Anyone have any experience with controlling earwigs in
peaches/nectarines/cots/plums - on larger organic acreages (100 acres)?
3/12/2007
Janet Caprile
Farm Advisor
University of California Cooperative Extension
75 Santa Barbara Rd., 2nd Floor
Pleasant Hill, CA 94523
Our slug and snail traps also attract and kill earwigs. The bait is dry
malted grain, brewers yeast and sugar - food grade ingredients that are
acceptable in an organic program. The bait is mixed with water. Slugs,
earwigs and sowbugs fall in and drown. In the snail trap the snails are
mechanically restrained. It would be pricey on large acreage, some could
be purchased and moved around. The traps are made of PE (polyethylene)
are rugged and should serve for quite a few years. A winery uses them in
their box room where earwigs like hiding in the boxes.
http://www.rinconvitova.com/snailer.htm
For larger applications Nissus makes Niban that attracts and kills
earwigs. Boric acid is the active and works on snails also. Acceptable
for organic, but not OMRI or NOP listed as I remember.
http://www.nisuscorp.com/niban40lb.html
Alternately a farmer/operator could make his own with 1% boric acid on
bran as they are exempt materials.
As always check with certifier to make sure any approach is acceptable
to the certifier.
3/13/2007
Ron Whitehurst
Marketing Manager
Rincon-Vitova Insectaries,
P.O. Box 1555, Ventura, CA 93002-1555
805-643-5407 800-248-2847 (BUGS) fax 805-643-6267
It's my understanding that boric acid is only acceptable as organic when used in structural pest control, not in agriculture. Borate is the natural material and acceptable in organic agriculture. Solubor is an OMRI approved brand. Borate works like boric acid as an insect toxicant, so Ron's recipe with bran should also work with Solubor instead of boric acid. It's the percentage boron that counts.
3/14/2007
Devin Carroll
Bio Ag Services
There is one OMRI boric acid material, but it is structural/home & garden. There are new several fungicides/insecticides out with BA as the active ingredient - I'm sure there will be some OMRI approved soon.
Using Solubor in a similar fashion should work, but you are technically supposed to demonstrate a B deficiency.
Did anyone see the movie everyone's talking about? - I think its called BORIC - it has a great cockroach scene...
3/14/2007
Gregg Young, M.A.
Certified Professional Agronomist Environmental Scientist
P.O. Box 246 Talmage, CA 95481
The method we always used was to place 12"-18" lengths of 1/2' diameter drip hose in the crotch of every tree. The earwigs apparently crawl into the hose ends as dawn approaches, and then the hose can be held vertically and banged on above a 5 gal. bucket of soapy water to dispatch them. In the first year we used to catch tens to hundreds per night per hose, after that it drops off as the population is lowered. The grower originally used his teenage girls to do the labor, but after they went to college he used ranch personnel, apparently affordably but I am not sure what that cost would be. Sure eliminated the chewing damage at harvest time that we had been getting. Another possibility might be an Entrust/Pyganic spray at harvestime done at night, but I have no experience with that, and the previously mentioned technique is much more targeted if you can afford the labor.
3/13/2007
Stephen A. Randall
Randall Ag Consulting, Inc.
(559) 280-7281
More earwig news - I just got a notice that Monterey AgResources has a new formulation of Sluggo (iron phosphate + bait) snail & slug control with spinosad (Sluggo Plus), that also controls earwigs, sow bugs, cutworms. State ag registration is pending. Sluggo original is OMRI registered; so are spinosad materials, so an ag label might not be far ahead. For details, contact:
info@montereyagresources.com
3/15/2007
Gregg Young, M.A.