Diet Earwigs have generalized mouthparts, and feed on a wide range of vegetable and animal matter. They are primarily scavengers, eating dead insects and decaying plant material. They are often found in garbage. They will also eat live plants and insects. They enjoy seedlings, soft fruits such as strawberries, leaves, petals and pollen of many plants, as well as aphids, spider mites, insect eggs and small slugs.
Damage usually consists of many small, irregular holes in leaves and petals.
They make a regular appearance on my dahlias, but only guest appearances on my roses. Control Control is usually not necessary, unless populations are high and food is scarce. Earwigs may also move indoors during hot dry periods. If earwigs regularly destroy seedlings, start the seedlings in containers, or surround them with a sticky insect barrier. Traps of moistened newspaper or corrugated cardboard can be set out at night, collected in the morning, and the captured insects shaken into a bucket of hot water.