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You go to pick up a damp flowerpot and a swarm of dark, fast-moving bugs with scary-looking pincers scatters underneath. Or worse, you find one in your kitchen sink.
Earwigs. They look intimidating, but they’re mostly just nuisance pests that love dark, damp hideouts. They won’t hurt you, but you don’t want them setting up camp in your home or devouring your seedling tops.
The trick to getting rid of them is to take away their favorite hiding places and trap them where they live.
1. Start By Taking Away Their Hideouts
Earwigs are like tiny vampires of the bug world—they hate dry, open spaces and need dark, moist cover to survive during the day.
- Clean Up the Damp Debris: Go around your home’s foundation, flower beds, and patio. Remove piles of old leaves, grass clippings, mulch, boards, and stones that are right against the house. This eliminates their perfect daytime hotel.
- Create a Dry Zone: Rake mulch and soil back so there’s a clean, dry 6-inch gap between your home’s siding and any garden beds. This creates a barrier they are less likely to cross.
2. Set Simple Traps Where They Live
Instead of chasing them, let the earwigs trap themselves. This is the most efficient way to reduce their numbers fast.
- The Classic Newspaper Roll: Take a section of newspaper, roll it up loosely, and dampen it with water. Tie it with a bit of string if needed. Place these damp rolls in your garden beds or near problem areas in the evening. In the morning, earwigs will have crawled inside to sleep. Pick up the roll and either shake it into a bucket of soapy water or toss it straight into a sealed trash bag.
- The Oil and Soy Sauce Pitfall Trap: This is a powerhouse. Get a small plastic container (like a yogurt cup). Bury it in the soil near plants so the rim is level with the ground. Pour in about a half-inch of a mix of vegetable oil and a splash of soy sauce. The soy sauce attracts them, the oil traps them. Empty and refresh every few days.
3. Protect Your Plants Naturally
If earwigs are munching on your flowers or veggies, create a simple barrier.
- Use Petroleum Jelly: Smear a thick band of petroleum jelly around the stems of susceptible plants. Earwigs won’t cross this sticky barrier.
- A Light Diatomaceous Earth Dusting: Sprinkle a ring of food-grade diatomaceous earth on the soil around plants. This fine powder is harmless to you but feels like sharp glass to small insects, drying them out. Reapply after rain or watering.
4. For Earwigs Already Inside, Vacuum Them Up
If you find earwigs in the basement, bathroom, or garage, don’t step on them (they can leave a slight odor).
Just use your vacuum cleaner hose to suck them up. Immediately empty the vacuum canister or bag into a sealed trash bag outside. Then, check for how they got in—often through gaps under doors or around basement windows—and seal those cracks with caulk or weatherstripping.
5. The Real Efficiency Secret: Trap and Dry
Spraying insecticides is rarely efficient for earwigs, as it misses their hidden colonies.
The efficient path is two-fold: set multiple traps (newspaper and oil traps) in the garden for several nights in a row to crash the population, and remove the damp hiding spots they need to thrive. Doing both breaks their cycle.
Getting rid of earwigs is about being a better landlord—you’re making the property inhospitable. Take away their damp hiding spots, set out a few traps, and they’ll move on to somewhere easier. Now, grab that newspaper and a yogurt cup—it’s time to build some tiny, effective traps.
