Earwigs in the garden

Your garden can be a source of earwigs and you would need to take care of these infestations so that your plants are not affected. Earwigs only come out at night and hide during the day. Their favorite hiding spots are rotting tree stumps, cracks in the trunks of trees and also beneath stones or the pots you have in your garden. Some of the loose boards you have around your house can hide these varmints. They would also be present in organic mulch you have put around your plants, especially if the area is shaded. Once you have located these areas use the pesticide baits earlier suggested and rid yourself of the earwigs.

Earwig Eggs

If you find a sudden ingestion of a large population of earwigs, you need to vacuum all the areas where such earwig populations are present. Sometimes they do congregate in certain areas and may also deposit their eggs and when you vacuum the area you need to make sure that you have got rid of these as well. Make sure that the vacuum bag is disposed of properly by emptying its contents into a sealed container which can then be taken out of the house.

Keep Earwigs Out Of Your Home

To ensure that earwigs do not enter your home, make sure that all the area around your home is dry, which you can ensure by making these areas of gravel or white pebbles. This could even enhance the looks of your home. This would also help the drainage around the house and thus prevent the damp conditions in which earwigs thrive.

Earwigs can enter a home through low level windows and all that you need to do is to make sure that the weather strips on such windows are effective and to the work of sealing as they should. If the earwigs are still finding them easy to get across, replace the weather stripping. You may notice the same problem in doors and a similar treatment is suggested.

Earwigs in the garden

So all in all it is very rare that earwigs would be seen as pests to be eliminated by the average house owner. It is more because of their looks that they are feared and as they never breed indoors, earwigs in a house are a rare phenomenon. They could be present if there are a lot of indoor plants and just removing these and drying out the area could cause the earwigs to reduce. The area in the garden that just seems to have a lot of those earwigs can be baited with insecticide bait that is specially meant for earwigs. These would eradicate the earwigs from your gardens and also help out your plants, especially marigolds.

Some things to know about earwigs

Earwigs are found in America and Europe and there are 1800 recorded species. They have membranous wings which they fold under the shorter forewings. It is a fact that earwigs do not transmit any disease to human or animals and are therefore quite safe. They are brown or black in color and about an inch long and have pincers sticking out of the back end of their bodies which are half as long as their bodies. It is this which gives them a sinister appearance and therefore causes some people to fear them though earwigs are never known to bite. Earwigs feed on other insects and plant material of which marigolds are their favorite target. They are very poor fliers and are primarily outdoor insects.