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Pests in Gardens and Landscapes: Quick Tips

Adult earwig.

damage caused by earwigs. (Note: Other pests can cause similar-looking damage.)

Earwig trap made from low-sided can filled with vegetable oil.

While their prominent tail-end pincers might look ferocious, earwigs aren’t harmful to people. Earwigs can seriously damage seedlings and chew holes in flowers, soft fruit, and corn silks, but earwigs also play a beneficial role by feeding on aphids and other insects. Earwigs feed at night and hide during the day in dark, cool, moist places such as within flowers, vegetables, mulch, or weeds. To manage earwigs, reduce hiding places and moisture, and trap daily until they’re gone.

Should you be concerned about earwigs in your garden?

• Yes, if you are growing vegetables, herbaceous flowering plants, sweet corn, or plants with soft fruits such as strawberries and apricots.
• No, if your garden is primarily lawn, trees, native plants, and woody ornamentals.

Reduce outdoor hiding places.

• Remove dense undergrowth of vines, ground cover, and weeds around vegetable and flower gardens.
• Prune out fruit tree suckers.
• Remove leaves, boards, boxes, trash, and other debris.
• Move flowerpots and other garden objects and structures that can harbor earwigs.

Trap earwigs until they’re gone.

• Trap earwigs with rolled newspaper, bamboo tubes, or short pieces of hose. Place these traps on the soil near plants just before dark and shake accumulated earwigs into a container of soapy water in the morning.
• Fill a low-sided can with vegetable oil and a drop of bacon grease or fish oil to attract and trap earwigs.
• Daily trapping will reduce earwig populations to tolerable levels.

What other ways can you control earwigs outside?

• Drip irrigate where possible to reduce moisture.
• Keep earwigs out of stone fruit trees with a band of sticky substance such as Tanglefoot around the trunk, and harvest fruit as soon as it ripens.
• Insecticides should rarely be needed.

How can you control earwigs inside your home?

Earwigs might come indoors when conditions outside are too dry, too hot, or too cold. Large numbers of earwigs can be annoying, but aren’t a health hazard. If earwigs are found inside the home, follow these steps:

• Sweep up or vacuum them up.
• Seal cracks or other entry points.
• Remove debris from gutters and around entryways.
• Keep water away from structures.
• Replace white outdoor lights with yellow ones, which are less attractive to earwigs.
• Indoor use of pesticides won’t prevent earwigs from entering so aren’t recommended.

What you do in your home and landscape affects our water and health.

• Minimize the use of pesticides that pollute our waterways and harm human health.
• Use nonchemical alternatives or less toxic pesticide products whenever possible.
• Read product labels carefully and follow instructions on proper use, storage, and disposal.

Minimize the use of pesticides that pollute our waterways. Use nonchemical alternatives or less toxic pesticide products whenever possible. Read product labels carefully and follow instructions on proper use, storage, and disposal.