The Newspaper Trick That Can Help Keep Pests From Eating Your Garden

Earwigs have a certain ick factor — as anyone who's run across the long, black or dark brown bug with the pinchers attached to its rear — knows. While they can be good for the garden, too many crawling around can give you the heebie jeebies, and even worse, they might damage flowers. Earwigs aren't picky eaters, and while they prefer to scavenge dead leaves, they'll turn to live ones if there's too much competition. If you have an earwig problem, then you can use an easy trick to lay the perfect trap for them: a damp, rolled up newspaper in your flower bed.

Old folktales claim earwigs crawl into a person's ear at night while they're sleeping, but this is a myth. Earwigs would rather live in a garden than in your pillowcase. If you find one inside, it probably hitched a ride inside on a zinnia or another freshly cut flower, since it often spends the daytime sleeping there. You might even find them crawling around (or in!) your hummingbird feeder. 

They mostly snack at night, so they're hard to catch in the act, but you'll be able to see the damage they leave behind on plants and vegetables. Look for holes in leaves and petals or gnawed edges. It'll be similar to damage from slugs, minus the mucus trail. To stop the earwig invasion, all you need is a bit of newspaper and a rubber band or a bit of cotton twine.

If you're ready to trap those earwigs, grab a few sheets of newspaper. Spray a little water on the newspaper pages, roll it up into a tube, and keep it together with a rubber band or a bit of twine. Lay it in your garden where you've seen earwig activity. Wait a couple of days and then check the tube. You'll probably see that earwigs have moved into the new bug condo. 

Once full, dispose of them — either by dunking them in soapy water to kill them or into your compost heap, where they can help break down any of the organic materials. If you don't have newspaper, bamboo reeds, plastic straws, or even severed bits of garden hose can also work as traps for earwigs, too. They just like dark, moist places. 

Of course, remember that earwigs can be beneficial in your garden. They eat other unwanted pests and could possibly be used to kill aphids without any effort. Earwigs eat grubs and armyworms too, so keep that in mind before you evict them. It's probably only a good idea to cull their population if you're feeling overrun by their numbers, which could happen after a particularly rainy stretch of weather. In the end, it's all about striking the perfect balance. If you decide to let the earwigs stay, you can also use newspaper in the garden for weed control. Simply lay out a few pages over newly sprouted weeds and wet it.