Posts Tagged: insects

Earwigs in Art, Literature, and Your Garden

Earwigs are one of the most common pests in our gardens. There is a lot to learn about them besides knowing how to prevent the damage they cause.

Fun facts about earwigs:

• Their name probably comes from myths surrounding these insects:
• They sometimes enter peoples' ears when they are sleeping and they sometimes burrow into the brain
• The forceps appendages at their rear ends look like tools to puncture ears for earrings
• The expanded wings of earwigs have the shape of human ears
• The common and abundant earwigs in our gardens weren't even in California 100 years ago.
• Roald Dahl, author of children's books, has a character in George's Marvelous Medicine that urges the grandson to eat a ‘big fat earwig' and tells him how to do it so it wouldn't grab his tongue with the ‘sharp nippers on its back end.
• Roald Dahl also mentions earwigs in James and the Giant Peach where the characters find an earwig inside the giant peach.
• Under their hard, shiny wing covers, they have remarkably large and complex flight wings that spring from folded to flight without muscles. (These wings expand to 10 times larger than when folded.)
• Female earwigs watch over their eggs and newly hatched young, protecting them and keeping them clean until they are old enough to fend for themselves.

Did you know?

• Earwigs are important predators of aphids, mites, nematodes, and other small insects and their eggs.
• Research from Washington State University shows earwigs can be beneficial in apple and pear trees, eating pests but doing minimal damage to the crop.
• They also feed on fungi and decaying plant material.
• They are food for other animals, including birds and lizards.

Tips to control earwigs in your garden:

• Remove their hiding places. Earwigs thrive in dark and moist areas during the day, coming out to feed at night.
• Clean up debris, leaf piles, and decaying plant matter
• Trap them by placing numerous traps throughout your yard.
• Use empty tuna or cat food cans with ½ inch of vegetable oil and a smelly substance such as fish oil or bacon grease. Place these in your garden bed with the top of the can level with the soil. In the morning, dispose of the trapped earwigs.
• Roll up damp newspaper, secure with rubber bands, and place in your garden bed. Next morning, collect them and shake the earwigs into a pail of soapy water.
• Baits such as SluggoPlus can be used, but often they are not effective if the earwigs have other attractive food sources like your tasty garden.

For more information about earwigs, please visit these links:

https://ipm.ucanr.edu/PMG/PESTNOTES/pn74102.html

Ode to an Earwig https://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=51351

Earwigs in California (published 1975): https://essig.berkeley.edu/documents/cis/cis20.pdf

Washington State University study: https://www.mdpi.com/2075-4450/14/12/906

Help Desk of the UC Master Gardeners of Contra Costa County (SEH)

Adult european earwig

Photo of an adult earwig

Typical earwig damage

Photo of typical earwig damage on leaf

Earwig damage to orange tree leaves

Photo of earwig damage on an orange leaf

Earwig ceramic sculpture, S. Heckly

Photo of a ceramic sculpture of an earwig

Best Friends in the Garden—Companion Planting

Companion planting combines diverse plants in an informed manner to bring a balanced ecosystem into the garden.  This approach to gardening has been used by organic gardeners for decades.  The idea is to plant herbs and flowers with vegetables...

List of UC Davis PIcnic Day Activities at Briggs Hall

(Note: The main UC Davis Department of Entomology news page is at https://entomology.ucdavis.edu.) What's a picnic without bugs! The UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology is gearing up for the 110th annual UC Davis Picnic Day, set...

Briggs Hall, home of the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, will showcase insects, nematodes and spiders--and more--during the 110th UC Davis Picnic Day, set Saturday, April 20. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Briggs Hall, home of the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, will showcase insects, nematodes and spiders--and more--during the 110th UC Davis Picnic Day, set Saturday, April 20. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Hands Down or Hands Up, They're Favorites

Hands down, or hands up, those walking sticks in the Bohart Museum of Entomology's live petting zoo are favorites among children and adults alike. The walking sticks, or stick insects, belong to the order Phasmatodea. The Phasmids, a word...

A walking stick switches to another hand during the recent Bohart Museum of Entomology open house. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

A walking stick switches to another hand during the recent Bohart Museum of Entomology open house. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

A walking stick heads down a youngster's sleeve. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

A walking stick heads down a youngster's sleeve. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

A walking stick descends a hand. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

A walking stick descends a hand. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Hammock Lab Hosting Special Seminar on Lepidopteran Research

The Bruce Hammock laboratory is hosting a special seminar on "Enhanced Baculoviral Virulence by Suppressing EpOME Degradation in Lepidopteran Insects," to be presented by Professor Yonggyum Kim of Korea at 10 a.m., Monday, Jan. 22 in 122 Briggs...

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