Earwigs
These omnivorous scavengers eat anything: aphids, bugs, decaying organic matter, and plants. They love hiding under the mulch during day time and come out at night devouring the garden.
Life cycle
Damage
They eat anything, alive or not.
Control
Prevention
Life cycle
Earwigs usually live for a year and die in winter. Some female adults would survive winter and lay eggs on the soil surface in early spring. It takes a week to hatch and 70 days to become an adult.
Damage
They eat almost anything: small bugs, aphids, vegetables, young shoots of plants, even mint and onions. If they can bite into it, they’ll eat it. The infestation will be particularly bad after a mild winter (2024).
How do you know if you have earwig infestation?
They are nocturnal so go out with your flashlight after it gets dark. During day time, they usually hide under mulch or dirt.
Are there any plants they don’t eat?
From our experience, they particularly like squash, brassicas (kale, cabbage), yarrow, potatoes, beans, reddish, dahlia … and not really a fan of tomato, pepper, lettuce (surprise!)
Control
Select the right companion plants to attract beneficial bugs (ex: ladybugs or wasps) to attack pests. Or use insecticide soap.
Traps
1:2 = soy sauce : oil- Cheap (you can use used yogurt cups and cheap soy sauce and vegetable oil)
- They are attracted by soy sauce and get trapped under oil
- No other insects will be harmed
- effective every night and only need to change it once a week
- Not all the earwigs will go in so the damage will still happen
- You’ll need to put lots of cups around the garden if the infestation area is big
Organic insecticides
Diatomaceous Earth(DE), spinosad- Kill by contact: Diatomaceous earth dries them out and Spinosad affects the nervous system
- Non toxic to birds, your pets or you
- It can kill other insects too, including pollinators
- DE is inactive when it’s wet
- Powder can be blown away by high wind
- Not the most effective way when the infestation is bad
Pesticide
Sevin (spray/dust/granule)- Kill hundreds of types of insects including pollinators
- Very effective when the infestation is bad
- Single application lasts for 3 months
- Can also get rid of squash bugs, grasshoppers, other undesirable pests
- Toxic to birds and your pet, as well as you
Soy sauce trap in works for 2 days… it’s effective but the damage was still going on…
What didn’t work for us…
Praying mantis: We released the babies when the eggs hatched, but barely saw a soul after days or weeks…
Garlic or chili spray: Didn’t deter them at all. They even ate our onion…
Cinnamon, mint-scent castile soap, or essential oil: They don’t care. They even eat our mint and lemon balm…
Prevention
Catch them early in spring to prevent your garden get completely destroyed.
Drip line
They love moist environment. Using drip line instead of overwatering can not only save water but also make the environment less ideal for them.
Organic matter
Earwigs love organic mulch. Unfortunately that’s what most of us cover our garden with to keep the soil nice. Remove the dead plants, clippings to minimize their population.
Traps
Leave soy sauce traps on the ground to capture those in early spring.