In article ,
"Gordon" writes:
| My pepper crop this year was destroyed by earwigs. Instead of composting
| the plants I left them in a pile at the end of the season. My intention is
| to burn them all but the only place I have to use is my vegetable plot.
| Would it be safe to have a small fire here or would it in some way destroy
| the quality of the top soil?

It won't do any harm, but won't do any good, either. They will
arrive again, and breed rapidly. More importantly, it is vanishingly
unlikely that your crop WAS destroyed by them, as they are primarily
scavengers. It is far more likely that it was destroyed by (say)
nocturnal slugs, the earwigs moved into the damaged peppers, and
you found them there.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.