Hi Dana, that's weird. Earwigs are usually the greedy pigs who hang out and chow down in the middle of your prized bloom, much later in the season. Slugs would have been my guess too.
I don't know if this will help you but several ideas to control them are at the link below.

Good luck- save your dahlias!

Here is a link that might be useful: earwig info

Thanks Poochella, I think I'll try the hiding places idea first. I also saw some potato bugs on some dahlia shoots. I left my dahlias in the ground this year and all are coming up! so the fight is on. Dana

Well you can slide a little Vaseline on the stems and the earwigs will not last long. Also, a dish full of 2 Tablespoons of soy sauce and about 1/2 cup of vegetable oil will help get rid of any as well. Place it at the base of the dahlia. Works for mine and I have won three years in a row at the county fair for best dahlias!

Wow, Hopflower that soy sauce vegetable oil is one I hadn't heard. I will give that a try. Last season I managed to only catch a slug in a baited water bottle trap designed for earwigs. I bet I'll catch a canine in the soy sauce though, knowing the dogs around here.

Is the idea that that they're lured by the soy and drown in the slippery veg oil?

Thanks Hopflower, I finally have a use for that big can of soy sauce I purchased at costco! I will have to figure out how to cover it with all this rain we're getting in the NW. Dana