How To Rid Earwigs In Garden | Fast, Proven Steps

Those pincers look scary, but the bug is manageable. You can protect seedlings, blossoms, and soft fruit with a simple, steady plan: clean up daytime shelters, set baited traps every night, and fine-tune watering. The steps below keep damage down while keeping useful predators around.

Know Your Opponent And The Goal

Most damage hits tender plants, ripening berries, and corn silks. The insect feeds at night, then hides in cool, damp spots by day—under mulch, boards, pots, or dense ground covers. Some species eat aphids and other pests, so the aim isn’t wipeout. The aim is to bring numbers down near beds and fruit so plants can thrive.

Quick Control Menu

Pick a few actions and run them together. This menu shows what each tactic does and where it fits. Use two or three at once for best results.

Method	What To Do	Best Time/Place
Night Traps (Oil)	Sink a tuna or cat-food can at soil level; add 1–2 cm vegetable oil with a drop of fish oil or bacon grease.	Set at dusk near chewed plants; empty each morning.
Roll-Up Shelters	Place damp, rolled newspaper, corrugated cardboard, short hose, or bamboo near beds.	Lay at dusk; shake out bugs into soapy water at dawn.
Moisture Cut	Switch to drip or water at dawn; keep mulch thin near trunks and stems.	Daily irrigation window; around seedlings and fruiting plants.
Refuge Cleanup	Lift pots, remove leaf piles, pull weeds and dense vines, and tidy boards or tarps.	All season; repeat after heavy rain or harvest.
Tree Bands	Paint a narrow band of sticky product on old bark or install a barrier band to stop climbing.	On stone fruit trunks ahead of ripening.
Perimeter Bait Or Spray	Use labeled products outdoors only, and only when non-chemical steps stall out.	Evening applications; keep away from blooms and bees.

Rid Earwigs From Vegetable Beds — Practical Steps

Step 1: Scout At Night

Grab a headlamp and check leaves after dark. Look for irregular holes, chewed edges, and slimeless damage on strawberries. Count what you see on a few plants to set a baseline. This ten-minute walk tells you where to place traps and where to tidy first.

Step 2: Trap Every Dusk

Set at least three traps per 10 square meters near the worst plants. Use both oil pans and roll-up shelters so you catch crawlers drawn to scent and those seeking cover. In the morning, dump the pans, shake the rolls into a pail of soapy water, and reset. Keep this daily rhythm until catches drop near zero.

Step 3: Deny Daytime Hideouts

Earwigs pile into shady, damp nooks once the sun comes up. Thin heavy mulch near stems, raise pots on feet, prune low thickets, and clear leaf mats. Move stacked boards and bags away from beds. Small changes in storage and watering make a big dent.

Step 4: Tune Watering

Wet soil and tight ground covers give the pest cover. Water early morning so surfaces dry by noon. If you use timers, shorten cycles and switch to drip where you can. Around seedlings, keep mulch light so crowns stay airy.

Step 5: Guard Fruit And Blooms

Stone fruit and soft berries draw heavy feeding. Harvest as soon as ripe. On older fruit trees with rough bark, a narrow sticky band can block climbers from reaching ripening fruit. On flower borders, decoy shelters—small pots loosely stuffed with straw and inverted on canes—can pull insects off prized blooms for easy morning shake-outs.

When To Act And What Good Looks Like

Seedlings and annuals suffer the most in spring and early summer. Fruit hits peak risk as it colors. A good program cuts fresh chew-marks within a week, with trap counts falling each dawn. Keep light pressure year-round with tidy borders and smart watering so flare-ups stay rare.

Identification And Look-Alikes

Adults run 1.5–2 cm long, flat and reddish brown, with a pair of forceps at the tail. Males show curved tips; females look straighter. Nymphs are smaller and wingless. Activity peaks after dark. Damage shows as small, ragged holes and shaved flower edges. If you see slime trails on strawberries or hostas, that points to slugs or snails, not this insect.

Non-Chemical Tactics That Pull Weight

Traps That Work

Oil pans attract and drown large numbers. Rolled newspaper, cardboard, short hose, or bamboo pieces serve as overnight bunkers you can lift and empty. Use both styles together for a strong start.

