In this article, I’ll you giving you tips on how to get rid of earwigs in a garden or yard.
Earwigs indeed look dangerous, thanks to their crawling habits and their scary pincers, but the truth is, they aren’t. Not that they can’t attack, because they do, but their pincers are mainly for defending themselves and eating.
Yet, no one wants to have earwigs crawling all over the home, so if you have earwigs and other insects in your home, I’m guessing you’d like them to be gone.
Keep reading!
What Are Earwigs?
Earwigs are bugs with pincers that love to hang around warm moist areas. These include behind a wall unit air-conditioner, under the kitchen sink or bathtub, under rocks or piles of wood, and other crawl spaces around the house.
As long as the area is warm, damp, and dark enough, then the earwigs will love it.
Earwigs invade homes mostly because they are in search of food, and not necessarily because they are trying to flee from the outdoor cold. Sometimes they may just be following a water trail from a leaking pipe and will end up in your home.
These pests are vicious scavengers and can eat just about anything. They love dead or decayed plants and animals, they also love dead worms, aphids, insect eggs, grubs, and maggots.
In an event where they are out of their preferred decayed meals, they can munch on leaves, vegetables, and even flowers. This will cause holes in your garden or house plants.
How To Get Rid Of Earwigs In Homes
Earwigs might be irritating, but they are very easy to get rid of, you just need to know the right steps to take.
Follow these tips to get rid of earwigs.
Use Soy Sauce And Oil To Trap Them
Earwigs are suckers for soy sauce. They simply cannot resist the smell of it and you can use this knowledge to your advantage.
Using soy sauce and vegetable oil, you can easily trap the bugs. All you need is to get some soy sauce, some vegetable oil, and an empty transparent container.
Pour the soy sauce into the container, about a quarter full, then add the vegetable oil. The total content of the container shouldn’t be more than halfway high, so it will be deep enough to trap the bugs.
Get a small plastic tarp and use it to cover the opening of the container, but puncture some holes in it so the bugs can get in. You can make two or more of these traps, depending on the number of earwigs you are dealing with.
Place them around the areas where they spend the most time, which would be in damp, warm environments.
As they pick up the scent of the soy sauce, they will approach the container and make their way in through the holes you have punctured. Sadly for them, the soy sauce will be their very last meal. They will not be able to get out, thanks to the vegetable oil and they will eventually drown.
When the containers are filled with dead earwigs, take them outside and dispose of them properly. Make another soy sauce/oil trap and set it in the same positions.
Do this until the earwig population in your home has been reduced or eliminated.
Use Diatomaceous Earth
Diatomaceous Earth is very useful to humans, besides the fact it is edible, it can also help with digestion problems.
Diatomaceous earth causes smaller creatures to lose moisture. In fact the smaller the creature, the faster the moisture it loses.
You can use DE to get rid of earwigs in your home. All you need to do is spread some across the surfaces where they are most active and wait for results.
The earwigs will inevitably crawl across the DE and upon contact, will begin sucking the moisture out of them. DE particles also have sharp edges, you may not see them because they are microscopic. These edges will help cut open the shells of these bugs and cause dehydration to happen faster.
How To Get Rid Of Earwigs In Potted Plants
When earwigs can no longer find any dead or decayed insects to feast on, they will shift their attention to your potted plants.
They can feast on the leaves and flowers of your plants and leave them with less than desirable holes.
There are steps you can take to get rid of earwigs in your potted plants. Follow the tips below.
Use Neem Oil
Neem oil and its extracts can be used to get rid of earwigs. It is a powerful substance that has devastating effects on pest insects, including earwigs.
You can buy a neem oil pesticide and apply it on the leaves of your potted plants. You can also apply some on the soil surface.
As the pests make contact with the neem oil or ingest neem-oil covered leaves, they will become poisoned. Neem oil works by attacking the growth, feeding, and reproductive hormones of pest insects.
It hinders their ability to feed, grow, or lay eggs. This will mean the earwigs days are numbered. They will be dead in no time and your potted plants will be safe.
Use Garlic/Cayenne Pepper Solution
There is hardly an insect in the world that can resist the harsh effects of garlic, especially when it is mixed with cayenne pepper.
Garlic contains sulfur which these insects find very offensive. Cayenne pepper on the other hand has a harsh burning effect in which earwigs cannot stand. The good news is, you can make the solution all by yourself!
All you will need are some garlic cloves, some cayenne pepper powder, a container, some water, and.a spray bottle.
Grind the garlic into the tiniest possible fragments and pour it into the container. Add the cayenne pepper powder and pour some water into it. The water you add should be enough to dissolve the pepper and garlic powder.
When the mixture has been properly stirred, pour into a spray bottle, and spray it across the leaves of your potted plants. Also, spray the soil surface and around the flower pot to keep the earwigs completely away from those areas.
The good thing about this method of earwig removal is that it doesn’t just chase the pests away, it keeps them from coming back. This is because after the water from the spray has evaporated, the garlic and the cayenne pepper would be left behind, and these would repel them.
How To Get Rid Of Earwigs In The Garden
If there are earwigs in your garden, removing them shouldn’t be so much of a.problem. You can use a cayenne pepper/garlic solution spray on the leaves of your garden plants to remove and repel the earwigs.
You can also use neem oil to gradually kill them. All you have to do is apply the neem oil across the leaves, stems, and trunk of your garden plants and the earwigs will be poisoned as they ingest it when they eat the leaves and. Flowers.
Besides using substances, there are other things you can do to reduce the earwig population in your garden.
Remember, earwigs live to hide in warm, moist areas, which include under piles of old deadwood. For this reason, you should keep your garden free of piles of old decayed wood, as there will be lots of earwigs hiding beneath them.
You should also ensure your garden floor is free of dampness. Garden floor moisture can be caused by leaking pipes and faucets. If you notice an area of your garden floor that is soaked or has standing water, trace it to its source and find out the pipe that is leaking.
When you discover the cause, have it fixed as soon as possible so that the dampness will reduce. Keep in mind that standing water also attracts Mosquitoes, so keeping your garden floor damp-free will be very beneficial to you.
Another means of removing earwigs from your garden is by introducing some natural predators. Animals that would love to feast on them include birds, bats, frogs, toads, and lizards.
You can attract birds to your garden by spreading some birdseed on the garden floor. The birds will swoop down to eat the seeds and discover the earwigs in the process.
How To Prevent Them From Coming Into Your Home
If there are earwigs in your garden, then they may start to creep into your home. You can keep them out by installing window mesh screens. These will also help keep other insect pests out of your home.
You should also make sure your trash bins are tightly sealed and emptied as at when due. Earwigs are scavengers and a full trash bin is one of their favorite spots to visit.
Conclusion
Earwigs don’t bite humans, however, they can be a nuisance. Luckily, there are too many ways to get rid of them.
I hope this article on how to get rid of earwigs have been helpful.
Good luck!