Has anybody had any experience in getting rid of earwigs. We have only had them in my area, zone 5,michigan, for about 6 years. Where the little monsters came from I don't know. But what a pain in the patoosa they have become.They also have a nasty little pincher on their rear ends, and they do bite. They invade my basement in the fall looking for a safe place for the winter. Would DE be good to get rid of them. I don't know exactly what DE is and how it works. I spend winters in Fl. and have never seen earwigs here. It must be a northern thing.

Nope, they came over from Europe. So did I, so there you go! Considered beneficials in Europe because they feed on wet/rotting vegetative matter (yum) and thus help decomposition. Old Windex spray bottle, water and soap. They hate that!

Paper towel roll (or toilet paper rolls) stuff lightly with wet newspaper and leave in the garden. Wigs are noctural, they dislike direct sun so they will crawl in by daybreak. Then simply discard or shake into a pail of soapy water.

If you have mossy, shady areas, you'll have earwigs. They need moisture and decay.....or they will leave and move next door. Which can also be a good thing!



John

http://insects.ummz.lsa.umich.edu/MES/notes/entnote21.html

tulip, you might try orange oil spray ,they
do not like it. at least it works in texas,we have them too.hope it helps. gordon

would orange oil spray be cooking oil with orange extract in it? Or do I buy it somewhere?

Have you tied using Diatomaceous earth.It is a natural white earth that has sharp crystals which get in crawling insect joints and kill them.It is available at nurseries, mail order etc. It does dissolve in rain ,heavy water, but if used for a few weeks it really dents the population. I put in on the soil around the plants, but you can put it on plants directly...wont hurt em.Its organic and safe for people and pets. Slugs dont like it either. Zone 6

tulip,you can concentrate called tk oil or
a mixed spray(one is orange guard) but try
to get something that is mostly orange oil
and water. a lot of stuff has some chemicals
in it that i don't like but if there is nothing
else involved it will work.i use it in the
house all the time,it won't hert pets or you
and it smells good.hope it helps,gordon

sorry tulip, went brain dead. the oil is called
orange tko.gordon

gordon. where do you purchase this orange tko?

I understand that your question relates to earwigs in the house, & of course, you need to get rid of them. But, in defense of them OUTSIDE, I rarely see them doing ANY damage to living plants, although colonies of them like to move into the trays under my long planters. I wouldn't even know they were there, except that I sometimes flush them out when I am watering my planters. I leave them alone outside. If they ever come IN, I'll be looking back for this post.

I, too, have a large population of earwigs, but I also have quite a few lizards. I was amazed one day to see a lizard dart out into my garden path and begin to gobble down a bunch of earwigs that I had disturbed when I moved a pot. I recommend encouraging lizards to move into your garden.

You can buy Orange Guard at GardensAlive.com. It's one of those miracle will do just about anything sprays. (When Orange TKO first showed up on the market, it came with an instruction sheet that even touted using orange oil to calm fighting pigs!) DE or Diatomaceous Earth is made from fossilized, tiny creatures (Diatoms) which scratch the soft under-belly of critters. It is like baby powder, so if it becomes airborne and you breathe it in, that's bad news for your lungs. I know cattle and horse people who feed it to their animals as a dewormer. Do earwigs have a soft underbelly?

tulip, most organic centers and feed stores
down here in tx carry tko, normaly in small
2 to 4 ounce bottles. here the brand is tko,
but any product that is a d-limonene product
is what you want. hope you can find this.
good gardening, gordon

I haven't really picked one up and looked at it's underbelly, they're pretty ugly. But I would think that they don't have a soft underbelly. The whole bug looks crunchy like an ant. Nice to hear that i can buy orange guard at garden's alive, i do a lot of my garden supply shopping there. thanks.

Hi all, in response to Lindaps remarks...I only had earwigs go after one crop...my swiss chard.bright lights. to be exact.I could not believe it till I caught them red pincered. They really did a number, I used diatomasceous earth and it worked well but was a pain to replenish in wet weather.