Earwigs: Friend and Foe!

Also called "pincher bugs", earwigs are called as such due to an old English tale. The pincers are mostly for mating.

Earwigs are fine in small populations, because they actually eat other garden pests. When there's too many, though, they can start eating your garden - mostly new growth and sprouts.

Earwigs are nocturnal, so if you notice damage, take a look at night. They also like damp places.

There are a few solutions:

- Oil trap. Mix cooking oil and soy sauce/bacon grease in a shallow dish, and place it in the garden, burying it partway so the ground is level with the opening.

-Diateomaceous earth. This dust will pierce the exoskeleton and cause them to dry out. Put around plants and hiding places. May take a few days for them to die.

- Wet a newspaper, roll it up, and place in the garden. They'll hide in it. In the morning, toss it into a bucket of water.

- Manually kill them one by one! It works!

They only reproduce once a year, so it doesn't take much to control them.