Are earwigs driving you mad?
I've been receiving many inquiries about how to manage earwigs. Here are a few tips to help you help you reduce this pest in your garden:
Water earlier in the day to reduce earwigs. When we waters later in the day, the above ground moisture lingers, not drying out significantly enough and attracts earwigs. When watering habits change, this pest is reduced👍🏽
Make a trap! My version of an earwig trap is a slightly modified version of the trap shown on the UCIPM website. I like to take a deli container (a used salsa or hummus container works great). I cut several holes in the lid. I add about 1" of water, with a few drops of fish oil from a can of tuna, or similar. I place the lid back on the container and sink the trap in the soil near the earwig activity so that the lid is at the same level as the soil. Boom! The earwigs will not be able to resist the lure of fish and will not be able to get out of the trap once they've dropped in.
Apply iron phosphate with spinosad bait according to the label's application rate. Examples of products with this active ingredient combination are Monterey's Sluggo Plus and Bonide's Bug & Slug Killer. These baits are safe to use in veggie gardens and are not toxic to pets & wildlife.*
*please take your pet to the vet if they have consumed any pesticide, even eco-friendly/less toxic ones.Make a border around plants with diatomaceous earth (DE). DE works very effectively as a desiccant, dehydrating the insect when the insect comes in contact with the chalk like powder. Applying the DE in a complete band around the plants helps to prevent crawling pest insects from further damaging the plants, however it becomes less effective when it is wet and will need to be reapplied. Avoid applying DE directly to the plant. DE is nontoxic but is a lung & eye irritant so please use with caution and wear appropriate PPE.
Good luck! Stay hydrated and enjoy your garden🌺🌿🦋🌼🐝
Thanks for taking such care to save water.
~Suzanne
