In article ,
"More to Wiggle" writes:
|
| I'll second that. They are the bane of my life and the way I stop them
| getting in the house is to scatter a well known brand of ant powder along
| the external doorsteps and under the carpet inside the doors. This seems to
| keep them at bay. As for them not doing any damage, I have to strongly
| disagree.
|
| The little &*%$*s are lethal around soft fruit. Pick up what looks like a
| ripe strawberry and you get a handful of them eating through the back of it.
| My mange tout were eaten wherever they leant against the fence and they will
| basically eat any such foodstuffs if they are in contact with a surface.
| They also get all over my rabbit hutch and I'm not sure that they don't have
| something to do with the gradual deterioration of the wood there. As for
| bulbs, based on the fact that they left my onions and shallots alone, I
| suspect they don't go for bulbs either.

As I posted, you are blaming the people hanging around the scene
for the crime, rather than the culprit (who has scarpered). They
have very soft mouth parts and cannot eat anything that isn't
already half mushy. Perhaps an overripe strawberry, but not much
more than that.

What is happening will be that the fruit etc. are being damaged
by something else (probably abrasion in your case, but also slugs
and birds) and then the woodlice enter the hole and eat at the
damaged surfaces. Similarly, they may eat rotten wood, but most
definitely can't attack intact wood. If you have a damaged bulb,
you will find them there, too.

| Does anyone know if earwigs do any damage?

More than woodlice, but not much more.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.