To: North American Fruit Explorers <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
Subject: RE: [NAFEX] Three insects- earwigs
Date: Thu, 6 May 2004 10:27:14 -0700
Earwigs are bad but at least they are mostly just out at night.
On the whole, earwigs are beneficial. I first discovered this in the
several years when winter moth arrived in our area, from Europe via
nursery stock from the Maritimes, (the Canadian provinces on our
Atlantic coast). Trees were completely defoliated, fruit didn't form
as the interior of the flowers were eaten while still in bud, it
sounded like rain from all the frass raining down from large maples,
and when the caterpillars ate everything from the tree they were on,
they would swing on incredibly long strands of silk, hoping to find
something else to eat. Birds didn't seem to help much, but I saw
earwigs carrying caterpillars down out of the trees. Unfortunately,
we didn't have enough earwigs for the job, but fortunately, a natural
control (a parasitic wasp, I think) was found in Europe, imported
here, and after about four years of devastation, we could remove the
sticky bands from the trunks of our fruit trees and enjoy home-grown
fruit again.
Earwigs also eat aphids, spider mites, various insect eggs, and even
small slugs.
--
Diane Whitehead Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
maritime zone 8
cool mediterranean climate (dry summer, rainy winter - 68 cm annually)
sandy soil