Earwig Control: Dry Things Out, Trap Them and Keep Them Outside

You lift a flowerpot and a dozen brown insects with pincers scatter, or you find one in the bathroom sink every morning. Earwigs look alarming, but they are not harmful to people and they do not infest homes the way roaches do. This guide helps you figure out whether earwigs are really causing the damage you see, trap them in the garden and keep them out of the house.

How to identify earwigs

Earwigs are long, flat insects with a pair of pincers (forceps) at the tail end. A common species around homes is the European earwig.

The pincers are for defense. Earwigs can give a small pinch if one gets trapped in clothing or you sit on it, but they do not attack people. The old story that they crawl into ears is a superstition.

Signs of earwigs

Earwigs feed at night and hide during the day, so you often see the damage before the insects.

• Seedlings with leaves and stems chewed partly or completely away.
• Ragged holes in leaves or chewed leaf edges on older plants. This can look like caterpillar damage, but caterpillars leave webbing or droppings.
• Gouges in soft fruit such as strawberries, raspberries, blackberries and apricots, sometimes running deep into the fruit. Apples and other hard fruit are not harmed.
• Chewed corn silks, which can lead to poorly filled ears.
• Damaged flowers, especially zinnias, marigolds and dahlias.
• Clusters of earwigs under boards, pots, mulch and woodpiles.

Slugs and snails cause similar damage to strawberries and seedlings but leave slime trails. To be sure, go out with a flashlight after dark and look at the plants.

Why earwigs show up

Moisture is the main reason. Earwigs need cool, damp places and gather wherever they find them: mulch, compost, leaf litter, dense ground cover such as ivy, woodpiles, boards and debris on the ground. Females lay eggs in the soil and tend the young until their first molt, so a damp bed with plenty of cover can produce a lot of earwigs.

They also hitchhike in laundry baskets, luggage, cardboard boxes, cut flowers and cars, and they are drawn to outdoor lights.

Earwigs in the garden vs indoors

In the garden, earwigs are a mixed bag. They eat aphids, mites and insect eggs, and they can help control those pests. Yards with mature plants and lawn rarely have earwig problems worth acting on. Trouble usually shows up on seedlings, vegetable beds, soft fruit and certain flowers. If aphids are your bigger problem, see our aphid control guide.

Indoors, earwigs are invaders that seldom settle in. They come in through gaps at ground level around doors, windows and pipes, usually when it is hot and dry outside (and sometimes when it turns cold). The exception is very damp spots, such as under sinks. Large numbers are annoying but not a health hazard, and they die indoors because there is little for them to eat.

How to get rid of earwigs in the garden, step by step

1. Confirm the culprit with a nighttime flashlight check.
2. Remove hiding places. Clear boards, boxes, leaves and debris from around beds. Thin dense ground cover, vines and weeds near vegetable and flower beds, and do not let ivy grow next to the vegetable garden.
3. Go easy on mulch near vulnerable plants. Mulch can shelter earwigs. Keep it thin or pulled back around seedlings and soft fruit.
4. Reduce surface moisture. Drip irrigation keeps the soil surface drier than sprinklers do.
5. Trap them every day until you catch few or none. See the traps section below.
6. Protect fruit trees. Keep weeds and suckers away from the trunk, and wrap a sticky band around the trunk so earwigs cannot climb up to ripening fruit. This matters mostly for trees with soft fruit such as apricots.
7. Use bait only if trapping fails. See below.

Rolled newspaper and oil traps

Trapping is cheap and works well when you keep at it.

Rolled traps. Roll up a few sheets of newspaper, or use corrugated cardboard, short pieces of garden hose or bamboo tubes. Lay them on the soil near damaged plants before dark. Earwigs crawl in to hide. In the morning, shake them into a bucket of soapy water, or seal the trap in a sturdy plastic bag and throw it out.

Oil traps. Sink a low-sided can, such as a tuna or cat food can, so the rim is level with the soil. Pour in about 1/2 inch of oil. Fish oil, such as the oil from a can of tuna, attracts earwigs well. Vegetable oil with a drop of bacon grease also works. Place several traps near shrubs, ground cover, fences and damaged plants, and empty and refill them regularly.

The main tip: check and empty traps every morning and keep going until the catch drops to almost nothing. A trap that sits for a week does little.

Baits and insecticides

Most yards never need them. Baits often do poorly, and they are unlikely to help once earwigs are already in plants or in fruit trees with ripening fruit.

If trapping and cleanup are not enough, baits containing spinosad are the lowest-risk option. Scatter them around vulnerable plants before damage starts, or along the foundation where earwigs come in. Apply at night to protect bees, check that the product is labeled for the plants you are treating, and read and follow the label. Carbaryl is more toxic and usually unnecessary. In California it is now a restricted-use product that requires a licensed applicator. Our guide to using pesticides safely explains how to read a label before you buy.

How to keep earwigs out of the house

1. Sweep or vacuum them up and empty the bag or canister outside so they do not crawl back in.
2. Seal entry points. Caulk gaps around pipes and windows, and add weather stripping, especially at ground level.
3. Dry out the foundation. Fix leaky spigots, extend downspouts and point gutters away from the house, grade soil so water drains away, and ventilate crawl spaces.
4. Clear the perimeter. Pull back mulch, ivy, ground cover, leaf litter, woodpiles and stacked newspapers from the foundation. A gravel strip 12 to 18 inches wide around the house helps.
5. Change outdoor bulbs. Yellow or sodium vapor lights attract fewer insects than white bulbs.
6. Set sticky traps under sinks and in other damp spots to catch strays.

Spraying insecticide indoors does little to stop invasions, because the earwigs are coming from outside. Fix the moisture and the gaps. This approach, changing conditions first and using chemicals last, is the heart of integrated pest management.

When to call a professional

Earwigs are almost always a DIY job. Traps, drier soil, less mulch against the house and sealed gaps solve most problems.

Professional help can make sense if earwigs keep pouring indoors after you have sealed and dried out the perimeter, or if you are seeing other moisture pests too, such as cockroaches. A good company will look for the moisture source (gutters, grading, crawl space humidity) and may treat a band around the foundation. Ask what they found, what they will treat, and what you need to fix yourself. Our guide to choosing a pest control company has more questions to ask.

Earwig questions

Do earwigs crawl into people’s ears? No. That is an old superstition. They hide in tight, dark, damp spaces, which is how they end up in laundry and shoes.

Why do I see more of them indoors in summer? Hot, dry weather pushes earwigs toward damp spots, and your crawl space, basement or bathroom may be the closest one. Our seasonal pest calendar shows what else to expect that time of year.

Should I kill every earwig in my yard? No. They eat aphids and insect eggs. Trap them where they damage seedlings, soft fruit or flowers, and leave them alone elsewhere.