Archive for July, 2007

There has been considerable traffic searching on my site for ways to control and kill earwigs. Here is some information for natural and chemical control.

Earwigs are a pretty scary sight when you turn over a board or a flower pot and find one of them scooting out from underneath it. Sometimes they get indoors, and they sure scoot around the baseboards. If you squish them a foul smelling yellowish brown liquid emits from scent glands. They are active at night hiding during the daytime. Normally they live outdoors and do not really even try to get indoors.

Earwigs are harmless to humans and animals, but if you handle them carelessly or one gets down your britches it might give you a pinch with its forceps. The name “earwig” came from a European superstition that these insects would crawl in the ears of a sleeping person. Just superstition. They are reddish brown in color with light brown legs and about 5/8 to 3/4 of an inch long. The female will lay 20 to 60 eggs in their burrow during one season. The burrows are called chambers located 2 to 3 inches beneath the soil.

Earwigs do considerable damage by feeding on flowers, vegetables, fruits and other plants. They chew on the leaves, leaving a ragged appearance with small irregular holes in them. Earwigs feed on aphids, mites, fleas, and insect eggs. Earwigs also consume a lot of decomposing organic matter. So in spite of the fact they sometimes are in large populations, earwigs are generally considered a temporary pest.

Natural Control Measures

Earwigs are attracted to lights so you should reduce lighting around doors, windows, and other entry points. Sodium vapor yellow lights are less attractive to insects. Earwigs need moisture. If you reduce moist conditions, around your water spigots, air-conditioning units, and along the foundation, you will discourage them from entering your house. Keep your lawn and garden free of debris and rotting organic matter. Rake up your grass clippings, leaves, weeds and old wood.

Natural Trapping Measures

If you want to trap earwigs, you can give them a place to hide during the day. You can use a cardboard box with holes in the sides near the bottom. Place oatmeal or bran laced with boric acid in the box. You can place burlap bags, canvas, boards, and newspapers in your flower beds and make it is damp under them. Drop the bugs into a jar of soapy water to kill them. Earwigs like beer, place a number of small jars on its side with beer in them. The earwigs will crawl right in and die.

Natural Enemies Of The Earwig

Toads and lizards love earwigs.

The Tachinid fly and the parasitic fly Digonichaeta setipennis attack and kill up to 1/3 of the earwig population each year. Here is a list of plants that attract these earwig killing parasites. You can plant them where you want to control earwigs.

Anise (Pimpinella anisum)
Buckwheat (Fagopyrum esculentum)
Coreopsis (Coreopsis tinctoria)
Cosmos (Cosmos bipinnatus)
Dill (Anethum graveolens)
Fennel (Foeniculum vulgare)
Golden marguerite (Anthemis tinctoria)
Painted daisy (Chrysanthemum coccineum)
Tansy (Tanacetum vulgare)

Chemically Controlling Earwigs

Make sure you read the label if you are going to use chemicals to control your earwigs. You need to determine which is best for your conditions, and vegetable restrictions. The best way I would recommend is to apply insecticides as a barrier treatment. These materials can be applied as baits, dust, granules, liquid sprays. You can use Baygon (propoxur), diazinon, Dursban (chlorpyrifos), methoxychlor dust, Sevin (carbaryl), or sodium fluosilicate.

Reminder:

Keep Chemicals Away From Children And Pets. Check The Label.

When you’re shopping for shade plants at Gurney’s Seed & Nursery, do a search for shade plants they have quite a selection. Gurney’s Seed & Nursery gives a lot of information about the plant’s needs, for instance whether the plant needs sun or shade. A lot of shade plants will tolerate some sun. Those plants that are flowering require a certain amount of sun to help them produce a good bloom. Look in your yard and see how the sunlight moves across your yard during the day. That will give you an idea where the full shade is and where filtered sun is during different parts of the day. Partial shade is an area that only receives one or two hours of direct sunlight each day. Most of the time it is mottled shade or could be under a deciduous tree. Full shade is an area where it doesn’t get any direct sunlight. This type of shade is it often found under a covered patio on the north side of a building or under a dense evergreen tree. Soil in shade areas can can be either dry or moist. Make sure you choose your plants that you would use in that area accordingly.

Some choices for a moist shady area could be;

Bleeding heart - Dicentra
Zones 3-9

Bugbane - Cimicifuga
Zones 4-8

Coral bells - Heuchera
Zones 4-9

Corydalis
Zone 5 or 6-8

Foam flower - Tiarella
Zones 5-9

Hydrangea
Zone 5 or 6-9

Anemone
Zone 4 or 5-8

Tuberous Begonia
Zones 4-8

Plants that like moist shady areas but not boggy soil are;

Astilbe
Zones 4-9

Caladium - Angel Wing
Zones 8-10

Coleus - Solenostemon

Goat’s Beard - Aruncus dioicus
Zones 3-8

Monkshood
Zones 5-8

Pieris, Lily-of-the-Valley Shrub - Pieris japonica
Evergreen
Zone 6
Partial to full shade

Rhododendron and Azalea
Evergreen or deciduous
Zones 4-6

Dry shade is an area where the soil dries out between waterings or an area where tree roots will take the moisture away from the plant.

Bellflower - Campanula
Zones 4-8

Bishops Hat - Epimetium
Zones 5-8

Creeping Myrtle - Vinca
Zones 4-9

Deadnettle - Lamium
Zones 4-8

Goutweed - Aegopodium
Zones 4-9

Here are some shrubs that like or tolerate shade.

CAMELLIA
Evergreen
Climate zones 4-9

C. japonica.
C. sasanqua.

HINOKI CYPRESS - Chamaecyparis obtusa ‘Gracilis’ and ‘Nana Gracilis’
Evergreen
Climate zones 5-6
Full sun or partial shade

JAPANESE AUCUBA - Aucuba japonica
Evergreen
Zone 7
Partial to full shade

LILAC - Syringa
Deciduous
Climate zones vary
Full sun or partial shade

MOUNTAIN LAUREL - Kalmia latifolia
Evergreen
Climate zones 3-7
Partial shade; some sun where summers are cool
This is an East Coast native.

Are you getting up in years? Do the youngsters call you elderly.
OK OK to be politically correct I should have used the term
active gardening senior. We’ll just say for the sake of being positive
and upbeat that you are maturing or in the gardening terminology
ripening with age.

Are your hand tools getting harder to find when you set them down.
Paint the handles a bright orange or yellow and just make sure you
don’t hang your yellow handled pruner on the sunflower by the back
step or you might not find it again before it snows.
If it is getting harder to bend to pull those pesky weeds start planning
on planting your flower beds and gardens in raised beds next year.

Seeing as how you have to get up early to use the bathroom anyway,
just put on your slippers and go out and putter in your garden while it
is cool. Mornings are so fresh and peaceful, before the youngsters get
up and come checking on you. You’ve been able to enjoy some peace
and quiet without all their fussing around thinking you’ve fallen in the
watermelon patch and broken your hip. Take a plastic container of
water with you so you don’t get dehydrated. Enjoy God’s creation at
the dawn of another beautiful day. Oh I forgot, make sure you either
carry a bench with you or stash one in the garden the evening before
so if you need to rest, you can sit awhile.