Landscape Pests
Earwig
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Earwigs
The Earwig is about ½ to ¾ inch long, and is quite common throughout Southern California. The life cycle of an earwig is egg-nymph-adult. Earwigs lay dozens of eggs in clusters which hatch in 1-2 months. The adult lives throughout the year. The female mothers her young until they are strong enough to fend for themselves.
European earwigs are a predator insect, eating other insects like a "good" little bug. They hold their prey with their pinchers and chomp away. When the earwigs came to California they changed just like so many people who come here. They became health conscious, changed to vegetarians, and began eating our plants. They may still eat other bugs sometimes, but homeowners usually see the damage they cause to plants. They eat round and jagged holes in the leaves of plants, damaging the flowers and seeds. They're not even very picky about choosing just the young tender ones. If you would like to see if any are about, just fold a piece of cardboard and place it next to the foundation of your home or garage. Wet it and leave it there for two days. If there are any earwigs around, they will flock to it. If a problem with these pests exists they can usually be found under doormats, beneath the bark of trees, in the garden hose, under almost everything in the yard and, of course, in the wheels and tracks of your sliding glass doors.
Life Cycle:
Earwigs lay dozens of eggs in clusters in the ground, which hatch in 8-10 days. The nymphs go through several instars over the next 20-80 days before becoming adults. The female tends to her young until they are strong enough to fend for themselves. There are 1-2 generations throughout the year, developing more rapidly during the spring and summer.
