What's bugging the echinacea?

Every year when they are first planted or break dormancy, my echinacea are discovered by the wild rabbits. If I remember to spray them promptly with Ropel and scatter bloodmeal around them, they begin to grow. Then the foliage is attacked by something that leaves holes in the foliage. The damage doesn't look like that on the slugs' favorite plants between rounds of Sluggo (e.g. ligularia, which the slugs purely love). Doesn't seem to matter which echinacea. Newer cultivars, species E. purpurea, you name it - they all get the same motheaten appearance. Can anyone tell me what causes this type of damage, and what if anything I can do that won't harm the beneficial insects? Any help would be greatly appreciated, and thanks!

I suppose I should simply give up on growing echies, but the bees and butterflies and I love them; and I'm a Taurus and thus stubborn to a fault...

I'll post several shots of damaged foliage.

I have a couple that look like that and its earwigs that are eating it check it after dark and you will see

Earwigs! What can be done to control them? They are in my vegetables, flowers, herbs- everywhere! I have read all I can find and it sounds like they are nearly impossible to get rid of. It seems that damp places are their home- with sprinklers running daily it is always damp, and when plants mature there is always a think cover-what to do?

there is a powder you can use to get rid of them and also somekind of oil you can spray that will kill them I am not sure what it is called but I know the company is called safe that makes it I had some last year have to be carefull with using the stuff if you have pets that go into the garden,

Thanks, scicciarella; folks responding to one of the other photos suggested slugs, so guess I'll have to trek out there after dark one night to see what's feeding. If the product you used is a problem for pets, I'm guessing it will also kill off the beneficial insects; and I'd hate to kill the bees, who also love the echies. That's a real problem when dealing with insects these days. With all the rain we've had this spring, earwigs and slugs are both likely possibilities, unfortunately.

Earwigs- YUK! I am already having a terrible time with them. If anyone has any solutions, please post!

here is a link. I am willing to try it because we are getting a generous amount of rain this year and I am noticing alot of the same damage.

http://hubpages.com/hub/How-To-Get-Rid-Of-Slugs-and-Earwigs

That's a great link, wisdomskr, thanks; but unfortunately in many places my plants are too close together to dig out the space for a can without trashing roots in the process. I used to use shallow pans of stale beer at our last house for slugs, where I could just dump the smelly bloated mess down the storm sewer. Here in the country, with no curbs or storm sewers, I'm less enthused by that approach; use lots of Sluggo here, but frequent heavy rains do it in fairly quickly and I don't think it works for earwigs. Maybe I should contact the company who supplies a lot of the organic gardening products we use; see if they have any tips/products that won't also harm the bees.

Here is an interesting link about earwigs and prevention methods plus organic pesticides.
http://www.planetnatural.com/site/xdpy/kb/earwig-control.html
The reason earwigs are present when snails are present is because earwigs are a snails/slugs predator.
They also have info on slugs/snails.
I have put crushed eggshells around Hostas and have had success. Supposedly the shells cut the soft underbelly so they tend to avoid those areas.

maybe that is why I dont have slugs or snails and I live in the woods should have lots of them so the earwigs are eating them well that works for me will control their population but will keep a few around to deal with the other undesirables lol

That's fascinating, wisdomskr, and the link very helpful. Interesting that the earwigs are both predators and herbivorous! We have lots of slugs, I'm afraid; would say I'd hope for more earwigs, but can't do so since they also damage foliage. What we need is less moisture; anyone know how to arrange that (lol)? I've used diatomaceous earth, and probably still have some on hand; but with all the rain we're having, including heavy downpours, I don't think it would stay in place for long. That's the problem with Sluggo also just now; the heavy and near-daily rains dissolve it pretty quickly. I'll soon be heading out of town for a couple weeks and won't be able to apply anything; hope at least some of the seedlings survive until I return.

I like to go on vacation but I hate coming home and seeing how many plants are struggling or lost. I would try the egg shells because they won't dissolve while you are gone. Maybe the earwigs will not be as plentiful if the slugs are gone.

earwigs eat anything and everyting they are not fusy they are just hatching over here, so will have to use something soon but its hard since I have the dog and it is not good for pets so I will have to walk the dog outside of the yard for a week or so till the powder is gone and the earwigs to I hope,

tonight I was checking my trumpet lillies and I found two lilly bugs doing the nasty right there on my lilly and plucked them off and they would not let go of each other so to bug heaven they went and then I told the rest of them to move on or they would suffer the same fate, how dare they do that right there before my eyes lol hahahahahah

Wisdomskr, my sentiments exactly about vacation; I enjoy it while it lasts, but get depressed when I come home and find out what plants are ailing or dead. We all need a fairy godmother to watch over our plants in our absence (lol).

Scicciarella, that is just rude on the part of the lily bugs; nice of you to send them to bug heaven together....