I dont know the answer to your question but I kinda wish I had an earwig motel in my yard lol. Thats our little native Green Anole lizard's favorite food. The gobble them up so fast when Im out digging flowerbeds.

This is the cutest post. I don't like earwigs but I feel this has given them a whole new, more benign and almost charming personality. I don't have rose slugs, but the slugs are doing a number on my one remaining day lily, with hordes of them ruining the blooms. Aack!

I have earwigs in the garden, and I have Buff Beauty. I just went and peered into/shook out BB flowers of various ages. I found some tiny black jumping bugs and a couple of ants, but no earwigs. All in all, I'm pretty happy about that. Not an earwig fan.....

Sultry Jasmine, seeing that none of the rest of us are fans of the earwig, perhaps we can ship them to you in Florida! Actually, I wish I could adopt one of those nice little Green Anole lizards, but I'm pretty sure it wouldn't be happy in my climate, in spite of the masses of earwigs on hand.

Carol, interesting to hear that your earwigs also prefer BB (and GMB), but Genevre's do not. Wonder why that is. Ingrid, I'm sorry to hear you are struggling with the slimy slugs. Somehow I don't seem to have too much of a problem with them. The rose slugs haven't yet appeared, but I expect the first assault to occur in July. I'm going to try to be prepared this year--I've found that spraying the Cornell formula really helps. Otherwise it's a horror.

But back to the earwigs -- it sounds as if we all have at least some. And although we're not fond of them -- do any of you find them to be actually destructive? I'm surprised that there are so many in my garden yet (blessedly) as far as I can tell, they don't seem to cause problems.

Oh -- and Carol, every time I weed near/under my BB, I make sure that my hair is pinned up on my head and covered, and I shake out my hair and I take off my shirt and shake it out before I go inside. The idea of earwigs in my hair, in my bed, or -- ! -- in my EARS gives me the creeps, big time.

Sheba

So Buff Beauty could really, actually attract earwigs? I'm going to get one and see lol

That one has been on my list but it just moved up to the top lol.

Funny how certain roses might attract certain bugs or critters. I know my leaf cutters bees love Marchael Neil's succulent new growth above all other roses, every spring. Usually, every leaf will have the little circle cuts in them. I bought another MN just for them lol.

PJP2 attracts saddleback caterpillars in my garden. They hardly ever get on the other roses. I, of course, dont want the saddlebacks though :/

Lol! I love the picture of these goofey little earwigs all snuggled up in a Buff Beauty duvet!! Too funny!

I think maybe there are certain insects that prefer certain roses. There’s the prettiest pale green spiders that live inside Sombrueil, and I’ve tried to photograph them, but they are very shy. I don’t see them in any others. :-)

I have pale green spiders in Eden, and sometimes in some of my other roses as well -- but mostly Eden. I've noticed earwigs in my roses, but haven't paid attention to see whether they frequent certain varieties more than others. Now I will be on the look out! I've wondered whether or not they might be eating thrips or aphids? What do earwigs eat? They don't seem to damage the roses, which made me wonder if they were eating rose pests?

OK, I looked it up. Most earwigs eat vegetation, but some eat other insects. Also, according to wikipedia, earwigs show "maternal care" which is apparently not a thing most insects do. That makes them kind of sympathetic. Also, according to the following article: "The European earwig is classified as a pest species, but it is also acknowledged that it can also be an active predator of crop damaging aphids, caterpillars, beetles, and midges. Its role as a pest controlling agent is especially important in organic orchards and farms." https://www.psu.edu/dept/nkbiology/naturetrail/speciespages/earwig.html

So it is possible that the earwigs sit in Buff Beauty because a lot of insects visit Buff Beauty and the earwigs are hungry?

Wow! I'm seeing earwigs in a whole new light.... Carol

Hi Sheba! I wonder if it's the short petals which might make it easier for them to enter and exit the blooms that make the earwigs like Buff Beauty? Kim

Ingrid, I found solar lights worked very well for keeping slugs off my daylilies - the sort you stick in the ground.

