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Earwigs

Has anyone had or have experience of getting rid of earwigs in your garden?

I went into the garden the other night to find 100's of the blasted things all over my plants.

We spent years battling slugs/snail infestations and have only just managed to get on top of that, only to now have a new pest devouring our garden.

Absolutely gutted :(

Comments

  • Farway
    Farway Posts: 13,115
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    earwigs are mixed blessing. They can be trapped in upturned flower pots on sticks, but AFAIK a general spray & kill the lot product does not exist


    I think you will need to protect your most precious plants, dahlias are one victim that springs to mind
    Eight out of ten owners who expressed a preference said their cats preferred other peoples gardens
  • Davesnave
    Davesnave Posts: 34,741
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    Unless you are producing prize blooms for shows, earwigs are not usually a major issue. We have them and I don't notice if they do damage or not, but I suspect their numbers are contained by other creatures, like birds.

    If your garden is 'infested,' it's possibly because the natural ecosystem that puts a brake on population explosions is broken.

    There's no quick fix.
  • andrewf75
    andrewf75 Posts: 10,421
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    Can't imagine why they would be a problem, aren't they beneficial?

    Follow Monty's advice and leave out the chemicals and let everything find a natural balance
  • Buy a copy of Dave Goulson's new book, "The Garden Jungle". Just read the part on Earwigs. They are such a good predator in apple orchards that some growers collect them from gardens and introduce them - having lost their original populations due to pesticide use. I'm a pro-gardener and owned my present ,no chemical, garden for 26 years and so I'm sure I have a balanced ecosystem in my garden. Most non 'green' gardeners are just LOOKING for problems. "Devouring your garden" - really?
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