If you see earwigs in your garden or crawling around your mason bee house and nesting block, then you may want to set an earwig trap to catch them. Earwigs can do serious damage to your seedlings, cornstalks and fruit. You can identify earwig damage in your garden when you see evidence of leaves or petals of plants being chewed. They could also harm your baby mason bees. They like to crawl into the holes and eat the pollen and even your baby larvae. Once the larvae have formed their cocoons, the earwigs don’t normally bother them, but when they are a larvae, they need protection from predators.
Earwigs can also be good for your garden because they eat insect eggs, aphids, and other soft-bodied pests. If you have too many earwigs in your garden or you see them near your mason bee house, here are two organic earwig traps you can use to cut down on their populations a bit to protect your garden and mason bees.
Earwigs are nocturnal insects and come out at night. During the day, they prefer dark areas that are damp. Here are two traps you can set to catch the earwigs.
DAMP ROLLED UP NEWSPAPER
OIL TRAP (Tie the traps to your house or base of post)
OIL TRAP FOR YOUR RAISED GARDEN BEDS (This is a great tip from Epic Gardening – Kevin Espiritu)
I use the oil trap method works like a charm