Some more info here:

https://www.almanac.com/pest/earwigs

...According to this report they're social rather than territorial with their wiggy friends, and tend to congregate during the day in places where loads of them can all hang out together. Maybe if BB is the biggest rose in the neighbourhood, it's simply the plentiful, adjoining accommodation that's the attraction? Well, that and the easy access (as per Kim's suggestion), the excellent hotel decor, the good vibes, nicely scented rooms, etc..

Or maybe it's a fashion thing - the cool guys arrive one day and decide to hang out, then the rest, the fashion followers, think this is the hip place to be and move in too... the Chelsea Hotel (or whatever the current/local equivalent is) of the earwig world...

I can't get this image out of my mind now, of all these cool 'wigs chilling out with their headphones on, getting a little high on the scent/pollen/all round grooviness of the accommodation, tapping their feet and singing along to the Eagles' Hotel California.. In any case, I hope that song's famous last line "...you can check out any time you like, but you can never leave.." doesn't turn out to be true! :-)

Ha, Ha, Comtesse!

I spotted this fun earwig fact on the internet to add to our increasing knowledge and speculation. "Young earwig offspring don't simply compete for food. Rather the siblings share what is available amongst themselves, especially when the mother is absent," explained Dr. Joël Meunier of the Evolutionary Biology section of the Institute of Zoology at Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz. Plus, they've been around since the dinosaurs! Carol

Shebabee, to answer your original question, I think my earwigs are drawn to the shady side of my BB and the dew collected in the dark crevices of the petals. The same seems to be true, to a lesser extent, of Maiden's Blush. After some curiosity inspired checks in my garden, I noticed that earwigs seem to congregate on plants with lighter blooms. Maybe they're having thrips for desert? Kim's point about open access may play a role too, in addition to petal count. Even though Penelope is just a couple of feet away from BB and she has pale blooms, the earwigs might have a harder time locating an ideal hiding place in her looser blooms. Plus she is planted in more sun. I think the earwigs might be munching a few BB petals here and there, because I see some nibbles when I closely inspect the flowers, but overall, the damage is negligible given the sheer number of blooms in BB's flush. I can't even track all the blooms on her since she's as tall as the eaves of the roof, so the earwigs chose their rose hotel well and wisely.

I once saw a slug actually hanging out in broad daylight inside a very tattered, mostly devoured daffodil bloom. It was sitting in the corona and leisurely dining as if it owned the place. That was a bit too much for me and prompted a distant relocation. I took a photo of the bold pest but can't seem to unearth it, darn it.

Just for fun, I thought I'd attach a few recent photos of my Hybrid Musk Hotel below. Let me know if you spot any earwigs. There might be a few lurking in the shadows! Carol

Carol, I think they're camera-shy or it might be their time to nap deep within the rose. I notice mine much more in the evening with my flashlight, which is when they're probably doing what the Comtesse describes so well, although I haven't spotted any headphones; they're probably just too small for me to see. Ah, the secret life of insects.....

Your posts are making me think of the long skinny aliens drinking espresso in Men in Black, with earwigs as aliens.

For the roses, Sluggo Plus kills earwigs (the plus, not the regular)

Carla in Sac

Just getting back to this thread a few days later, and geez, you guys are so imaginative and funny! Also, a great font of information!

Thanks for researching earwigs and adding so much to our understanding of these critters. Knowing that earwigs "show maternal care" and that the young ones will share their food especially when Mom is away -- and that they also munch aphids, etc, I'm starting to feel different about these guys. Since I don't see them causing damage to my roses, in spite of their numbers, I'm going to just live and let live.

Carol, thanks for the lovely photos of your BB. Really a wonderful rose, and one of the the very best, I'd say, for my climate/location (foggy San Francisco).

AND -- hey, guys, guess what?! Since I wrote this post, I have checked in on BB a few times, and -- I have seen NO earwigs inside the blooms! Really, this is HIGHLY unusual. I can ONLY think that there is an earwig who has infiltrated this forum and has told the other earwigs that we know where they are, and they have moved on. And of course, they may have decided that if EVERYWIG is hanging out in Buff Beauty -- then BB can no longer be THE hippest most exclusive place for an earwig to bed down.

