Eeeeeew.  I hate those stupid earwigs.  Sevin bug dust, to the rescue!

Using Sevin kills not only earwigs but every BENEFICIAL bug, spider, insect and pollinator for generations (bug world generations, not human)!!!!  Please think twice...or a hundred times before using anything like that.  Research your enemy, find out where they hide, clear away unnecessary debris, set traps, visit your local garden center ( I prefer Old Towne Nursery) for ORGANIC solutions.   If you find an earwig nest pour a generous amount of any cooking oil (vegetable, canola, olive, etc.) right in there and you will smother every earwig and their eggs!

In Peace & Harmony with the Earth,

Annette

lori - try Avon's Skin-so-Soft, the original. It repels mosquitos, so why not your, uh, invisible bugs? :) lol

Do you remember Fridays (I think that's what it was called - it was another network's take-off of SNL)? They had a character, a pharmacist that liked to dabble in what he dispensed. Feeling webs across his face was one of the skits. I laughed till I cried. 

Thanks Joty, I forgot about Skin so Soft, I even asked my G-Ma for some, but in my delirium, I forgot. I'm a sucker for a silly skit, I missed the spider one, bummer.  Peacetoyou, I agree, I sprayed wasp killer on some earwigs, & after blogging about them, they eat other plant eating bugs, so when I sprayed, one was bent over, trying to wipe the spray off w/ her little pincher's. Oh, I felt so bad, so it looks like I'll try " The ol', bent in 1/2 empty toilet paper roll, w/ the rubber band trick," to trap them.

Can you get SSS in the market now? So these invisible bugs, what the heck are they, why are they so vicious?

storilori: Girlfriend, if you don't like bugs I have some advice for you (write this down, post on fridge, notate in calendar, have someone call you to remind you periodically)... DON'T MOVE TO THE SOUTH. EVER. There are so many freaky creepy crawlies here I can just hardly stand it. And I've never been squeemish about bugs, snakes, things like that. EVERYTHING here gives me the heeby-jeebies.

It's grody to the maxx. Gag me with a spoon. Total.

Riceme, I heard they're also freakishly huge. No thanks!

Storilori-I was a little confused,(which is normal for me!).Did you recently acquire the broken concrete and you are making a patio out of it?Or did you recently move to a place with a concrete patio that is broken?If you just moved there it's possible that whomever lived there prior to you used chemicals and threw off the balance of insects in your yard.That can take a while to balance out and get healthy while you pay for someone elses mistakes.On the other hand,if you just acquired the broken concrete,you may have brought them in on it,and they thrive with places to hide under.Oh-and they bite,if you haven't noticed yet.The invisible bugs REALLY have me confused though.I've gardened a lot for a long time and today was even laying on the ground enjoying the rain.Never been bitten by invisible bugs.I'd like to know what they are if you find out though.Could they be fleas?

Gotchya, Ginger, The concrete came from my neighbors, & our church. Combined it's bean here for about a year. Once in a wile I'd lightly spray something in there to avoid too much of anything getting too cozy. In the mean time I put together a nice flower garden border w/ it. Now that the patio is coming together, I've started pulling some nicer pieces from the flower garden border. The ones that are laying on the dirt have hundreds of little, little grey brown bugs. I never paid any mind to them until I was investigating earwigs, that's when someone mentioned , invisible biting bugs. When I'm working in the yard, after getting dirty, I could swear, something was biting me! Now all these little bugs when together & being disturbed, I can see them. Well.....if they were solo, & on me, & biting me, maybe they could be the ones that guy was referring to. I don't know, I know there not fleas, I grew up in Ventura Co. I've experienced my fair share of those little darlings. That's my whole point, I don't know what they are, I know their not really invisible, ha, but I can't see whats biting me!! I've envisioned this minute bug w/ 90% teeth. Cheers to you ginger for laying in the rain!! What a treat that was.

stori, I don't think I am as south as rice but I am out here.  And yes the bugs are on steroids or something.  I guess it has to do with the humidity with how many and so many different kinds.  We had some weird bugs coming out of the ground a couple months ago.  I guess they lay low for something like 14 or 17 years underground then emerge.  Kind of like locusts.  But it was so gross.  I am not kidding. It was like an invasion.  Just hundreds of them popping out of the ground (which leaves these dime size holes everywhere which gives be the heeby-jeebies) then they crawl to a tree or anything and shed their shell and become flying things.  They are noisy like locus too.  But yeah, riceme is right about the quantity and variety.  I too thought that I was pretty ok with creepy crawlies being raised in the outskirts of Teh.  But nothing compares to this in Teh.  BTW, I have never seen mosquitoes so damn big.  They are bigger than some flies.  EEWWW.

