The Grounded Orchardist

This is the European Earwig. Its a great beneficial insect for apple and pear orchards although reportedly bad for stone fruit. I haven’t experienced that myself in either orchard. We used to grow lots of plums next to pears in the old orchard…maybe the wasps scared them off the plums!

We actually tried to not spray nasties at earwig season on the farm to try and keep as many as possible.
Earwigs predate Scale insects, Woolly aphid, Codling moth and a great many other pests. They also eat fungi and lichen.

They’re hard to spot in the tree canopy. You could guarantee however that when harvest season came along, they would be at the top of the apple nestling in around the stem. Only on the longer stemmed apples although some may see the shorter stemmed apples a challenge to be conquered! The downside to this is the “dirt” that is deposited at the top of the fruit.

I was surprised I managed to get the photo above. I was doing a bit of summer pruning on trained fruit and didn’t see one. Until I looked into my barrow where I was putting my prunings and there were lots scurrying around. This made me very pleased..

I used to be scared of them when I started orchard work. I thought they would nip me but they’ve never hurt me and I go home covered in them for a few months every year…I know, its a glamourous job isn’t it?!
Apparently they’re one of the only insects that look after their young…see, they’re lovely!!