Earwigs have just about destroyed some of mine so I'm going to have to experiment with some systemic. I don't want to spray Orthene since it is toxic to fish and I have a pond.

Have you checked the label to see if Clematis are on the list?

If the bottle says it can be used on vines, it should be just fine. Clematis are no more susceptible to being damaged by systemic insecticides than any other vines. I am going to try a systemic fungicide next year since I am so bad about spraying regular fungicides until after the problem arises. I wouldn't give a second thought to using systemics, insecticides or fungicides, on clematis at all.

One thing about systemics is that they permeate the plant tissue and are present in both the pollen and nectar. Since I encourage both bees and hummers in my garden (and the hummers are quite entraced with most clematis), I'd avoid them for that reason. In fact, I avoid any chemicals in my garden with the exception of neem oil and use that only in extreme situations. But it's a personal choice :-)

I'm also trying to attract hummingbirds to my yard, but I already have a lot of bees due to my salvia, honeysuckle, etc.

Do we know whether systemics, when used properly, will in fact harm bees and/or hummers?

I'll check the label tomorrow.

If you do a Google search on systemic pesticides and hummingbirds or bees, you'll turn up countless references to this issue. The chemicals of the pesticide will be present in all plant parts, including both the pollen and nectar, and you risk injuring or killing any insect or bird that feeds on these treated plants. That may be the intention for damaging insect pests but it does allow for a lot of collateral damage as well. Personally, I just won't take that risk. I'd rather have healthy, carefree hummers and bees and address individual insect or disease problems with a more directly targeted, organic approach.

With as many clematis as I have in my garden I have yet to see a hummingbird or butterfly on any of my plants. Then again I have two hummingbird feeders and a multitude of many other plants that they seem to be attracted to and perhaps that is why.

Thanks for bringing this up though GG since I hadn't ever seen or heard of the issue before. Wonder if the same thing would be associated with systemic fungicides and whether they can be detrimental?

Directly targeted organic approaches have failed for me with earwigs. They have devastated many of my Clems to the point of not blooming or even growing much. They devour the new growth.

Every garden is a different situation :-) I have never (knock on wood) had an insect situation that required chemical treatment - the worst I've encountered are aphids and they are one of the easiest insect pests to deal with. Earwigs have never been problematic. What's more, I don't even bother to bait for slugs or snails. I attribute much of this lack of insect problems to a huge diversification of plant species as well as a lot of bad guy predators - no pesticides equals lots of birds and beneficial insects. As to the hummers, I don't put up feeders during the summer months (hummers are year round in my area) as there are more than enough blooming plants and I can't be bothered dealing with wasps or fermented 'nectar'. They do visit my clems but I grow more of the smaller flowered species types - lots of bell or lantern shapes - and I believe these have much greater nectar content than the wide, flat LFH's.

You have to do what works for you in yor garden :-)

Man I wish hummers were present all summer long in my garden. They are a delight to watch. Haven't had to deal with fermented sugar water with the hummers in my yard since the feeders are window mounted ones that are out of direct sunshine and the hummers finish them off long before the nectar goes bad. No wasp issues either.

Like yourself I have very few LFH and do have quite a few bell shaped and native species but still haven't ever seen hummingbirds on them. Viorna, glaucophylla, pitcherii, texensis, fremontii, fusca, ianthina, etc. have such tight shaped flowers that I can't imagine the hummers being able to get to any nectar in the flowers if indeed there actually is any there for them to get.

The only way I was able to effectively control earwigs was to spray each one I saw with insecticide soap. This meant going out at night with a flashlight in one hand and the spray bottle in the other. Because of all my efforts I assumed that I would see a lot less this year, but from the damage to most of my garden doesn't bear that. They must have come in from the surrounding yards.

I read that if you don't take care of earwigs effectively, the problem will eventually get out of control. It's very discouraging.

I had hummingbirds on my clematis this summer. They especially liked the clematis pitcheri. I have never had any earwig problems on my clematis either. The only insect problem I have is cutworms eating the new shoots in the spring. I use some neem oil and that takes care of the problem. I don't use any other insecticide either. I guess I have been lucky.

