Don't Let Earwigs INFEST Your Garden! 5 Easy Tips To Prevent them

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[Spnart]

I've had way less earwigs this year, and I couldn't understand why. They are usually always a problem in things like strawberries. I found out at night that it was because a bunch of frogs set up residence in my garden. I caught them on the hunt at night when I headed into the garden to bring in some seedlings before a storm was about to roll in. I'm now in the process of making them a tiny little pond to hang out in. Hopefully they reproduce and I have a little army of pest eaters working for me.

[Chris-bxvk]

These guys have absolutely taken over my garden

[hummingbirdforestgardens]

We've had LOTS this year too (Quebec, Canada) but the ducks are enjoying them thankfully.

[jesswelsh]

Hey great video. I really want to say thank you for the seed sale, and always keeping your seeds priced low. I'm now stocked for 2025 gardening season. Happy growing, Luke.💚🌻

[charliewilliams]

Im going crazy ive just learned how important it is to mulch and now the mulch is gonna keep one of my problems here im so confused but i love you Luke and may god bless you and your family thanks for helping us hard working gardeners i know i need it😊

[marli]

I'm glad to know these little pests actually don't go into your ears as you are sleeping. I grew up (I'm 81) being told they do, and have been fearful all these years. When I found one in my bedroom last week after discovering them in my garden, I just freaked out and couldn't sleep. LOL! Thanks for this helpful info.

[PositivelyPixelated]

Oh this is eerie. I literally just googled how to get rid of earwigs in my garden about an hour ago because they devoured all of my Napa cabbage and kale. 😂 Talk about perfect timing!

[mysparky]

I guess your suggestions help but if you still have plenty what hope is there 😢. Earwigs like to crawl into dark places before morning. I lay some copper pipes at the base of some things, especially lettuce. In the morning I pick up the pipe and bang one end into a pail of soapy water. Works like a charm. Oddly satisfying to see all those dead earwigs. After about a week, I put in fresh soapy water and start over. I have tried dishes of oil mixed with soya sauce but it's kinda messy but it does work. Happy gardening from Ontario

[debliedel]

Thank you, Luke! I have been fighting this Earwig problem all summer! Mostly in my flower pots! When I water, they all come climbing out! I am using DE. It has helped some what, but yes, I have had more problems this year than ever!

[laurasinkins]

You read my mind! I've gone to war on my earwigs this week. I needed to mulch because of the massive maple dominating my yard sucking up the rainwater and was anticipating hot dry July. Then we got a lot of rain this year. 🙄 Beer traps, and Safer's 3 in 1 spray are helping. Peas, beans and zucchini were getting decimated. Today I actually had some non-chewed leaves! Huzzah!

[phenixwars]

Earwigs have been crazy this year. They were even getting in my house. It was because I left the mulch on over the winter and had a mild winter like Luke said. I got rid of all the mulch and put some Sluggo Plus and they're gone. It's been raining so much, I don't feel I really need mulch. I'd rather water more than have to deal with earwigs.

[glennasutton]

Diatomaceous Earth will help, I have been fighting them a few years and put this down around my plants.

[pbbpsru]

Earwigs have been huge on the upper part of my property, but down in the lower part, where the garden is in the middle of a fallow field, not so much, thank goodness. I do have some cucurbits and some tomatoes sprawling in one area, so they are on the ground, but aside from there, I keep everything trimmed off the ground. But I do plant marigolds everywhere too, so that helps. As I was telling my husband just today was that I typically practice chop and drop, but I may delay that this year, just in case earwigs find their way down and we have another mild winter. Because of recent mild winters I also got potato bugs for the very first time. That was an ordeal.

[jandcschwartz]

My chickens love them. We hunt them and grow them. If I leave a can out overnight with a little catfood in it they will fill the can with a mornig chicken snack.

[nagasraka]

I am so confused about earwigs. Everything I see, hear, and read says something different. 😆 I have had a crazy amount of them this year so I have looked up so many things about them. One thing will say they're bad, they eat your plants, etc. The next thing will say sometimes they do that but they also eat aphids and other pests so they're more like frenemies. I don't even know what to believe anymore. The only thing that's been more annoying than earwigs this year is the slugs. Holy cow, they are out of control. 😧

[Balaams_Donkey]

SYMPATHY FOR THE EARWIG

One interesting thing I've discovered about earwigs as I've gone around the garden and yard turning rocks for my hens is that the mother earwig stays with her clutch of eggs, sitting protectively over them. Sometimes, I find both adult insects guarding their eggs, but that's only been with the larger ones with red and yellow markings on their bodies. Further, once the eggs hatch, the parent again is found with them, like a hen with her chicks. One day I trimmed away the lawn edge and subsequently removed an earwig's clutch of eggs, but not her. She ran in circles, circling, circling, circling, looking for her babies for hours. She never left the spot where she'd left them. Not super intelligent, but gifted with an admirable parental instinct.

I had some compassion on the little insect as a kind.

But that doesn't prevent me from inviting my birds from eating them or setting out oil traps to reduce their population.

I really hate them chewing up my bright lights chard.

[TorahFirma]

I can believe it (that they're 3x the population this year). And of course this was the year I planted TONS of potatoes. LOL Unfortunately, our property is densely wooded (except where I've cleared for my garden), and I'm not raking 18 acres worth of leaves every year- we do well just to get them off the driveway and walking paths around our house! 😅 Hopefully my guineas are helping to control them a bit this year! 😁

[kartchner]

Clearly you are spying on my garden, please stop 😮

[Lvlikwintr]

They are definitely worse this year, they keep taking up residence in my romaine lettuce... and I can definitely confirm that I let leaves chill in my beds over winter, and as you said we had a super mild winter. I will definitely keep these tips in mind for fall / next year (and while pruning!!)
I would love it if you could make a video about your favourite tips for controlling the growth/spread of indeterminate tomatoes? Mine have completely taken over my beds this year (which I wasn't expecting, because I used the exact same seeds and beds etc as last year!)

[lewishorniii]

Earwigs have been a problem. But in our garden the Pillbugs are horrible this year. They took out sever sprouting beans in June and early July. I know our rotting wood raised beds are a big contributing factor.