Earwigs
Earwigs are dark brown insects, with pincers at the rear end and are about 1.5cm long. They are scarey looking especially if you see them in your house.
Male Euopean Earwig (left), Insect Photos.net, Female Earwig (right)-University of Minnesota Extension Service
Description
Usually they are not found in the house since they like moist dark areas during the day. Males have curved pincers while females are usually straight and shorter.
Eggs and Nymphs-John B Free
Lifecycle
They overwinter in the soil and in spring females lay eggs in chamber deep in organic materials. They are one bug that actually has maternal properties. She tends the eggs and after hatching she forages for food for the young nymphs. The process from egg to adult is approximately 70 days.
Earwig Eating Caterpillar-Discoverlife.org
Habitat
They can be found in the daytime in dark places. Usually they climb up fences or other objects above the ground and hide between board or in crevices. They are nocturnal and do most of their damage at night. Sometimes they also hide between leaves of the plants that they attact. They don’t fly and don’t travel long distances, however they ‘hitchhike’ on various objects like a laundry basket, discarded newspaper, bikes or anything else that has places where they can hide. The compost pile is also a place they hide. These bugs are also beneficial as they will eat other bugs, so if they are not harming your plants do nothing.
Damage on Cosmos-Royal Horticultural Society (left)-Earwig on Daisy (right)-Calvin St Andrews
Diet and Damage
They feed on young seedlings and many different flowers, especial dahlias. They make small holes in the leaves and they will literally consume blossoms in an evening if you have an overpopulation. They are attracted to light so use outdoor lights that are bug resistant (usually yellow colour). They also eat other insects dead or alive so they can also be beneficial. I don’t recommend killing them unless you have a very serious problem.
Control
1) Hand Pick
At night use a flashlight to find them and drop them in soapy water.
2) Soap Spray
Spray areas where they may be hiding in the day with insecticidal soap.
3) Newspaper
Dampen some newspaper, roll it up and leave in places at night near the plants they are attacking. In the morning you can discard the newspaper rolls with them in it. Drop in a fire pit, that’ll work.
4) Sticky Traps
Use sticky traps around affected plants……they will stick and die.
*They do NOT crawl in your ear while you are sleeping LOL
July 3rd, 2009 at 9:21 am
Simply mix dish soap with warm water and spray…..they die and you don’t harm the environment.
June 1st, 2009 at 10:09 pm
Someone told me that Boric Acid will kill earwigs. Sprinkle it around the areas where you see the bugs. I find them most in my bathroom and kitchen where it is damp and in dark places. They like to hide under trash cans or if you have bags of grass seed, fertilizer, and so on in your garage or carport, they will be under every bag.
May 22nd, 2009 at 4:00 pm
These things are destroying my roses. They ate every single blossom. I hate the little freaks and I have been killing them for an hour or so today. Whoever says they aren’t harmful doesn’t know what they are talking about. Die, earwigs! Die!
May 5th, 2009 at 1:17 pm
I hate these things! I swear they are everywhere in my bedroom. I have two windows in my room and it looks like that’s where they are coming from. We have lots of trees around our house. We sprayed lastnight but I don’t know if the first spray just brings them out or not. I think that I killed six this morning. They love to run and hide once you have spotted them. I am getting ready to take everything out of my room and clean it! I am going to try the newspaper tonight and see if that works. Since I heard that they come out at night to feed I will probably try the flashlight. Most bugs freak me out but these are way beyond freaking me out! They really scare me!
April 25th, 2009 at 12:25 pm
I don’t know where you all live, but in New Mexico, these buggers bite big time! I’ve got permanent scares on my legs from these suckers. I hate these things!
Yours truly.
March 30th, 2009 at 2:30 pm
Hmm.. anybody who has a vegtable garden and excessive earwigs will beg to differ about the ‘harmless’ description of these bugs. They eat all kinds of veggies. They love cabbage and last year they set up hotels in every cabbage plant I grew. The only good thing about this is that with those cabbage hotels, they pretty much stayed clear of my tomatoes. In the next year or so I plant on a ‘chicken moat’ - a perimeter for chickens to patrol and eat all the wigs that try entering the garden. I haven’t found any organic approach that works well on these pests.
February 27th, 2009 at 12:30 am
This message is for kristydavid…before I would use an exterminator I’d work on getting rid of them myself. Reason being, an exterminator can attack other important bugs that are good for our crops, flowers etc…
It’s very easy to fill a bottle with soap and water…more soap than water….like 2/3 soap…1/3 water…spray the plants at night time and the soap will stand on the leaves thus making those dirty bugs to find a home with someone else…..also…..get rid of all mulch or stones…..just plant and use dirt….you should also check the requirements needed in Wayne County.
Good Luck my dearest,
Kate
February 6th, 2009 at 6:49 pm
I have been trying to get rid of earwigs from my room. I rent a room at the end of a house. It’s an old room with cement outer walls and I spray it often, both outside and inside around the perimeter. And yet I still find earwigs! I don’t know how they get in. Thankfully, the spray seems to kill them once they’re inside and it’s not often that I have very lively ones. But I sure would like to know how to keep them out! I do not like bugs!
July 22nd, 2008 at 11:19 pm
Earwigs are completely harmless.
To the woman that sprayed insecticide everywhere to “protect” her baby–you are hurting your baby with poison insecticide to eliminate an ugly but harmless bug.
And Stephen, your cousin did not die from an earwig. Something else must have happened (if its true he died, rather than you exaggerating)…
June 10th, 2008 at 8:38 am
Earwigs were all over my new house last summer so this year, we started seeing them a couple weeks ago, my husband bought some insecticide and they die from it immediately. We have a small baby to protect and I hate these things!! They are everywhere! We sprayed around the perimeter of the house so hopefully that will keep them from getting in. I also wonder if they come up through the drains since they love water. I always find them in the bathroom! YUCK!