Over run with earwigs

[Storm™]

<They like dark and damp places>

I think you'll find that's the wood louse.

Earwigs were until recently not an issue in my life. But just started growing a few things - apples from seed, herbs and also bought a mulberry tree. All for planting when I eventually find a house to buy. Then a few weeks ago something was munching everything I was growing from seed - even the chile plants. Armed with a torch on a damp night I found the answer - earwigs. The mulberry and apple steadily being shredded.*

Researching the net they DO like damp dark places to hide out during the day. They are garden good guys eating bad insects - unless there is some juicy seedlings and a mulberry tree which they are more partial to. That and lack of other food. Implying numbers are too high to be supported by insects alone.*

Best way to catch them is as follows

1. Rolled up wet cardboard placed near where they have been seen. Discard the next day and replace with fresh.*

2. Empty tuna tin with some cooking oil in. They go for the fishy smell and sink in the oil

3. Hand soap and water mix (think it's one cap full of fairy liquid to 10 of water but you'd have to check. A lot of garden websites suggest this sprayed in your plants as a nature friendly control. However it does not work unless you spray it direct onto the earwig. As this breaks down the coating on their carapace and they then dehydrate. Just spraying plants in the hope it will catch them at a later date will not work effectively.*

4. Visit your plants armed with a torch and a stick and squash them. (what I do)*

However you have to weigh up benefits of good pest hunter against crop/ hive damage. Dunno if they are fond of varroa perhaps.*

The rolled up wet cardboard works well to.*

 

[Monsieur Abeille]

E
3. Hand soap and water mix (think it's one cap full of fairy liquid to 10 of water but you'd have to check. A lot of garden websites suggest this sprayed in your plants as a nature friendly control. However it does not work unless you spray it direct onto the earwig. As this breaks down the coating on their carapace and they then dehydrate. Just spraying plants in the hope it will catch them at a later date will not work effectively.*

But be aware this also deadly to bees

 

[huntsman666]

<apples from seed>

These will not be true to the parent. Best to buy young apple trees to know what the fruit will be like.

 

[Storm™]

<apples from seed>

These will not be true to the parent. Best to buy young apple trees to know what the fruit will be like.

I guessed but I thought I would give it a go. Its seed from a pink lady apple. Its the same with the Mulberry, cuttings to ensure same flavour of fruit, but from seed to avoid passing on tree specifics failings.

The mulberry is Morus Nigra (think thats how its spelt) and in the place we rent there is a beautiful 7 year old tree. Reallly gnarled and the fruit is enormous. I had never seen one before we moved here. If I could dig up that one I would.

 

[Erichalfbee]

All for planting when I eventually find a house to buy.

I thought I was the only one.
Our house is on the market and the drive is flanked by various "bee" trees/plants that have taken my fancy....all in pots so that we don't have to leave them behind.
Husband is getting a bit twitchy about the mode of moving when it's time.

 

[oliver90owner]

I guessed but I thought I would give it a go

All your seeds will be a new varieties and all different due to variation, by mixed genes in the sexual reproduction process. 99.99% are probably reject for one reason or another. The apple tree variety you choose to buy is a grafted clone of one of those relatively few successful 'crosses' onto a selected root stock.

You may get the multi variety with say 3 different grafts on the same root stock. The root stock is chosen dependant on how the tree is grown - most are grafted onto a dwarf root stock so your tree does not grow to a huge size.

Good luck, you may finish up with a world-beater in a few years time!

Regards, RAB

 

[beeatshellards]

earwigs will eat pollen from the frames , try greasebands around the legs

 

[Storm™]

I guessed but I thought I would give it a go

All your seeds will be a new varieties and all different due to variation, by mixed genes in the sexual reproduction process. 99.99% are probably reject for one reason or another. The apple tree variety you choose to buy is a grafted clone of one of those relatively few successful 'crosses' onto a selected root stock.

You may get the multi variety with say 3 different grafts on the same root stock. The root stock is chosen dependant on how the tree is grown - most are grafted onto a dwarf root stock so your tree does not grow to a huge size.

Good luck, you may finish up with a world-beater in a few years time!

Regards, RAB

of course, its obvious when you say it. Well i hope they will be nice. If they survive my poor parenting skills, drought, downpoor weather and the earwigs. fingers crossed.

 

[fuimus5]

earwig invasion

I was checking my newest colony yesterday (TBH) and found it overrun with earwigs. I had observed several under the roof 2 weeks ago and thought nothing of it. Now there are HUNDREDS of them! Not just under the roof, but running all over the comb and in and out of the cells!

This is a new colony and has not been growing as rapidly as one would expect and now I think I know why. The earwigs are eating everything.

I removed several bars of unused comb to reduce the size (from a total of 7 bars down to 4) of the occupied space to give the bees a chance to build up numbers and guard against the intruders before I try any artificial control methods.

My fear is that with it being so late in the year the bees may not winter over.

Anyone have any other ideas?

