They can be controlled fairly well with rolled up newspaper placed near the greatest infestation. The "wigs" crawl into the paper at night for shelter. Be sure to go out early in the morning to unroll the paper and do a "wig" stomp or water bucket bath on them. This will catch quite a few, if you don't care to use pesticides near your veggies. Bejay

After searching to hopefully find a non lethal way to get rid of the Four Lined Plant Bug, to no avail to speak of, I did run across this newspaper advice column in the link below. The second Question and answer contributes to your problem with the four lined plant bug. A little late for this year, but plenty of time to get ready to attack them this fall. As they say prevention is the best medicine. Here is a copy of that question and answer. I hope they don't mind and if the moderators feel it best to delete it, please leave the link. "QI have a huge area that is planted with Russian sage, mums as well as a few other perennials. The problem is that almost all the plants have these tiny brown circles all over the top part of the leaves. I don't know if it's a disease or an insect. Chuck, Fair Oaks Based on what you described, you may have a fungus or you could possibly have what we call four-lined plant bugs. They are easily identified by the four black stripes running down their back. They have a range of hosts, including fruits, vegetables, flowers, herbs and cucurbits. The associated damage consists of spots that look similar to fungal disease spot and can be misidentified as such. With piercing/sucking mouthparts, the four-lined plant bug removes the plant's chlorophyll. A toxin present in their saliva is also secreted during feeding that digests the components responsible for holding the plant cells together. This feeding produces white, dark or translucent spots 1/16 to 1/8 inch in diameter on the plant's leaves, which can merge together (if there is substantial damage) forming large blotches. Entire leaves can turn brown, curl up and eventually fall off. If feeding occurs on new growth, wilting may result. The damage by four-lined plant bugs may be misidentified as fungal disease spots because of their similar appearance. When the damaged portion of the leaf falls out, a shot hole will remain that looks similar to fungal disease. Four-lined plant bugs can be troublesome to get rid of. During the fall, the banana-shaped eggs are laid in the old stems of the plant. The eggs will overwinter and hatch in late April-May just after the plant's foliage emerge. The agility of this bug contributes to the problem because when disturbed, the bug will drop to the ground or will hide and is therefore rarely seen. In order to keep damage to a minimum, begin to check plants in midspring around May-June for damage. Start to use control at the first sign of damage, since just a few bugs can cause severe damage. Insecticidal soaps and summer horticultural oils prove useful as well as acephate or malathion. It is also possible to remove a lot of the old stem in the fall, which will likely remove egg masses. Look for the eggs; they are banana-shaped and highly visible and can be easily disposed of when there are no leaves on the plant. The best way to beat a lot of damage is to be observant early on in the year because once you start to see signs of damage, you have to act quickly. Four-lined plant bugs have only one life cycle per season. The damage will usually stop sometime around the end of June, so spraying later than June for this insect is not usually necessary or effective." Spock Here is a link that might be useful: Ask Dan, The Herald in Orange County, CA

Ughh I hate those things and I had many come up last year. I had to do spraying to kill most off, but I understand you can also get rid of these things by putting a small box or any container with crumpled newspapers inside... leave it overnight and in the morning get that box and dump the load into a bucket of soapy water. These earwigs would have crawled into the box overnight. You will have to repeat this many times over. These things like hiding spots and so remove any empty pots. In my yard, these things even housed themselves inside my bamboo tuteur which was made of small sticks. Imagine! Good luck. Ianna

There's a variety of ways of attacking earwigs. Directly with a soap spray. Go out with a flashlight about 10pm or so when they're the most active. Spread diatomaceous earth. You can put out various kinds of traps: Tuna cans with a bit of soya sauce and a layer of vegetable oil Damp crumpled newspaper. They hide in the creases and you can dump them in soapy water in the morning. Lay a piece of wood, a brick, citrus peels or anything suitable for hiding under on the soil. In the morning, lift it up and spray them with the soap spray. Have fun! ;o) Janet's Garden