by Rex Trulove

Created on: August 07, 2007   Last Updated: August 09, 2007

Earwigs are an extremely common garden pest that annually do a great deal of damage to crops, both commercial and private.

These brown insects, with a pair of pincer-like protrusions at the end of the abdomen, are actually omnivorous, eating other insects as well as living and dead plant material. Unfortunately, when you have a garden filled with succulent vegetables, chances are that the earwigs are going to do far more damage to the garden than the help they will do by eating other insects.

There are many different commercial insecticides on the market for controlling earwigs, however there are 3 major problems with using them.

1. The residue of the poison is left on the plants, and may not wash off readily.

2. Given time, the earwigs, which are capable of producing many generations each year, can become resistant to the poison.

3. The residue seeps into the soil where it may remain for years.

It is far better, then, to find alternative methods of getting rid of these insects. Luckily, there are a couple that work very well.

Earwigs are almost entirely nocturnal creatures, and during the day, they use available shelter to stay out of the sunlight; paper, leaves, branches, rocks, or whatever is available. Both Earwig traps use this information in order to kill them.

First, it is important to remove as much debris from your yard and garden as possible. Rake up and remove the things that they can hide under. This alone will cut down on their numbers, though they can also hide in the dirt.

Trap # 1: Place the center cardboard rolls from paper towels and toilet paper in the garden. After a night of feeding, the earwigs will use these for shelter against the sun. To remove them, simply put the tubes in a bucket of water to which either dish soap or a very small amount of kerosene has been added. (Use gloves when doing this. The pincers do little harm, but earwigs can bite.)

Trap # 2: This is even more effect, and also works for slugs in the garden. Simply bury amber colored beer bottles that are about a third of the way filled with flat beer, up to the necks in the soil of the garden. Only one or two inches of the bottle should be above ground. The aroma of the beer will attract the earwigs (as well as the slugs), and they will drown in the beer. Further, since the bottles are dark, when daytime approaches, the earwigs will attempt to hide in the bottles, with the same result; drowning. Note however that the bottles should be changed daily, ast they become a very yucky mess if left too long.

Between clearing the debris and these traps, the earwigs should be controllable. This will be good for your garden, and for you.

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