Yeah, Colitas: I have been teased mercilessly here for not going swimming in the Blackwater River (and other "black waters"), but for christ sakes there are frigging snakes and alligators in there, and the damn water is "BLACK" and you can't SEE them!! I put my big toe in and called that my "No thank you bite".

Funny thing is, you know good and well I ran all over the Tehachapi Mountains, the Mojave Desert, the Hansen Ranch, and the Sierras with no fear (ever) in my life of Mojave Greens, normal rattlers, mountain lions, etc.... all of which are moderately invisible, even relative to the black waters out here.

Have I become a big ole panty-waist? Has The South made a big sissy-pants out of me?? As much as I complain about it being hotter than the devil's foot out here, will I freeze my skinny little butt off when go home?? Is my dad gonna disown me because I'm not his tough-as-nails little tomboy anymore??? (ACK!! NO, say it isn't so!!)

It's of no help whatsoever Lori but I'm reminded of an old Phil Harris song with the line "Some little bug is going to find you someday." Looks like the bugs have found you.

LOL...I know what you mean about being teased!  I put 16 layers of bug repellent on my kids, long socks, boots, etc. while the other "local" kids are out hiking in the woods with my kid bare foot!  We have befriended this family that has 2 girls and a boy.  They'll be outside and come in or outside and just start picking ticks off them, even the girls, like it's no big deal.  While I am hosing down my kid, doing "tick checks" making him strip down naked and if I find one, then it's the tweezers, alcohol and peroxide.  Now yes in Teh we had ticks....took them off the dogs, I think my brother had one or two, but nothing like out here.  You can't walk from your car to your front door without getting one almost.  I ask if there is anything with mostly "deet" in it and all I get is "What's that"?  They just shake their heads at me.  My kids have water shoes for when they go in the water and people look at me like "what are you doing?".  And about the damn snakes, the difference is back home (Teh, just out west period) most poisonous snakes you can tell by their heads and markings.  Out here it's luck of the drawl.  Give me Mojave greens, rattlers, eve red racers any day compare to out here.  And I have never been afraid of so called "furry" creatures either.  I too roamed everywhere when I was a kid and adult.....camping, hiking, etc.  But out here I don't even recognize the species, and the size of some of these creatures is too much.  They just stare at you like "go ahead, make my day".  I shot at something one day my dog was having a fit on.  I was sitting on a structure we have in our back yard.  I shot at to scare it not kill it, so I hit right below it.  The thing just sat there looking at me "like is that all you got".  Crazy stuff.  I blamed my new found "chickenshitness" to having kids.  And of course the heat makes it worse.  When you are all hot and sticky then bugs around you seem to be worse.  It's more claustrophobic to me. 

Thanks riceme and colitas for putting my romantic notions of the tropical, historic south to bed for good. Although I feel some nighrmares coming on...My fantasies of an affordable, lush, laid back paradise with a rich historical culture has become infested. I'll have to say "Much obliged, but no thank you ma'am" to giant, omnipresent bugs, snakes, impertinent, unrecognizable critter-species and a certain lack of social tolerance. Git'er home gals, where you can honor your neighbor's flag of Dixie, if you so choose.    

Yeah my bad.  I was thinking history, lush and green, peaceful, less crime, laid back, not as much hustle as the city, sitting on the porch at night watching the stars,  my kids could hike, ride, scream, shoot, whatever they please without a neighbor complaining.....lush and green--with humidity high enough your skins melts off, less crime---expect the coon hunters walking with guns at all times of night, the critters stilling your stuff, laid back---but an outsider so get shunned, no hustle---can't get anything done in a timely manner, front porch---BUGS!! and humidity, kids having freedom---me terrified of some unseen, weird bug or critter I have never herd of biting them and ending up in the hospital or worse.  So yes be careful of what your wish for and the grass might be greener on the other side, but infested.

Ya'll come back now ya hear?!

I have heard that in the South, they have 3-4 inch flying roaches.  Big bugs are bad enough, but ones that FLY?  Oh no, that is not acceptable.