List of Plants Earwigs Love to Eat and Destroy

There are few insects in my garden that are absolutely kill-on-sight.

Earwigs (or “pincher bugs”) are on top of this list.

At certain times of the year, I find earwigs to be worse than snails and slugs. For a long time, I used to think snails or slugs are the only pests that could turn my sprouts into nubs.

Earwigs are fast, hide very well, and leave no trail. I’ve run into many groups burrowed into the ground.

Too many earwigs in one place can cause severe damage to an edible garden containing plants with tender foliage and soft fruits. I’ve had many transplanted plants, over 6" tall and wide, that were turned into plant sticks and stems by voracious earwigs.

Supposedly, earwigs eat a lot of dead plant matter and insects such as aphids and mites¹. In my garden, when there’s plenty of usual food sources such as dead plant matter and aphids, the earwigs seem to gravitate toward actual live tender plants instead. I’ve seen older, tougher plants and leaves damaged by them as well.

To confirm if earwigs are the culprit of damaged or disappeared plants in your garden, it’s a good idea to go out and check your damaged plants in the garden about an hour after sunset. Shining a light on the plants in the dark can help reveal some of the earwigs crawling around eating your plants. The worst I’ve seen is something like out of a horror film — masses of earwigs crawling on my baby bush bean plants.

From my personal observation, here’s a list of plants earwigs love to eat and destroy:

• Parsley

• Dill

• Sage

• Cucumber sprouts, and cucumbers

• Squash sprouts (Especially pumpkin)

• Sunflower sprouts, leaves

• Tomato leaves, smaller tomato plants, sprouts, occasionally tomatoes

• Kale

• Spinach

• Broccoli sprouts, leaves

• Tough strawberry leaves, fruit

• Radish sprouts, leaves, roots

• Beet sprouts, leaves

• Carrot sprouts and leaves

• Pea leaves

• Bush bean sprouts, plants

• Lemon balm leaves

• Mint leaves

• Horseradish leaves

• Borage leaves

• Rose petals

• Fig leaves

• Apricot/Nectarine tree leaves, fruit

• Plum tree leaves, fruit

• Passionfruit vine leaves

• and more.

Experience may differ per backyard and area.

Below are examples of earwig damage from my garden, confirmed during night-time.

I’ll keep this updated when I find out new information.