While earwigs (Forficula auricularia) do feed on tender shoots and can occasionally make a holey mess of leaves and even flowers, the amount of damage they do shouldnÂt present a major problem in most gardens. In fact, earwigs even eat aphids, snails and some types of larvae, so it might be a plus that they are there. However, as with all uninvited creatures in a garden, there are times when earwigs can be considered a pest. When that happens, itÂs going to take some patience and a little knowledge of why earwigs are attracted to your garden, to change their habits. What are Earwigs? Take a look at the picture at right. ItÂs hard not to recognize an earwig when you see the sharp pincers at the tail end. DonÂt be alarmed, they wonÂt hurt you. They use these pincers to capture insect prey and for mating. Some species of earwigs have wings, but youÂll rarely see one flying. Why are Earwigs in the Garden? Earwigs like damp, sheltered places, like mulched garden beds or under potted plants. Those conditions, along with a supply of food, will tempt earwigs into your garden. However, since they are considered beneficial insects, they are only treated as pests when their damage becomes excessive. What Types of Plants Do Earwigs Like? Earwigs will bother a wide range of garden plants, but they seem to be especially font of herbs and corn tassels as well as dahlias, marigolds, roses and zinnias. They can also be a pest of fruits like berries and apricots and peaches. What Can I Do to Control Earwigs in Near My Plants? Start by clearing the mulch from the area where they are congregating and letting the soil get a bit dry. You only have to do this temporarily, until the earwigs move on. Some other earwig control techniques recommended are: Place damp, rolled up newspapers or small cardboard boxes (like a cereal box) in the garden area in the evening. Earwigs feed at night and look for a damp, sheltered spot to spend the day. You can pick up quite a few in the newspaper the next morning. My Cooperative Extension office recommends baiting these traps with oatmeal or bran, but I havenÂt found it necessary. Place shallow cat food or tuna cans with a little bit of vegetable oil as traps. Place a sticky barrier, such as Tanglefoot, sticky tape or even petroleum jelly, at the base of woody plants. Earwigs are crawlers and theyÂll get stuck in the sticky mess before they can get up the tree or shrub to cause damage. Diatomaceous earth seems to deter them. Apply it to the soil and reapply in 1 week, if necessary. If absolutely necessary, insecticides labeled for crawling insects can be used. Apply in the evening, before feeding begins

Mintboxer, Where did you purchase Terminix All Clear Mister? It's pretty expensive. I don't think HD/Lowe's carry that. It's nice to know it works on sawflies. Thanks for the info. I tried to make 1 gal spray with a mosquito dunk for midge, it didn't work very well, but I did get a few rose buds on one cane out of a whole bush, but that's midge, which is very hard to kill. I know HD & Lowe's have Safer Brand Insect Killer soap for about $6.00/7.00, some of my friends from rose club use that for sawflies and other bugs. I think that's a organic spray, beacuse one of them who uses Safer Brand Insect Killer soap, she eats roses. :-) I use Bayer's Inects Killer this season, because I have midge issue in my rose garden. it does kill a lot of bugs inculding midge, sawflies, bad and good bugs.......I spray it right before dark, so it won't kill any honey bees. This season I also spray Bioneem (about $10 from Amazon), which is also a organic spray for bugs, I'm trying it out for midge issue, it works on sawflies too, but I think that's a strong spray for just sawflies. I spray that at night when the temperture is under 80. I'd say Safer Brand Insect Killer soap is the cheapest if you choose to spray. :-)

here's a TL;DR for you ;) i'm not an entomologist or anything, so i adamantly suggest you take this and any other info someone relays on the internet with a heaping grain of salt... from what i understand, there are two parts to the subject of "safety to bees" in regard to pesticides: - Application method (spray, dust or granule?) - Active ingredient (known toxicity to bees?) from what i gather, systemics are safer because they flow through the internal plant tissues, so the affect to bees and other pollinators which touch external parts of the plant is negligible. obviously, i think there would be some systemic transfer to pollen, but such contact via pollen is apparently negligible to bees compared to the contact that japanese beetles get by clear-cutting the entire leaf tissue, which would indicate granules provide more bang vs. buck without the need for re-application you suffer by using liquids and powders, and re-applicaiton lengthens the window for potential harm to bees. as a noteworthy point, systemics usually last up to 3 months, whereas powders and liquids lose most of their strength in 5-10 days. powders are supposed to be the absolute worst of the worst, the most toxic concoction you can use on your plants to kill undesireable insects. Sevin is one of the popular products many people use that kills a lot of bees. water washes off powder (needs reapplication), and it is not easily applied without hitting the flowers. sprays are supposedly right up there with powders, only reapplication isn't as dire of a requirement. it was recommended to me to use Bayer 2-in-1 Systemic Rose & Flower Care Granules on our roses. the active ingredient is Disulfoton (1%). granted, it is listed at NDSU's agriculture website as "mildly toxic" right up there with Sevin, but read on... Oregon State University has a PDF document discussing reducing bee poisonings in which it states that Disulfoton use (as in the Bayer 2-in-1 product) is safer in granule format than other applications and, what it looks like it is implying is that as long as you're not treating alfalfa or treating near alfalfa leaf-cutting-bees, it should be OK? most noteworthy, that Oregan State document states that both Disulfoton and Sevin granules "can be applied at any time with relative safety to bees". whereas EVERY SINGLE SPRAY/POWDER is listed as "not safe for X hours or X days. i also found an interesting wiki page on the subject i'm in the process of reading. certainly there must be someone who specializes in this kind of thing here @ GW that someone can strum up? :D i'm not suggesting that anyone should take my advice - do your own reading, feel free to pore over the resources i've provided, or try to hit Google with terms like systemic pesticides honeybees or systemic pesticides bees to gather more resources. NOTE: never use anything systemic near food-producing plants/trees. don't ask why i'm mentioning this ;)

I have four pink knock outs that are doing well in full sun for their first year. They are huge. Over four feet would be my recommendation unless you are making a hedge. These, to me, are HEDGE roses. They are twiggy inside. The cherry reds are all over my town and most look pitiful.. On the other hand they grow HUGE if put in good soil. Six year olds that have had good soil but no special care are now full of bs, less than the other roses in the bed, but bugs too. Leaf rollers, etc. I think they are like any other roses , but best in a hedge or as a single focal rose. They are too dense for a rose garden and will carry just as much disease as anything else. I am actually sick of the Cherry red. There are better looking roses, like Carefree Delight, etc. My biggest issue is They have no perfume. Nice for a mall, not a rose garden.