When I checked my two pony packets of zinnia seedlings and my newly planted cucumber seedling, I was more than a little disappointed.
The majority of the leaves and several of the zinnia blooms were chewed. Did my delicate plants sustain severe harm from snails or slugs?
Not likely given the lack of spring rain and the absence of telltale traces of slime trails left by snails or slugs. I walked out to my garden after dark with my flashlight and determination to discover the guilty parties. There they were, munching like earwigs at a buffet while running around!
The swiftly moving European earwig, Forficula auricularia, which was unintentionally brought from Europe into North America in the early 1900s, is the most prevalent earwig species in California.
The adult earwig’s body is a lustrous, reddish-brown color and measures between 1/2 and 3/4 inches long. Accurate identification is aided by the presence of two conspicuous appendages at the tail end of the animal that resemble forceps (or pincers).
Although most species have wings, they rarely fly. Despite being smaller and without wings, juvenile earwigs resemble adults in appearance.
In cells dug in the earth during the fall and winter, female earwigs produce masses of eggs with 30 or more. The mother cares to the little, light-brown “nymphs” that hatch from the eggs, feeding and shielding them—a very rare behavior in the world of insects.
Similar to grasshoppers, they go through a gradual transformation of four nymphal stages before becoming adults. Typically, each year just one generation is created. A portion of the earwig population buries itself underground throughout the winter in pairs. Generally speaking, earwigs are dormant during the summer in our scorching San Joaquin Valley.
Earwigs spend the day hiding in cool, dark, moist areas and feeding at night. Mulch, wood piles, leaf litter, dense vegetative growth, and under bark are typical hiding spots.
European earwigs are regarded as both a helpful insect and a harmful pest since they feed on a variety of live and dead things. These omnivores have the potential to be potent mite, aphid, and insect egg predators. Earwigs consume decaying plant matter as well.
Earwigs, sadly, can ruin young vegetables, annual flowers (such as zinnias, marigolds, and dahlias), and harm delicate fruit that is ripening, such as apricots, strawberries, raspberries, or blackberries. Earwigs munch on the silks of sweet corn, limiting pollination. Contrary to common belief, earwigs rarely bite people, however they can do so if they become stuck in clothing or are seated upon.
Occasionally, when the weather outside gets too dry, hot, or cold, earwigs will infiltrate structures. Or they can hitchhike on items like newspaper, cut flowers, logs, laundry baskets, etc. Vacuum or sweep them. Make sure all entry points are sealed. A shortage of food will eventually cause earwigs to perish within.
Except in places of my garden where their populations are particularly large, earwig damage is typically little. I started a highly effective trapping scheme utilizing aluminum pie plates and low-sided cans, such as empty tuna cans.
Every night I hid the cans among the vegetation by filling them with 1/4 to 1/2 inch of canola oil and setting them on the ground. In the morning, the drowned earwigs were thrown out. You can watch a 2:25 video on “How to Trap Earwigs” at www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG/PESTNOTES/pn74102.
By removing earwig havens like weeds, wood, and garden detritus, you can supplement trapping. On the base of woody plants, a sticky barrier, such as Tanglefoot or petroleum jelly, can be placed.
Many earwigs will be eaten by birds, such as ducks and chickens. Toads and tachinid flies are further examples of natural adversaries. To draw the tachinid fly, grow fennel, dill, cilantro, and alyssum in your garden.
I have zinnias, how do I get rid of the earwigs?
- When it’s dry outside, remove any mulch from surrounding plants that are infested with earwigs and scatter diatomaceous earth all around them. This finely ground dust kills earwigs by dehydrating them and causing scratches to their fragile body parts. Because it can be dangerous if breathed, use it according to all label instructions.
- Spray locations where earwigs congregate with a solution made of water and dishwashing detergent.
- Spraying earwigs with a solution of water and rubbing alcohol (70%) in equal parts can kill them instantly. Note: Before treating an entire plant, spray just one leaf and wait 24 hours to make sure it won’t harm the plant.
- In regions where you’ve noticed earwigs, use boric acid, which is available at hardware stores. It can be hazardous, so keep it away from young children, pets, and other animals.
- Use a herbicide with an earwig control label. Follow all label instructions carefully to ensure your safety, which may include utilizing certain goods exclusively outside your house.
- Invite animals that naturally eat earwigs, such as birds and toads, to your garden.
- Pinch bugs and any visible eggs should be vacuumed out.
Are earwigs attracted to zinnias?
Earwigs prefer moist, protected settings, such as mulched garden beds or spaces beneath potted plants. These circumstances will entice earwigs into your garden, along with a source of food. They are only classified as pests when their damage gets out of hand, though, as they are thought of as useful insects.
Earwigs frequently consume plant matter they discover on the ground and in containers in gardens. They may also eat a variety of garden plants, although they seem to particularly enjoy dahlias, marigolds, roses, and zinnias as well as herbs and corn tassels. They may also be a pest of berries, apricots, and peaches, among other fruits. Earwigs may unfortunately eat whatever plants they can find if their preferred plants aren’t accessible.
