357
Joined: Tue Jan 03, 2012 10:07 am
Location: San Diego, CA !! Z10/SS24

+1 for PEST !! :evil:

DE, traps are you best bet. Wait, jal-ut says soap spray works, though I never tried it. They ravaged my poor kales, but I got to them before total distruction. I think they do most damage at night like the knight of darkness-slugs.

So what is the earwig - edward scissorhands? :)

Mulching is almost futile :roll:

T

FaTRippz
Full Member
Posts: 30
Joined: Fri Aug 05, 2011 4:19 pm
Location: California

What is going on.
[img]https://i248.photobucket.com/albums/gg166/rob-dog420/sunflower.png[/img]

User avatar
PunkRotten
Greener Thumb
Posts: 1989
Joined: Sat Apr 16, 2011 8:48 pm
Location: Monterey, CA.

They defoliate my seedlings and even eat them down to the ground. On mature plants they make lots of holes and some stems get defoliated. I am buying some DE and I am gonna place some traps. Hopefully I can get the numbers down. I am afraid to transplant next month to the garden the way the things are now.

Fogell
Newly Registered
Posts: 3
Joined: Wed Nov 14, 2012 1:34 am
Location: Space!

Truth be told... the earwigs will be the least of your worries. The aphids and the mites will cause far worse damage to your seedlings and your budding plants than the earwigs could ever hope to accomplish. Lucky you can get rid of them with the same method. A little Demon WP insecticide works wonders (but just a little bit, that's all)



Return to “Vegetable Gardening Forum”