 

[YorkshireBees]

Glad to hear that it is not just me that has witnessed a massive increase in earwigs!

Again mostly in the roof / above the crownboard but in one colony that were running amok in the top super! Swapped the super box by transferring the frames and then emptied it out on the lawn. Although they do not seem to do much damage they do seem to leave behind debris
Only found one in the actual comb and that appeared dead.

 

[jimbeekeeper]

The earwigs are eating everything.

Varroa ?

 

[melon]

When I was last extracting, a few earwigs were spun out from the comb. Luckily they stuck to the side and I managed to fish them out with a long knife. Not very nice to have earwigs in the honey! I had had the supers in the house for a couple of days, and I suppose the earwigs had taken refuge in the comb.
There are loads under the roof at the moment. My wasp traps catch earwigs and ants and 1 wasp!

 

[the naked beekeeper]

I'm seeing loads too.
They're even coming into my house!

I saw one with its head down in a cell like a bee and everytime a bee tried to evict it, it just pinced its pincers as they were poking directly up and out.

 

[Chrisfnvs]

Lots here as well, we have had them for a few months now, under the roof on the crown broad, but never seen them in the BB, only the odd one that has fallen in when removing the crown board, i do not think they cause much of a problem for the Bees Chris

 

[Gardenbees]

My bees attack earwigs if they get into the hive - I've seen one carry out a struggling adult earwig, stinging away at it all the while. So they must feel that they are some kind of a threat to the hive. Earwigs quite like resinous plants, so I wonder if perhaps they chew at the propolis? As far as I know, earwigs will eat pretty much anything including small creepy-crawlies, so they may be attracted to spiders in the hive, or maybe - dare we even hope? - varroa mites? Especially if they're conveniently crawling across a board...

The only disadvantage I can think of apart from honey contamination is simply that earwigs have a bad smell, which might upset the bees and make them defensive and irritable. In a weak hive, though, I guess they could start on the honey and brood if given the chance.

Earwigs are particularly fond of chrysanthemums. When I lived on a narrowboat I once made the mistake of growing some on the roof-boxes... and earwigs in great numbers made nests in them, shredded the chrysanths, and dropped through the roof vents onto my bunk. I can therefore confirm that they DO DEFINITELY crawl into peoples' ears if given the chance! They don't bite or anything, they just like hidey-holes. VERY tickly and annoying! So if you want to lure them out of a hive, you could stuff some chrysanthemum stalks and leaves into old flower pots, stick them upside down onto poles or sticks, and collect them in the morning when all the eawigs have climbed into the nice, dark, chrysanthemum-smelling flower-pots. Or you could just go to sleep in a sleeping-bag next to the hive. Either way is good.

 

[Luminos]

My bees attack earwigs if they get into the hive - I've seen one carry out a struggling adult earwig, stinging away at it all the while. So they must feel that they are some kind of a threat to the hive. Earwigs quite like resinous plants, so I wonder if perhaps they chew at the propolis? As far as I know, earwigs will eat pretty much anything including small creepy-crawlies, so they may be attracted to spiders in the hive, or maybe - dare we even hope? - varroa mites? Especially if they're conveniently crawling across a board...

The only disadvantage I can think of apart from honey contamination is simply that earwigs have a bad smell, which might upset the bees and make them defensive and irritable. In a weak hive, though, I guess they could start on the honey and brood if given the chance.

Earwigs are particularly fond of chrysanthemums. When I lived on a narrowboat I once made the mistake of growing some on the roof-boxes... and earwigs in great numbers made nests in them, shredded the chrysanths, and dropped through the roof vents onto my bunk. I can therefore confirm that they DO DEFINITELY crawl into peoples' ears if given the chance! They don't bite or anything, they just like hidey-holes. VERY tickly and annoying! So if you want to lure them out of a hive, you could stuff some chrysanthemum stalks and leaves into old flower pots, stick them upside down onto poles or sticks, and collect them in the morning when all the eawigs have climbed into the nice, dark, chrysanthemum-smelling flower-pots. Or you could just go to sleep in a sleeping-bag next to the hive. Either way is good.

I shall bear that in mind next time I put my ear to the hive...

 

[Somerford]

It is certainly a bumper year.
Earwigs don't have a sweet tooth. They like dark and damp places, and I wonder if they are attracted to hives, hive roofs and crown boards by the moisture from a colony especially as honey is being dried down?

I hate to cause dissent, but I have not only found huge amounts under each hive roof, I have also discovered them snout first in the cells on the frames with uncapped honey on.....which suggests they are attracted to the cell contents ?


regards

S

 

[tonybloke]

how do they get in? I've found them under crownboard, but there's no access to the supers

 

[Hombre]

how do they get in? I've found them under crownboard, but there's no access to the supers

Through the entrance, and any gaps. They can probably get through the mesh on some floors too.

Thousands of the little sods just about everywhere you look. Any one farming them out there? And they aren't poppy seeds . . .

 

[tonybloke]

that's probably why I don't see them in my hives, No gaps, Solid floors, reduced entrances