However, earwigs are frequently seen as advantageous insects and are occasionally purposefully introduced to reduce aphids and other harmful insects. Only seeing a few is more of an occasion for joy than for concern. Only when the plant harm they cause outweighs their benefits do garden earwigs need to be controlled.
Earwigs don’t typically bite or feed on blood, but if you pick one up by hand, they might pinch you in defense.
After hatching, earwigs have a lifespan of roughly a year. Males and females can be seen living together in ground debris, cracks, or the soil throughout the fall, when mating takes place. Insect nymphs, which are smaller replicas of adult insects, are produced from eggs that are placed in late winter or early spring. The nymphs progressively develop into adults through a series of molts, who will mate in the fall. The preceding generation often passes away as the nymphs are developing into adults. Garden earwigs may have two generations per year in warm regions. Few mating partners survive the winter to reproduce because cold temperature kills the majority of earwigs. As a result, this bug is not typically widespread in colder areas.
Earwigs don’t carry disease, but even if they did, it wouldn’t be a big deal as they hardly rarely bite and don’t spread pathogens to human food. They may, however, spread bacterial or fungal plant diseases across the garden, while other insects that predominately consume living plants are much more likely to do so.
There are numerous Forficula species that go by the term “earwig,” and some of them are typical pantry pests. The common (or European) earwig (F. auricularia), on the other hand, is generally an outdoor bug and only seldom encountered indoors. They are typically found inside in damp, dark places, like beneath stacks of newspapers or cardboard boxes. They might also travel by hitchhiking on summertime outside potted houseplants. However, the common earwig does not consciously seek for indoor settings to feed or hibernate. It is most probable a different, earwig-like species if you see large numbers of these insects indoors.
Greek words are, which means “ear,” and wicga, which means “beetle,” are the source of the common name. The origin of this name is a subject of several theories. According to some entomologists, term comes from the way the hind wings seem like human ears when they are spread out. An older wives’ story about earwigs digging into people’s brains through their ear canals to lay eggs is thought to be the inspiration for several horror and science fiction movie plots. This is the more frequently accepted theory. Given that there is almost no reliable evidence of such a thing, even if it’s not unheard of for insects to inadvertently get up in a human ear, this may have been more of a cautionary tale intended to encourage children to practice better hygiene.
What consumes zinnia leaf holes?
Slugs seem like soft, damp snails without shells because of their bodies. As they move, they frequently leave bright, silvery trails. They feed at night and gnaw ragged holes through the veins of zinnia leaves in the spring and summer. Slugs in excessive numbers can cause plant death. Slugs love wet regions and spend the daytime hiding behind rubbish. By cutting lower leaves from plants and propping up drooping plants, you can increase air circulation and keep the soil drier. When they are eating at night, manually remove slugs off zinnias. To catch slugs and kill them, use flat boards, damp newspaper sheets, or shallow beer bowls. To get rid of slugs and snails, use an insecticidal bait that contains metaldehyde. Over the area that has been contaminated, scatter 1 teaspoon per 1 square yard.
What can I do to stop earwigs from consuming my flowers?
These ominous-looking insects have nothing against wigs or ears, but they will undoubtedly target garden plants. Here are some suggestions for dealing with earwigs, commonly referred to as “pincher bugs,” in the garden.
What Are Earwigs?
Although they can be found in practically every growth zone, earwigs prefer warm, humid environments. They move quickly, are nocturnal, and tend to hide during the day when you are taking care of the garden, so you might have problems seeing one. They favor damp, dark areas with decaying plants and wood. They are frequently discovered in woodpiles and basements.
Only earwigs make up the insect order Dermaptera, which includes other ancient crawlers that first appeared on Earth roughly 208 million years ago. The Earth’s polar regions are the only places where there are fewer than 2,000 species today. The term “earwig” derives from the Old English word ear-wicga, which means “ear wiggler,” because it was originally believed that the bug sought out human ears to live in. They are referred to as “ear piercers (perce-orielles)” in France and “ear worms” in Germany (Ohrwrmer).
We are primarily accustomed to the European species Forficula auricularia in North America. Early 1900s reports of earwigs in North America led to their current distribution throughout the majority of the US as well as some areas of Canada.
The social life of earwigs is quite active. Because they frequently discover the same hiding locations during the day, they assemble there. Since they are not territorial and their nests might number in the thousands, they frequently coexist with one another.
What Do Earwigs Eat?
Pincher bugs are omnivores, which means they’ll consume almost anything offered to them. They mostly eat dead or decomposing plant and animal materials in the garden. However, if their population outgrows control, they may start eating living plant material, particularly the young foliage or seedlings of vegetables and flowers. They will also happily eat army worms, maggots, grubs, and insect eggs.
This is a problem for gardeners. Should you let earwigs stay in your garden to consume pests like aphids and other critters? Or ought to they be eliminated before they start focusing on your plants? Earwigs typically don’t cause enough harm to be worth battling. However, you might think about taking action if you do notice a lot of them surrounding your plants.