I have not used chemical insecticides in the fourteen years I've lived here. There were no flower beds before we dug them so I assume the previous owner didn't either. I only use chemical fertilizers in pots. We topdress with compost annually. I've been using Rose Tone and alfalfa meal on my clematis.

I do have a diversity of plant species. I collect dwarf rhodies, ferns, hostas, daffodils, heaths and heathers, huecheras, dicentras, lilies, daylilies and others in addition to clematis.

I have been using Sluggo Plus which is supposed to control earwigs and it did make a difference earlier in the year. Helios grew to six feet before they chomped it down to stems. I have tried the rolled up newspaper traps as well.

We have cedar fences, lattices, arbors and trellises. I think that the earwigs are living way up high in the seams of the wood.

I threaten to use systemics every year but have not done so yet but both root weevils and earwigs are now out of control and doing serious damage. Not merely cosmetic. Dang weevils have "toupeed" half a dozen expensive huecheras.

BorS, look into beneficial nematodes to control the root weevils. They do work, but you may need to reapply annually for a couple of years to get really effective control. And then.....they can come back, especially if your neighbors are nonchalant about keeping a lid on them. I do have root weevils in my garden also but I'm pretty tolerant of some damage, especially with regards to broadleaves like rhodies, etc. But when they eat all the roots off an expensive, new-introduction heuchera, just leaving a cap of unattached foliage, then its war!!

What do you end up using GG if you don't use systemics? Nematodes are great but have to be applied on a yearly basis or at least they do in my gardening zone. I have purchased them three times now for various issues and find that they rarely get rid of all the pests and continued treatment is required.

Miguel, I don't use anything :-) With the exception of some Green Light Rose Defense (neem oil) on occasion and I haven't even needed to use that in the last few years. Although I have my suspicions**, I'm not sure why I don't have any serious insect problems, but it's just never been an issue. I am a pretty tolerant gardener and will put up with some insect damage (I follow the "10 foot rule") but it's never come down to the point where chemicals of any kind were required, not that I'd opt to use them anyway. And with the exception of verticillium wilt, I've not had any disease problems serious enough to require treatment and VW is not treatable - I've just learned how to deal with it in my garden. In a climate with more heat and humidity such as yours, I may be singing a different tune, but I guess I've just lucked out.

** I've recently applied to have my garden certified as a backyard wildlife sanctuary - I have a wide diversification of plant material and a lot of beneficial critters - frogs, birds and predatory insects. I believe there is a natural balance in my garden that keeps both insect and disease problems at bay.

Your probably right, gardengal.

My guess is that you don't live in the city where it's nearly impossible to have natural balance. Regardless of how natural some of us try to keep our gardens, what the neighbors dump and spray affects us too.

GG, I have used a Neem based combo fungicide and insecticide made by Bayer and it is generally good for most things but it is not a systemic. I tend to not think about mildew until it appears and fungicides work only on preventing the issue and not really getting rid of the issue once present . That is why I am thinking about using a systemic fungicide next year. If I can get into a routine with spraying proactively, it might help matters since quite a few of my native clematis do get mildew as well as a few integrifolias (including Ember which is suppposedly the first red integrifolia but it is pink in my garden.) Mildew doesn't affect the plants' ability to flower but the effect is not nice when the foliage is ratty looking.

Have tried beneficial nematodes for grubs and such and it works but just has to be reapplied on a yearly basis since some of the grubs it affects ie.japanese beetles can swarm like you wouldn't believe down here. I must admit however the last two years we haven't had much of any problem with them most likely due to the drought. Others in the area affected by the drought have noticed the same thing. I think the immature grub larva need the moisture for their development and since the beetles swarm, mate, and lay their eggs in the heat of the summer, no moisture probably dooms those larva. I guess there is one thing good about drought conditions then after all! LOL

I don't tend to have earwig issues either since it stays so dry here during the main part of the summer. It makes sense that BorS and others living in areas where there is adequate moisture in the early summer and early fall would have more of an issue with them. I would have thought that you would have issues with them since you are up in the same general area as BorS. Consider yourself lucky that you don't have the issues! ;)

I have nine water features and hundreds of native treefrogs which is one reason I've never sprayed but it is getting ridiculous.

