Earwigs in the garden
I am having a problem with earwigs in my Chinese cabbage type crops, particularly the napa. They have turned the leaves into something resembling swiss cheese, and they get right into the centers of the heads. When I googled earwigs the articles did not even suggest that earwigs would bother cabbage crops. This is about the third year they have been a problem, but I have never seen a mention of them as a garden pest before. Any ideas?
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(post #12590, reply #1 of 10)
They're almost non-existent here but were a major pest in the Bay Area. I found the best non-toxic method was to put out short lengths of bamboo or rolled up paper. They like to hide inside. I'd go out in the morning and dump them into a bucket and kill em!
Marty
"The plants have been good to us." Lester Hawkins
Marty
"The plants have been good to us." Lester Hawkins
(post #12590, reply #2 of 10)
Thanks for the reply. When I googled them I got pretty much the same advice, and the only place there was anything about them came from California. So what the heck are they doing in my Michigan garden? My frustration with them is that when I pick a head of these leafy cabbage type plants the inside of them are full of the little buggers, so they are obviously using them as their hiding places as well as their supper table. According to one article I read they are actually considered beneficial insects as they eat aphids, etc. That's the "fun" of gardening, always something new to discover!
(post #12590, reply #3 of 10)
My guess is you got 'em from California. A lot of growers there ship out of state. I'm surprised they overwinter with you. I wonder if this will wind up being a single year event.
Marty
"The plants have been good to us." Lester Hawkins
Marty
"The plants have been good to us." Lester Hawkins
(post #12590, reply #4 of 10)
No, because this is the third year I have had them. They hide under leaves and mulch, and can apparently survive the winter under there/
(post #12590, reply #5 of 10)
I didn't know earwigs are strictly a warmer climate phenomenon. We don't have them here in NY, but that never occurred to me until you mentioned it. I didn't miss them. We did have them in PA in zone 6.
Another thing I never see here is praying mantis. Are they also only in more southern climates or is this just my own personal deficiency? I've tried to google this question before, and couldn't find anything on it.
Edited 7/16/2009 9:25 pm ET by Catskill Deb
(post #12590, reply #6 of 10)
We do have praying mantises here, but I don't know if they live in colder zones. I don't remember having them when we lived on the north shore of Lake Superior, which was zone 4 I think (30 below happened sometimes). What I remember from up there was mosquitoes, black flies which seemed to come up every time we disturbed the soil, and a charming little insect called no-seeums, which could go right through screens. I have no idea what their actual name was, but like chiggers, you could not see them and they inflicted nasty bites. The weather forecast was just on-another 60 degree day tomorrow.
(post #12590, reply #8 of 10)
We just had four straight days without rain which ended with a violent thunderstorm and torrential rain yesterday. We haven't had a day over 80 since late April or early May. The next 5 days are supposed to be in the low to mid 70's with showers every day. I love this weather but one of my ninebarks is getting bad mildew on it again... Oh and my beautiful aruncus blew over yesterday, and some of my grasses were flattened for a while. And the hops trellis had a big bow in it, which has since been corrected.
Edited 7/17/2009 2:59 pm ET by Catskill Deb
(post #12590, reply #9 of 10)
Hey, it "rained" here this morning- the patio got wet, the ground did not. The temps never got out of the mid-sixties and will not tomorrow either. Then we warm up to the seventies. My daughter in Philadelphia says it has been ideal there this summer, which means us northerners are chilly. My tomatoes have a few hard little green balls on them, and the peppers are too intimidated to even open their blossoms I think. But the raspberries are ripening, the lettuce is holding on, and there is more than we can keep up with eating, so I should just quit complaining!
(post #12590, reply #10 of 10)
we have millions of earwigs here! Have had them for years. Anywhere where it's damp and shady under fence post caps you name it we got em'
We also have a fair amount of praying mantis, found some little babies today and put them in the rose garden.
(post #12590, reply #7 of 10)
Earwigs a pretty common here in Michigan and are easily controlled, repelled, by garlic oil sprays. If the earwigs are damaging your cabbages then there is not another food source for them.
West central Michigan along the lake shore
A sign of a good gardener is not a green thumb, rather it is brown knees.
West central Michigan along the lake shore
A sign of a good gardener is not a green thumb, rather it is brown knees.