Earwigs in the Garden: Friend or Foe, and How to Control Them

By the Garden Voila editorial team · Updated October 30, 2026 · How we verify

Earwigs are dark reddish-brown, flattened insects about 1/2 to 3/4 inch long with a pair of pincers (cerci) at the tail end. They hide by day in damp, dark places and come out at night to feed. In gardens they are both helpful and harmful: they eat aphids, insect eggs and decaying plant matter, but they also chew ragged holes in seedlings, lettuce, basil, dahlias, marigolds, zinnias, roses and ripe soft fruit such as strawberries, apricots and peaches. Before treating, confirm earwigs are the culprit by checking plants at night with a flashlight. Then trap them with rolled-up damp newspaper, cardboard tubes or shallow oil traps, reduce daytime hiding places near vulnerable plants, and protect seedlings until they are established.

Earwig profile

What are earwigs?

Earwigs belong to the insect order Dermaptera. The European earwig was introduced to North America in the early 1900s and is now common across much of the US and Canada. The Wikipedia article on the common earwig describes its unusual maternal care: females guard their eggs and young nymphs in underground nests, cleaning the eggs to prevent fungal growth. The old folk tale that earwigs crawl into human ears to lay eggs is a myth. The University of Minnesota Extension guide to earwigs notes that they are omnivores that can be beneficial predators of aphids and other small insects, while sometimes damaging tender plants, especially in seasons when they are abundant.

Are earwigs good or bad for the garden?

Both. Earwigs help by eating aphids, mites, insect eggs, small caterpillars and decaying plant material, and in orchards they are valued as natural predators of woolly apple aphids and other pests. They become a problem when numbers are high and they feed on soft plant tissue, especially seedlings, leafy greens, flower petals and ripe fruit. A few earwigs in a mature garden are usually beneficial; dozens per plant chewing on dahlias or lettuce are not. The goal is not to eliminate them but to keep numbers down around vulnerable plants.

How do you recognize earwig damage?

• Irregular, ragged holes in leaves, often numerous small holes, giving a shredded look.
• Chewed petals on dahlias, zinnias, marigolds, roses and chrysanthemums.
• Damaged seedlings with leaves eaten overnight.
• Holes in soft fruit, especially strawberries, apricots, peaches and plums, often following bird or other damage.
• Chewed corn silks, which can reduce kernel set.
• Earwigs hiding in flower heads, leaf whorls, lettuce heads and corn ears when you check by day.

Slugs, snails and caterpillars cause similar holes. Slugs leave slime trails; caterpillars leave green droppings. Check at night with a flashlight to see which pest is feeding. See garden snails and slugs and our cutworms guide for those culprits, or use the pest identifier.

What is the earwig life cycle?

Adult earwigs spend the winter in the soil, often in pairs. In late winter or early spring, the female lays 30 to 60 eggs in an underground nest and guards them until they hatch. She feeds and protects the young nymphs until they are ready to leave the nest. Nymphs look like small, pale adults and go through four or five molts over about two months. In many areas, the female produces a second, smaller batch of eggs in early summer. Earwig numbers usually peak in mid to late summer, which is when gardeners notice most damage.

How do you get rid of earwigs in the garden?

1. Confirm the culprit. Go out an hour or two after dark with a flashlight and check damaged plants.
2. Set newspaper traps. Roll up a few sheets of damp newspaper, secure with a rubber band and lay them near damaged plants in the evening. Earwigs crawl inside to hide by morning. Shake the traps into a bucket of soapy water or seal them in a bag.
3. Use tube and pot traps. Short lengths of bamboo, garden hose or cardboard tubes, or an upturned flowerpot stuffed with straw on a stake, also collect earwigs.
4. Make oil traps. Fill a shallow container, such as a tuna can or margarine tub with holes cut near the top of the lid, with about half an inch of vegetable oil and a little soy sauce or fish oil as bait. Sink it to the rim in the soil. Earwigs fall in and drown. Empty and refill every few days.
5. Handpick at night and drop earwigs into soapy water.
6. Reduce hiding places near vulnerable plants: move boards, stones, thick mulch and debris away from seedlings and lettuce while plants are young.
7. Protect seedlings with row cover or cloches until they are bigger.

How do you keep earwigs out of fruit and flowers?

• Harvest soft fruit promptly, especially strawberries, apricots and peaches, before it becomes overripe.
• Band fruit tree trunks with sticky barrier tape (over a protective wrap) to stop earwigs climbing into the canopy.
• Prune branches that touch fences, walls or the ground, which earwigs use as bridges.
• Shake flower heads such as dahlias over a bucket in the morning, and place a straw-stuffed pot upside down on a stake among dahlias to collect earwigs.
• Thin dense foliage to reduce shelter around flowers and fruit.

Do earwigs come into the house?

Sometimes, especially during hot, dry spells or after heavy rain, when they seek cooler or drier shelter. They do not breed indoors and usually die within a few days. Keep them out by sealing gaps around doors and windows, moving mulch and debris back from the foundation, fixing leaky outdoor faucets that keep soil wet near the house, and vacuuming up any that get in. Indoor insecticides are rarely necessary.

Are earwigs dangerous?

No. Earwigs can give a mild pinch if handled, but they are not venomous, do not spread disease and do not crawl into ears to lay eggs. The pinch rarely breaks the skin. Wear gloves when shaking traps if you are squeamish.

