Earwigs

[SweetJane]

I woke up to find a 2 week old seedling had been munched on during the night and being so small had collapsed under the weight of whatever munched on it

 

I couldn't find any grubs or other insects on the plants and couldn't work out what it was. Last night I went out to check the plants after dark and found a fat arsed earwig heading towards another plant.

 

I read in a book that these bastards eat holes in the leaves at night and Pyrethrum is the recommended solution but the plants had already been sprayed with pyrethrum so that doesn't work.

 

Does anyone know any other ways (preferably chemical free) to stop my plants becoming an allnight diner for earwigs? Thanks

[Guest BudWaver]

have ya definitely ruled out snails? snails seem to like to graze at night and eat the heck outa the sweet leaves

 

I never knew earwigs ate vegetative matter I thought for some predatory reason they only ate other animals....

[Guest Wilderbud]

Since their seedlings you should have a coke bottle over them right? If not then cut the base of a bottle off, take the lid off and put it over your plant. You can probably rub honey around the top so anything walking past gets stuck or eats that instead? Never tried any honey but it sounds good.

[Luke Skywalker]

Wilderbud, why would she have a coke bottle on the top of a two week old seedling? All this will do is increase humidity so much it would stretch the seedling and make it more susceptible to a whole range of diseases... Full sun from day one, day one being when the cotyledons are apparent. If you're having problems keeping them moist enough, then mulch the surface to help prevent evap, but don't pack it close to the stem, as this can encourage rot.

 

Anyway, as to the earwigs, I've never heard of earwigs actually munching on plants, but you never know... Which book are you referring to Sweet Jane?

 

BTW, are these plants in- or out-doors?

 

Check out the Prevention thread pinned at the top of this forum... There are many methods used to keep creatures that like to munch on plants away naturally... Wilderbud has given you a good tip, but Id just use a small collar of plastic cut from a coke bottle, like about 10cm tall at the most, and then smear that with some honey.

 

You can also lay down coarse, dry sand in a ring around the plants, or sawdust, as these prevent slugs getting to the plants as they won't cross it. If it's a caterpillar problem, (check both undersides and tops of leaves, and the petioles (leaf stems) too, as they tend to hide there and some species are almost the exact same colour as the foliage...) you could use BT or Dipel as a preventative spray, this is about as natural as a spray preventative gets... A microbe which only affects caterpillars, it will have no effect on you or other insects in the environment aside from those which eat your plant, and those will stop eating very quickly as it paralyzes their stomach and mouth parts...

 

Anyway, that's just a few of the possibilities, but we really need a bit more information about your setup, where you're growing, the surrounding vegetation and environment if it's outdoors, etc... all this information helps to id what could be hurting your babies... Oh, and the best thing you could do is take a pic and show us... I've never heard of earwigs attacking plants, so if you show us the damage we may be able to pinpoint another culprit.

 

I hope this has helped you, and your plants go on to grow big kahuna buds for you and yours.

[Guest Wilderbud]

Maybe - I dont actually use a humidity tent at all and havent had many problems - it just sounded good because I thought other people left them on until they touched the sides as Ive seen some like that.

 

The best defense is ladybugs and spiders IMO but theyd just go elsewhere unless they had a decent amount of food and theyd finish cleaning a seedling too quick for them to be handy for now.

 

I thought earwigs left plants alone but cruised around snapping suckers in half - Ive always thought they were OK to have around but not ideal [i thought they were called silverfish in Australia also but they might just look the same].

 

How about putting some shade-cloth over a bottle [cut into a cylinder] then [slow growth isnt so bad].

[jaikai]

:angry: earwigs...devious little pricks them. they will eat your plant material, ive had sprouted seedlings eaten off indoors before. the ECO way is to put some newspaper down and theyll congregate under it, pick it up and cart it away. obviously you wouldnt get em all that way. borax mixed as a paste in a bit of water in a shallow dish works well...dont leave bits of timber laying round the yard to give them a home....the list is endless, the borax works well though,you can also put sugar in with it to kill house ants.

 

JAIKAI

[SweetJane]

Thanks Jakai I will give the newspaper thing a go for sure. At night I bring the plants inside (due to fat arsed munching resident possum that has a taste for weed) and have them sitting right next to where we store our firewood DOH ME and I had seen the little bastards around but didn't know they munched on plants until I checked it out yesterday.

 

I've found out earwigs like Dahlia flowers and some people put vaseline around the stems to stop them munching the flowers but I'm not sure if doing that would harm my babies or not so I've smeared some around the outside of the pots (I figured it can't hurt even if it doesn't work)

 

Wilderbud...they aren't the same thing as silverfish, they are kinda slim black brown bugs with long back ends with pincer sort of things on them. (When I get my scanner hooked up I'll try and scan the pic from my book) We don't get any ladybugs around here unfortunately but I think they'd be a bit small to munch up an earwig anyhow.

 

Luke...The book is the "Readers Digest Illustrated Guide to Gardening - understanding planting and caring for a garden in Australia" It has a good section at the back on pests and diseases with pictures but not enough solutions! I ruled out all the other bugs under the "leaves with holes" section, it's got to be the earwigs. There was definitely no caterpillars anywhere to be seen. And we don't have any snails around here, it's a bit too dry for their liking I think. (You can add earwigs to your new book )

 

The plants are outdoors during the day and I bring them indoors at night to keep the druggie possum off them. They will be going under a 400W HPS light next week but I want to keep them safe in the meantime. (and not take any earwigs into the wardrobe with them!)

 

I don't own a digicam so can't show pics of the damage. (It's dead now anyhow, the bastard earwig bent it too hard at the stem only one Kahuna baby left, waaaaaaaaaaa)

 

Cheers for your help everyone

[ladybirdbud]

i have read before that planting a certian type of marigold will less if not give you no earwigs,never tryed it thou it is said to work well but it is a certian type you have to get that they dont like growing in the soil so thet stay away.you need to grow in masses around the place but some of the other methods like the news paper also use agg tubing stuffed with some news paper loosley in the ends put around the area and emptyed every day works to i have found.bads news ,ladybirdbud.

[SweetJane]

Thanks ladybirdbud, I'll check into the Marigold thing.

 

Here's an Earwig pic fromn the garden book if anyone's interested....