I really like growing sweetcorn, but I’ve never had much success. This I put down to many reasons, most of which should be fixed on our new plot. The main one that remains is EARWIGS! Whilst we’ve been digging and weeding to clear the plot I’ve seen loads of the buggers. Searching around I’ve see that actually they do more damage to other plants than I had realised (I’d see the damage, but never put it down to earwigs).
However, what I else I’ve found is that you can have a lot of success with traps. On the last shared plot I had a lot of success getting slugs with beer traps, which I’ll definitely repeat and upgrade for our plot. What I’ve see for earwigs is also a simple use of the same traps but with vegetable oil in for them to drown in. Some talk of adding something sweet like syrup and salty soy sauce to the oil to make a mixture, but the videos with plain olive oil seem pretty conclusive!
This makes me think we need to construct (or buy) some really good, study and long lasting traps for both slugs and earwigs. Bought ones are mighty expensive for what they are, but glass jars just leave too much glass laying around the plot, waiting to be stepped on and smashed. Sturdy, sun stable plastic with a good lid.. maybe bought ones will be the best option in the end.
