I don't know about you, but this year earwigs seem to be everywhere. They are literally taking over my garden and home! They have never really bothered me before because I know that they can play a beneficial role, but they're out in full force right now and I've decided that I have to put my foot down. Especially when I catch one crawling around in my house… foot goes down right on top of the earwig!

Here is a picture of one of my yarrow plants that I took the other night. All of my yarrow is covered in earwigs at night.

Earwigs on yarrow flowers.

So what's a home gardener to do?!

Well, it's important to first understand where earwigs thrive. They're nocturnal and they love moisture. During the day you can find them hiding in dark, cool, and moist places. One potential way of controlling earwig populations in your garden is by controlling moisture levels. One easy change is to water in the morning instead of evenings/night.

Then the next step is to become a trapper. Yes you heard correctly, an earwig trapper. Set your traps in your garden where you have found the earwigs to be most active and make sure to check the traps frequently. Below is a list of different trapping techniques:

• A tuna fish/cat food can that you fill with ½ inch of oil in the bottom. You can use fish oil or vegetable oil with a drop of bacon grease. This trap in particular is more successful when it is sunk into the ground so that the top of the can is a soil level. Once you've got some, empty out the captured earwigs in your trashcan and refill the cans with oil.
• Some people use the same method detailed in the first bullet point but instead of oil, they add beer. You might find that you'll get a slug or two as well in the beer traps.
• Old materials you are no longer using: rolled up newspaper, bamboo tubes, a short piece of an old hose. Place these traps on the soil before dark and in the morning, shake your traps into a pail of soapy water.

My favorite trapping method is using a short piece of hose, but you might find that one of the other techniques works better for you. And remember not to give up on trapping. This isn't something you can do once and expect your earwig population to get under control. You have to continue trapping until you are catching very few earwigs.

Check out this wonderful UC IPM Quicktips on earwigs for more information. And good luck conquering your own earwig invasion!