Habitat Tweaks

Keep ivy and dense ground covers back from vegetables. Store wood and tarps away from raised beds. Skim leaf piles and prune suckers around fruit trunks. Outdoor lighting can lure insects; yellow bulbs pull fewer to doors and patios.

Water And Mulch

Switching from frequent spray cycles to deeper, less frequent drip dries the soil surface between runs. Near plant crowns, use a thin layer of mulch so stems can air out. In wet weeks, lift decorative bark away from stems until surfaces dry.

Natural Help You Can Use

Birds, toads, and ground beetles snack on this insect. In orchards, the same bug can munch aphids on twigs. Where chewing on fruit is not a problem, you can hang small pot shelters in branches to keep these helpful hunters near aphid colonies. Balance is the goal: fewer mouths near beds, enough predators on trees to keep sap suckers in check.

Safe Use Of Products If You Need Them

Lead with traps and cleanup. If numbers still surge near foundations or sensitive beds, a labeled outdoor product can help as a short course. Always read the label, keep spray off blooms, and apply near dusk to spare bees and other visitors. Baits with spinosad work best early in an outbreak; they lose punch once plenty of other food is around. Perimeter sprays on building foundations can help keep stray crawlers outside; once indoors, sprays won’t fix the problem, so focus on sealing and drying entry points.

Active Or Tool	Where It Fits	Notes
Spinosad Bait	Early season around beds before heavy feeding starts.	Keep off blooms; dampen lightly after spreading for better uptake.
Perimeter Residual (e.g., permethrin, cyfluthrin)	Exterior foundation band only to reduce entry.	Use outside; seal cracks indoors instead of spraying inside rooms.
Diatomaceous Earth	Dry, dusted barrier in crevices or along edges.	Works by drying the insect; reapply after rain or heavy irrigation.
Sticky Bands	Older fruit tree trunks.	Narrow band on bark to block climbing toward ripening fruit.

Targeted Plans For Common Spots

Seedling Trays And Raised Beds

Use two traps per bed side plus one in the middle. Water at dawn and vent row covers at midday. If damage keeps rising, add a light dusting of diatomaceous earth on bed edges during a dry spell.

Berry Rows And Strawberries

Lay oil pans along drip lines and keep straw loose and dry. Pick fruit as it colors. If you find slime trails, add a slug trap so you’re not blaming the wrong pest.

Flower Borders And Dahlias

Stage decoy pot shelters on canes at bloom height. Empty them each morning. Thin mulch right around clumps and keep irrigation tight to the root zone.

Stone Fruit Trees

Scrape loose bark on older trunks, then apply a neat sticky band. Keep weeds and suckers cut back at the base. Harvest promptly to stay ahead of feeding.

Common Mistakes That Keep The Problem Going

• Watering late in the day so the surface stays damp all night.
• Letting ivy and ground covers touch vegetable beds.
• Setting two traps, seeing a low catch, and quitting too soon.
• Spraying indoors rather than sealing gaps and drying thresholds.
• Leaving ripe fruit on trees or in punnets near beds.

Simple Weekly Routine You Can Stick To

Ten-Minute Night Plan

Walk the hot spots at dusk, set fresh traps, and note two or three plants. That quick check steers your next moves and keeps the workload light.

Morning Reset

Empty pans, shake out rolls, and count the catch on one trap per bed. Toss debris in the bin and lift any pot that settled back onto soil.

Weekend Tidy

Prune edge thickets, move stored boards off the soil, and refresh sticky bands on fruit trunks if you use them. Check irrigation run time and swap in a drip line where a sprayer keeps surfaces wet.

When To Call A Pro

If daily catches stay high for two weeks and seedlings still vanish, bring in a licensed service. Ask for an outdoor-first plan centered on habitat fixes and trapping, with spot treatments away from blooms. Indoors, ask for sealing work rather than spray.

Helpful References

See the peer-reviewed guidance from the University of California on earwig management, and the Royal Horticultural Society notes on aphid predators that includes the role this insect plays on fruit trees.