On 31 May 1999 13:18:17 -0400, in rec.gardens.ecosystems, Bill Robinson
said:
> >Margaret Simms wrote: > >>How can I get rid of earwigs. They are eating all of my basil. >>I've heard that you should "trap" them, but how? > >Earwigs are mostly beneficial. They are omnivorous and eat >plant material, other animals, and damaged or decaying organic >material. When they go after healthy plant material, it is usually >limited to tender seedlings. They just look so fierce! They tend >to get blamed for damage caused by other critters.
Not in my case! my little garden is surrounded on all 5 sides by
chickenwire. The only things that can get in there are bugs. When I
caught a large number of earwigs, most of my problem was gone.
>"Common-Sense Pest Control" by Olkowski & Olkowski says, >"Earwigs are easy to trap. In the home garden, containers such >as tuna-fish cans that hold 1/2 inch (13 mm) of vegetable oil or >moistened bread crumbs can serve as traps without any poison.
I put soy sauce in the oil and leftover bits of canned cat food in mine.
Caught 20 in one can the first night. Now I have my little garden
surrounded by little cat food cans. :-)