How do I stop Earwigs eating the Buddleia?

[James M]

Recently our Buddleia has been under attack and is begining to look quite tatty, I struggled to think at first what could be eating it as I saw no sign of any caterpillars. However the other night whilst outside sky watching, I found the culprit, Earwigs! each stem was literally teeming with them all munching away. I didn't know that earwigs ate Buddleia but after doing a bit of research I found they eat a bit of almost anything! Now I have found the culprit, is there anything I can to stop them devouring it? or at least minimize the damage any further?

[James M]

Here are some pics of the damage.

[Cheryl]

Hi James

I've heard that you can smear vaseline jelly on the plant stems which acts as a barrier which the earwigs won't cross and clear away any debris in the area which the earwsigs would hide in. Also you could catch them by putting an upturned flower pot filled with straw either on a cane in the garden, the earwigs will hide in this and can be disposed of

[James M]

Originally Posted by Cheryl

Hi James

I've heard that you can smear vaseline jelly on the plant stems which acts as a barrier which the earwigs won't cross and clear away any debris in the area which the earwsigs would hide in. Also you could catch them by putting an upturned flower pot filled with straw either on a cane in the garden, the earwigs will hide in this and can be disposed of

Ah thanks Cheryl! will try that out.

[Lance Morgan]

Blast it with water from hose that will do it.

[Paul mabbott]

I'm amazed by this - never seen the like.
Usually an earwig or two may get into a developing bud, preferably a flower bud, and eat their way into this - causing terminal damage to a dahlia flower or whatever. Young ('baby') earwigs are generally shepherded by their mother in the soil or leaf litter where they eat springtails and other tiny snimals.
.... thus my amazement that you have lots on foliage. Are they mature or young? Are they the common earwig? Are they actually causing all the damage (not, perhaps, two or three different organisms at work)?
Shame about the Buddleja but it will survive - I don't imagine that the earwigs will keep up their work for long!

[James M]

Originally Posted by Paul mabbott

I'm amazed by this - never seen the like.
Usually an earwig or two may get into a developing bud, preferably a flower bud, and eat their way into this - causing terminal damage to a dahlia flower or whatever. Young ('baby') earwigs are generally shepherded by their mother in the soil or leaf litter where they eat springtails and other tiny snimals.
.... thus my amazement that you have lots on foliage. Are they mature or young? Are they the common earwig? Are they actually causing all the damage (not, perhaps, two or three different organisms at work)?
Shame about the Buddleja but it will survive - I don't imagine that the earwigs will keep up their work for long!

I think they are Common Earwigs although I can't be 100% sure. There was a mixture of large ones and small ones, so mature and young if they are the same species? there did seem to be more young though. I had thought that there could be something else eating it but I couldn't see anything else except one small slug on one leaf and that was it! You can see the evidence though, during the day today all the leaves are covered in tiny black things which I assumed was frass?

[N_I_B_S]

Originally Posted by James M

Recently our Buddleia has been under attack and is begining to look quite tatty, I struggled to think at first what could be eating it as I saw no sign of any caterpillars. However the other night whilst outside sky watching, I found the culprit, Earwigs! each stem was literally teeming with them all munching away. I didn't know that earwigs ate Buddleia but after doing a bit of research I found they eat a bit of almost anything! Now I have found the culprit, is there anything I can to stop them devouring it? or at least minimize the damage any further?

I dont know how to stop earwigs, but i changed the way i water my garden to only in the morning, i found if i watered in the evening it gave the bugs/slugs a good dampened platform to perform there dasterdly deeds lol, by watering in the morning dryer at night?

[Gill Catton]

Yes in my experiance buddleia is pretty indestructable and will come back bigger and more able to cope next year. And your earwigs will provide lovely juicy food for the birds that visit your garden too - I bet they hibernate within the dead buddleia stalks too so you could always crack these open onto the bird table in the winter.

[tom00_uk]

old boys that grow dahlias would put an upturned terracotta flower pot filled with straw on a cane and the earwigs then are easily found in the "trap", they traditionally then burn the straw and reset, or you could put them some where else