Earwigs have been driving people nuts this summer. They’re brown insects with pincers in the front and a double tail. They favor green leafy crops in the vegetable garden and new growth in the flower garden. They work at night and can really carve up your garden in record time. You can treat the ground around your plants with diatomaceous earth which will kill them. You can also use rotenone powder, low toxicity pesticide, awhich is effective but also has the potential to harm beneficial insects as well. Or you can join the “acceptable losses” school of gardening, in which you adjust your parameters to the reality of gardening: every season it’s two steps forward and one step back.
