I have been busy planting my seedlings out over the last few days (alas, no photos yet), and have notice that my cucumbers have been devastated again. No sooner do they grow their first true leaves, they get nibbled down to the roots. This is the second time this has happened this year.
rockmelons and pumpkins. They were having a fantastic feed on the new shoots until I squished them. Hard to catch though. It is the first time I have seen anything like it. Now I know what little beasty has been nibbling all of my seedlings that I have been constantly planting. I wish I had a dollar for every cucumber seed I have sown this year!
Now, I don’t know how to combat this new insect pest, so if anyone has any safe and organic methods of getting rid of them, I would be very happy if you could post a comment. Otherwise, I suppose I will just have to hit the net and google up a storm for the answers.
At first I thought it was the usual culprits of snails and slugs, but as it hasn’t rained for quite a while, they are not breeding and their numbers are way down.
I have just finished a recce of the veggie patch, with my trusty dynamo torch, had found earwigs all over my remaining cucumbers,
rockmelons and pumpkins. They were having a fantastic feed on the new shoots until I squished them. Hard to catch though. It is the first time I have seen anything like it. Now I know what little beasty has been nibbling all of my seedlings that I have been constantly planting. I wish I had a dollar for every cucumber seed I have sown this year!
Now, I don’t know how to combat this new insect pest, so if anyone has any safe and organic methods of getting rid of them, I would be very happy if you could post a comment. Otherwise, I suppose I will just have to hit the net and google up a storm for the answers.
I better sow some more seeds tomorrow. I am determined to have cucumbers again this year. They were so tasty and bountiful last summer, and no little earwig is going to defeat me!
Hey Gav… rotton little beasties, I noticed something was using my passionfruit vine for a meal and went out at night to investigate and had earwigs munching away as well. Let me know if the method Bev suggests works for you and I will too, they hard to catch
xoxox
Hi Gavin,
I was just reading about catching earwigs today on scarecrowsgarden blog –
http://scarecrowsgarden.blogspot.com/2008/10/catching-earwigs.html
—
BevB
I was going to recommend Scarecrow’s Garden too, it was the site that got me interested in blogging in the first place. Good Luck.
try wet rolled up newspapers near the plants, then every day shake the little blighters out. After that it is up to you how to rid of them, squish them, drown them in soapy water or use an Uzi 9mm.
GGOM
have u tied garlic spray. it works on most pests dad
ooo thanks dad shall have a look for that one xoxo
hi gav. earwigs are a total pain and not much keeps them at bay i have found except having a healthy (but not too healthy!) on- site family of rodents, either sort, as they eat the critters. Failing that, find out what other natural predator exists for earwigs and encourage them as you dont want to have to be the predator!
I was told to scrunch up some newspaper and shove it into a plastic pot, then balance the pot upside down on the end of a stick. In the morning all the earwigs are in there and you can shake them out for the chooks.