Sheba

Carol, your BB is so beautiful!! I just planted a tiny one, and sure hope it will be as lovely as yours. And thank you for that interesting post about the earwig siblings sharing their snacks—it’s just too cute! I won’t see them the same in the garden after this post. :-)

I did aso discover that they like to eat pollen, and/or some say stamens, but I've forgotten now where out of the various sources consulted I gleaned those particular bits of info.

I'm beginning to cobble together from everyone's suggestions plus some further reading, a slightly more serious hypothesis than my last effort, in answer to your original question Sheba, re what is the special attraction of your/ some other people's BBs: that maybe it's just got that perfect balance of desirable features - lots of short petals providing good hiding places with easy access, dampness (petals holding on to some moisture while protecting from actual rain), shade (they like shade) and, (being nocturnal in terms of their activity/foraging time) after a good day's sleep/ R&R, availability of pollen/stamens and maybe a few thrips or aphids for yummy evening breakfast snacks, to set themselves up for their night's activity (I too noticed a preponderance of yellow/lighter coloured blooms in earwig photos that may or may not be coincidental)...

It would be interesting to know if there are signs of chewed stamens/scattered pollen, and to clarify whether they're laying and hatching eggs in there, or just resting up and socialising.

I'm also getting the impression, from what I've read, that petals and rose leaves are not high on their list of preferred foods, so if there's plenty of other organic matter - decaying or fresh - around for them to eat, that may be why they're leaving the rose petals and leaves alone, for the most part.

I came across a couple of past threads on earwigs and roses, from which some of this info came, here on Houzz, but didn't save the links, I'm afraid. One or two people had had a lot of trouble with earwigs in plague proportions actually destroying their roses, but I'm speculating that may have been in gardens where there wasn't a lot of their other, preferred organic matter around.

I think you’re right, Comtesse, since I see them much more in the mulch. I keep a good 4-6 inch mulch layer around all my plants, and they are busiest down there. I grow lots of leafy greens, too, and they don’t bother those. The slugs, however, do munch on my lettuces a bit. But my lizards fight over who gets the slugs (I watched two males in an epic confrontation over a slug that seemed rather unaware he was the impetus) and so the slugs don’t last long. :-)

I am learning so much about earwigs! I had never considered them much before. I see them around n my garden occasionally, mostly in the mulch. Apparently they are considered beneficial since they like to eat aphids, mites, scales and such. But they also eat plants and decaying matter. True omnivores. https://animals.mom.me/earwigs-diet-4607.html

I used to kill them when I saw them; no more. Now it will seem more like hurting a puppy or helpless kitten. I'm sorry, dear departed earwigs, forgive my abysmal ignorance.

Perma, thank you and congrats on your young BB! She's an absolute fav of mine. She'll take about 5 years to come into her own. Then, look out!

Shebabee, who knew what a fun thread about earwigs your initial and practical question would trigger, right? :-)

Comtesse, that's a helpful and concise earwig preferences/characteristics summary! Thank you.

Like Ingrid, I now have very tender feelings for these little critters. My daughter and I already practice a lot of, as we call it, "catch and release." We transplant house spiders and house centipedes to the basement. (There must be a regular arachnid zoo down there by now.) We rescue praying mantises and katydids alike. If a ladybug gets caught in our car, we pull over and carry it to a flowering shrub. Now we will be ensuring the safety of our earwigs. We'll check for male or female parts, be kind to both and assume that females are returning to their nests to feed, nurture and protect their cooperative children. Earwigs ARE like puppies...of the insect world.

My 8-year-old daughter and I relocate garden slugs and snails. I know. Really? But we do. Portland is a temperate rainforest, so there's plenty for them to eat besides my roses. And we have a lot of HUNGRY birds and other creatures who enjoy a slimy meal in our inner city area! Photos: I believe that this is a Pacific Sideband Snail living by Tryon Creek. It's not as red as some I've observed (plus the photos make everything look a more yellow and green). However, it seems to be a distinctly darker character than I would expect an invasive European garden snail to be. Note the dark stripe around the shell. If another observant Pacific Northwesterner or gastropod expert wishes to correct my ID, please feel free. My daughter and I are novice snail observers. :-)

Carol

Daughter and husband searching for fauna and examining flora.