Do Earwigs Pinch?
An earwig’s pincers near the end of its abdomen appear to be rather strong. Humans can be pinched by them (and occasionally bit), but the pinch is not particularly strong. The pincers of earwigs are typically used to fend off predators like toads and birds or, in some species, to capture prey.
The “cerci,” or pincers, are crucial for romance. They serve as gender markers, just like an elephant’s tusks do. The pincers of an earwig are lengthy and curved in males whereas they are shorter and straighter in females.
How to Identify Earwigs
- Earwigs can grow to a length of around 3/4 inch. They are ruddy-brown insects with what appear to be forcep-like appendages on their tails. The earwig is one of the few insects with a pair of terrifying-looking pincers. Because of this, some people refer to them as “pincher bugs” or “pinching bugs.” These appendages are known as cerci, and they are attached to the insect’s abdomen.
- Earwigs can fly, but they don’t often do so. They can move quite swiftly. In reality, they have two sets of wings, and their pincers help to spread them out.
- Do earwigs consume anything? An earwig is a nocturnal creature that prefers to eat decaying plant matter and wood, while it will also attack living plants, such as decorative plants, ornamental trees, and vegetables, if given the chance. Flowers, lettuce and other delicate greens, celery, and fruits are among the foods that earwigs enjoy the most.
- In underground tunnels, female earwigs lay 40 to 50 lustrous eggs. Oddly enough, the moms carefully tend to the eggs and keep predators away. It is exceedingly difficult to manage earwig populations before they hatch because they hatch in approximately a week.
- Simply enough, nymphs resemble adult earwigs in tiny. They go through many skin changes before maturing ten weeks later.
- Earwigs frequently spend the day hiding under pots, then at night they consume the flowers in the pots.
Signs of Earwig Damage
- The leaves will look ragged and pock-marked. Overnight, plants will start to look ragged, and some leaves might only get eaten partially. Additionally, there will probably be a scattering of the little, black pellets that make up earwig excrement.
- When it rains, earwigs are forced to seek out dry shelter by climbing up into plants and foliage, which often results in damage.
- The earwigs can be hidden behind containers holding ailing plants.
- Earwig damage resembles slug and snail damage in appearance. Look for the distinguishing feature of slugs and snails, which is a trail of slime leftover on vegetation, to distinguish between the two.
How to Get Rid of Earwigs
Although they can be just as annoying, earwigs typically pose less of a damage to your garden than insects like Japanese beetles and aphids. Keep in mind that they can emit a nasty smell when disturbed. Consider these cures:
- In the spaces between your plants, place bamboo or garden hose segments that are one foot long. Every morning, check these “traps, and throw the earwigs into a pail of soapy water.
- Apply petroleum jelly all over the plant stems. Earwigs won’t dare crawl on top of it.
- Try sprinkling borax around your woodpile if they are there, but after you do, keep kids and dogs away from the area.
- Oil pit traps are a fantastic earwig treatment. In a little plastic jar with a lid, combine equal parts soy sauce and olive or vegetable oil. Make holes near the lid in the top of the container. Create openings that the earwigs can fit through. Just up to the holes, bury the container in the ground. The earwigs will be drawn to the soy sauce, and the oil will stop them from escaping. Adjust the mixture as necessary. Less is known about building earwig traps.
- Alcohol acts as a surfactant, or wetting agent, which can through an insect’s waxy shell of armor and kill on contact with the body, controlling these pests. Rubbing alcohol (isopropanol) works well and is widely available, but be sure it is free of chemicals. It seems that ethanol (grain alcohol) works the best. In retailers, alcohol is typically sold at a 70 percent strength (or 95 percent strength purchased commercially). Equal parts water and 70% alcohol should be combined to create an insecticidal spray; if using 95% alcohol, the ratio should be 1 part alcohol to 1.5 parts water. Target the insects specifically since the spray needs to come into contact with them in order to be effective.
- WARNING: Always test an insecticidal spray on a single leaf before spraying it on your plants. To see if the plant has a bad reaction, wait 24 hours and then keep an eye on it. If it does, further diluted your alcohol solution and retest.
- If the soil is dry enough, you might want to consider applying a ring of diatomaceous earth (DE) around the bases of the plants to deter earwigs. DE is useless in rainy conditions. Avoid putting DE near flowers because it will also kill pollinators.
How to Prevent Earwigs
- Rainy years will bring more earwigs, so be ready by clearing away plant debris and other potential hiding spots.
- Ivy-covered walls and hedges may be home to many earwigs; keep vulnerable plants away from these areas.
- Earwigs are naturally eaten by toads and birds. See our advice on designing a garden that is welcoming to birds.
- On occasion, earwigs will enter your home from mulch and other exterior damp materials. Although they aren’t dangerous, they can nonetheless be annoying. Check everything you bring inside for pests to avoid this, especially laundry, patio furniture, flowers, veggies, indoor plants, and firewood. A zone of bare soil that will dry out should be established and mulch moved away from the house’s foundation. Vacuum them up if earwigs do manage to get inside your house.