Earwigs on Milkweed

[Farfalla]

Hello everyone!
I am so happy to have found you. I have been raising Monarchs in my classroom ..But this summer I have started raising them at home as well.
My milkweed has an infestation of what I have identified as earwigs.They are close to the flowers in every plant! They look mighty cozy there.. but I am afraid they pose a threat to my monarchs!
Any suggestions as to what I should do?

[harpo787]

I've not dealt with them personally...however, in my 5 minutes of research I've learned that they prefer to feed on dead insects and rotting vegetation. However, they will attack living plants as well.

I found the following site's suggestion as to how to get rid of them. I'm not sure if you're indoors, in a greenhouse, or have a little garden. The following solutions suggested at the site are non-chemical. Hope it helps!

http://www.ehow.com/how_155998_rid-earwigs.html

[Farfalla]

I did not find that link ...even with 5 DAYS of searching. So thank you.
My garden at home is a small patch of milkweed (and other plants) close to my house. My garden at school is more spacious but close to the school building.
Both places have earwigs sitting pretty inside the milkweed plants,very close to the flowers.
This year is only our second year with milkweed/monarch habitat, and I do not remember having earwigs. I am going to try the rolled up newspaper method that was suggested in your link and see if that works. Again, thank you.

[He. katie]

these guys are nocturnal animals, they are scavengers and often eat decaying plant material. The thing I've noticed is they like to sit on the tops of the milkweeds, the seek refuge on the very top leaves, so the best way to keep them off is to pick off the top leaves. Though, the only thing I've noticed 'em doing is eating my milkweed, other then that, they don't do much.
Earwigs are sometimes cannibles, so yes, they are sometimes carnivores. It all depends on what they want to eat. If you think they may threaten your monarchs, just clip of the top leaves of your plants. Unfortunaltely, the flowers won't grow, so you won't attract as many other butterflies.