Eliminating earwigs from clematis flowers
What is eating my clematis flowers and how do I eliminate them?
**FULL QUESTION**
Dear Gardening Life,
Can someone tell me what is eating my beautiful clematis flowers, please?
*—Patricia*
**FULL ANSWER**
Hi Patricia,
The most likely culprits are earwigs. Although they do eat aphids and other small critters, earwigs are also partial to clematis flowers. They hide in dark damp spots such as plant litter, wood piles, crevices in brickwork, and crannies in lawn furniture during the day, emerging to shred your flowers at night. To control earwigs, try to eliminate their hiding places, encourage predators such as spiders, toads and birds, and set out traps beside your plants. Traps can include rolled-up damp newspaper with a bit of peanut butter inside it; tuna cans filled with water topped with vegetable oil; and clay pots turned upside down with damp newspaper inside. Empty the traps regularly. As a last resort, you can spray with insecticidal soap but you must zap the earwigs directly. Earwig populations tend to go in cycles so chances are their numbers will naturally diminish next year.
Good luck!
*—Karen York, GL Botanical Editor*
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