What attracts earwigs?

• Moisture: overwatered beds, leaky faucets and dense, damp mulch.
• Shelter: boards, stones, pots, piles of debris, ivy and dense groundcovers.
• Food: decaying plant matter, aphid colonies, soft seedlings and ripe fruit.
• Lights: outdoor lights attract some at night.

Watering in the morning rather than the evening keeps the soil surface drier overnight, when earwigs are active. Use the garden watering calculator to water efficiently without keeping beds soggy.

Which natural enemies eat earwigs?

The UNH Extension earwig fact sheet recommends trapping and reducing hiding places as the main home-garden controls.

Birds, toads, frogs, lizards, ground beetles, spiders and centipedes all eat earwigs. A parasitic tachinid fly, Triarthria setipennis, was introduced in some areas as a biological control. Chickens and ducks are enthusiastic earwig hunters if you shake traps out for them. Encouraging wildlife with water, shelter and diverse plantings helps keep earwigs in balance.

Should you use insecticides for earwigs?

Usually not. Trapping and habitat changes are effective in home gardens, and broad-spectrum insecticides kill the many beneficial insects that also hide under mulch and debris. Some earwig baits are available; if you use one, choose a product labeled for earwigs and for use around your plants, keep it away from pets and children, and follow the label. Spinosad baits are a lower-risk option. Diatomaceous earth sprinkled in dry areas where earwigs travel may help a little but loses effect when wet.

Still not sure what you are looking at? Compare symptoms in the plant pests and diseases library.

Earwig FAQ

Earwigs on specific plants

Dahlias and chrysanthemums

Earwigs love hiding inside dahlia and chrysanthemum flower heads and chewing the petals into ragged shapes. Place straw-stuffed pots upside down on canes among the plants and empty them every morning, shake blooms over a bucket of soapy water, and keep the base of plants free of dense debris. Cut flowers for the house should be shaken well before bringing them indoors.

Lettuce, basil and seedlings

Earwigs chew small, ragged holes in tender leaves overnight and hide inside lettuce heads by day. Protect seedlings with row cover until they are established, keep thick mulch away from young plants, and set newspaper traps along the rows. Wash harvested lettuce in a bowl of water to flush out hidden earwigs.

Strawberries and stone fruit

Ripe strawberries resting on damp mulch are a favorite. Pick berries as soon as they color, use a dry straw mulch rather than wet leaves, and set traps between rows. On apricot, peach and plum trees, sticky trunk bands keep earwigs from climbing to ripening fruit, and harvesting promptly limits damage. Note that earwigs often enlarge holes started by birds or wasps, so protecting fruit from birds also helps; see bird scare tape.

Sweet corn

Earwigs feed on silks and hide in ear tips. Heavy silk feeding before pollination is complete can leave ears with missing kernels. Trap around the corn patch as silks emerge.

How many earwigs are too many?

There is no set threshold for home gardens. A useful approach is to count earwigs caught in a few newspaper traps each morning. If traps collect only a handful and plants show little damage, earwigs are probably doing more good than harm by eating aphids. If each trap holds dozens and seedlings, flowers or fruit are being damaged, step up trapping and habitat changes around vulnerable plants until counts fall.

Do earwigs eat aphids?

Yes. Earwigs are significant predators of aphids in orchards and gardens, especially woolly apple aphids and aphids on low-growing plants. That is one reason not to wage all-out war on them: a moderate population helps keep aphids in check. Focus control on the places where earwigs damage tender plants, and leave them alone elsewhere.

A few nights of trapping usually shows how many earwigs you really have and whether further action is needed.

Repeat trapping every few days through summer to keep numbers in balance.

In most gardens, a balanced approach keeps earwigs useful rather than destructive.

Sources: University of Minnesota Extension, Earwigs; UNH Extension, Earwigs; Wikipedia, Common earwig.

When earwigs help, when they harm, and how to trap them

University of California IPM’s earwig guide describes adults about 3/4 inch long, reddish brown with forceps-like pincers, that feed at night and hide by day in cool, damp places. Females lay masses of 30 or more eggs in soil cells in fall and winter and guard the nymphs until their first molt. There is generally one generation a year. Earwigs prey on aphids and insect eggs and can give meaningful biological control, but can seriously harm seedlings, soft fruit, sweet corn silks and flowers such as zinnias, marigolds and dahlias. Yards with mainly lawn, mature trees or woody ornamentals are unlikely to be affected. To confirm earwigs, inspect plants at night with a flashlight; strawberry damage without slime trails points to earwigs rather than slugs.

• Sunk-can trap: bury a low can with its rim at soil level and add half an inch of oil; fish oil is most attractive.
• Refuge trap: lay rolled newspaper, corrugated cardboard, bamboo tubes or short hose pieces near plants before dark, then shake the earwigs into soapy water each morning. Continue daily until catches stop.
• Reduce shelter: limit mulch, leaves, ivy and wood piles near beds and buildings; use drip irrigation; use yellow or sodium vapour lights.
• Stone fruit: put a sticky band around the trunk, scrape loose bark and harvest ripe fruit promptly.

Spinosad baits are described as the most effective insecticide option, but insecticides "should rarely be needed." See our plant problem identifier.

Reviewed October 2026. Sources: University of California IPM, Earwigs