If by the ten foot rule you mean that you can't see the damage ten feet away then many of my plants are worse than yours. I can see it ten feet away. I'll have to take some pics.

My neighbors aren't gardeners. I'm sure no one sprays nematodes. I have once but haven't again. I'm not so good at remembering these things...

I saw an earwig in a spider web yesterday and since it looked like he was about to get free I tried to push him farther into the web and dang it, let him go. I was soooo mad.

Earlier this summer while weeding I saw 2 ants carrying a live earwig. We have had a few problems with ants making nests in bad places like around the roots of a crab apple and the tree was clearly suffering. Now there is a nest right next to a bell pepper plant. The plant is almost always drooping, but I have had little earwig damage to the vegetable and herb plants. I wonder if we have so many ants because there are so many earwigs.

BorS, the 10' rule works great for me, but then my eyesight is declining as my age is advancing :-)) Maybe you just need to wait a few years?? LOL!

And I'm surprised that with all your water features and a plethora of frogs, the earwigs are not more manageable - frogs and birds love 'em. And they do provide some benefit as well - the earwigs themselves are predators of aphids and various insect eggs. Like I suspect, it's all a matter of balance :-)

And janet, I do live in the city, or at least a pretty urban environment. Like BorS, the majority of my neighbors are not gardeners - in fact, they look askance at my overflowing garden - and other than mowing the lawn and a ritualistic annual pruning job, their gardens are pretty much untouched. And, unfortunately, look it.

I with the dang earwigs would eat the dang aphids that are on my waterlilies. I'm hosing them off almost daily and there has been no reduction in numbers. Haven't had much of a problem on my roses though.

I do use reading glasses these days but can still see the root weevil and earwig damage from ten feet away ;)

Earwigs eat aphids, huh? That could explain why there are no more aphids on the chamomile.

My neighbor, just on the opposite side of the fence, has an abundance of shredded bark mulch - too much in fact - probably about 5 inches, and I believe this is where the earwigs harbor themselves, and then meander over to my clems.

Earwigs eat aphids? Interesting. Neighbor has tomato plants on the opposite side of the fence as well, neglects to trim them down so they hang over my side of the fence next to my hanging basket on the garage and next to my clems. I've already had to treat my hanging basket this year for aphids which hopped from her tomato plants - came outside one day and it looked awful - just as the tomato plant reached up to my basket....until then it was fine.

Told neighbor about the aphids, she doesn't care (those kind of neighbors, unfortunately).

I had aphids on my tomatoes in another area of my yard...tried all the home remedies with no success. I finally chucked them in the garbage. Also tried to "hose" them regularly, but that only damaged the tomato vines and they broke and bent down to the ground. I give up.

So now I've FINALLY seen a hummingbird in my yard, and I'm torn...like I said, I only treated my potted plants (annuals) this year with systemic, but nothing that I have planted in the ground. Hummer goes for my potted petunias...hasn't been near my hummingbird feeder at least what I've seen so far.

Clems look fine, but if you look really close you can see a few chomps out of the leaves, but nothing alarming.

I try to use all organic in my yard...with exception of miracle grow, rose fertilizer, and sluggo for grubs. We weed & feed with organic cockadoodle doo (our lawn is fabulous, btw, with an abundance of earth worms).

I haven't seen any hummers by my clems...just petunias (worries me) and salvia. I also have a honeysuckle vine but not in bloom at this time. Perhaps they're not interested in clems?

With the exception of earwigs, I don't usually have problems with insects other than aphids on my tomatoes and red spider mites on heliopsis which traveled from the nursery with the plant.

I believe Sluggo is organic :)

This bait kills slugs and snails and can safely be used around pets and wildlife! Contains iron phosphate, which occurs naturally in soil. Sluggo remains effective after rain.

Active Ingredient:
Iron Phosphate.............. 1.0%
Can safely be used around domestic animals and wildlife!

This slug bait is a unique blend of an iron phosphate active ingredient, originating from soil, with slug and snail bait additives. It is also used as an ingredient in fertilizers. The bait which is not ingested by snails and slugs will degrade and become a part of the soil.

Perhaps I should read the label more closely, right? I probably read it some time ago...

Thanks for reminding me.