How Do I Manage Earwig Populations Without Resorting to Chemical Pesticides?
To manage earwigs successfully, you must combine several different methods. Management is more successful, if it is done before the nymphs move away from their brood cell. Remove daytime hiding places for earwigs. Clean up piles of firewood, plant debris, and loose organic mulches. Caulk around foundation cracks and crevices. Put weather stripping around doors. Inorganic mulches (e.g. stone) are less attractive to earwigs. Use traps to catch and eliminate earwigs. Several effective traps can be made from common household materials. For example: • Use 30 cm lengths of rolled up moistened corrugated cardboard or newspaper, bamboo canes, burlap, canvas or garden hose. • Pitfall traps can be made by burying a shallow can (e.g. a tuna can) with the lid removed, in the soil and baiting it with vegetable oil. • A small cardboard box (with a lid) can be converted into an earwig trap by punching 0.5 cm holes in the side near the bottom, and baiting it with bran or oatmeal. Commercial earwig tra
