Does neem oil kill earwigs, is a common question, as earwigs disturb people a lot in their homes and gardens. Not to worry, the answer to the question is yes, as neem oil is super effective.
To use neem oil for killing earwigs, you have to get the oil’s concentration right and use it in the right places. Read this article to learn how to kill earwigs using neem and the right ways that you can mix this solution to tackle them.
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How To Kill Earwigs With Neem Oil?
To kill earwigs with neem oil, head to a store and buy pure neem. Prepare the neem by mixing it with soap and water and then start spraying it in your yard. Spray places and objects with earwigs. You can also spray the earwig attractants and spray on them.
Using neem oil will kill them because the product is very harsh and helps to weaken the insects until they die. Earwigs will either die or flee when you spray neem on their body. Also, you can kill insects when you spray their food with neem, and set the right measures so they wouldn’t return to your yard.
1. Get The Right Neem
You need neem oil to kill the earwigs in your yard with neem, and to do so you can go to any store near you and search for these products. You can get either pure neem oil or any insecticide with neem as its active ingredient. If you get the insecticide, you can use it directly in your yard or simply follow the instructions that come with it.
Avoid getting ones that havee been diluted already, because it is better if you prepare pure neem. Pure neem is best for you, as you can use any neem concentration you choose, and you get to use the right amount of concentration. You can even take your creativity further by making neem oil using the seeds by yourself.
2. Prepare the Solution
If you bought pure neem, you must prepare it to make a neem product or insecticide. To start the preparation, get yourself an insecticidal soap. This is simply a mixture of water and any soap or detergent you would pick. Soap does not just kill earwigs and other insects, it also helps to emulsify neem so that the oil can easily mix with water.
Some of the precautions for using neem are protecting yourself by wearing gloves and other clothing. In addition, keep the neem far from the reach of pets and children, and dilute pure oil before using it so that it does not burn your plants, making sure that you are well-protected.
When you get your insect soap, mix a liter of water with two tablespoons of neem and equal amounts of soap. Pour the mixture into any bottle or container, close the lid, and then shake it properly. You now have your neem product ready for use.
3. Identify Places With Earwigs
Though you will spray every part of your yard with neem, you have to focus more on the places with earwigs. For this step, keep your finished neem, enter your yard, and search for earwig hideouts. Searching your garden at night is best, as earwigs are mostly active at night, so keeping this in mind, you can also find them during the day.
When the sun is out, lift rocks and other large, and moveable objects in your yard and know their traps. You will see earwigs below them. Focus more on your yards’ moist and shady areas, as earwigs are attracted to moist places. Find as many earwig hideouts in your yard and then move on to the next step.
Earwigs eat different things in your yard, and some examples of what they eat are food waste, organic materials, soft plant tissues, and fresh leaves, so you must be aware of what is attracting them. If you have any of these in your yard, they are most likely responsible for the increase in the earwig population of the yard.
Not to worry, you can also mark the attractants as well because you will spray them with neem soon. Try as much as you can to find everything that can keep earwigs in your yard and then note it. Remember to focus more on moist places, as earwigs usually avoid going to dry places.
4. Start Spraying Your Neem Oil
You can start the attack on the earwigs using your oil spray. Start by spraying every place and plant that you marked earlier. Also, spray the food sources of the earwigs. You can move on to other places after spraying every marked part of your yard.
Earwigs love attacking fruit trees, so spray your trees with the oil as well. Also, check your indoor plants and spray them with oil just in case earwigs disturb you indoors. Spray every leaf of your plants, especially those with earwig infestation.
5. Reapply the Neem
After spraying the earwigs for the first time, you will notice that most of the insects have died. However, the first application of neem does not usually kill every earwig. Therefore, you have to respray the oil, and now you can spray the neem oil every three to four days, but don’t do it overly, because it may harm the plants, if it gets poured excessively on them.
You can even make an insect oil trap so that it would keep your garden well protected. All you have to do is regularly spray the food sources of the earwigs so that they will die after eating the food, so this can be another way that you would secure how the pests are no longer going to attack your garden, if you target all of them.
6. Keep Your Yard Clean
Some items that attract earwigs to your yard are mulch, leaf piles, wood piles, manure, compost, cardboard, and pellets. If you can remove these items from your yard or regularly spray them with neem, the yard will be free from earwigs.
Pests stay in most gardens and yards because of the amount of organic materials in the yard, so you can simply stop the pests from coming by removing the materials. So long as your yard stays clean, there will be very few to no earwigs in it.
7. Check the Earwig Population in Your Yard
After regularly spraying your yard and its plants with neem, you will surely see the earwig population declining. Though earwigs lay eggs and will try to repopulate, you can stop that by regularly spraying the yard, especially their hideouts.
You can also place some chemical insecticides and easily get insecticides that specifically target earwigs from stores near you. The earwigs will die instantly when you use chemical insecticides. If you want organic products, however, go for neem oil insecticides.
8. Set Measures to Keep Them Away
Instead of killing earwigs, why not prevent them from entering your yard in the first place? Preventing pests is the best form of pest control, as your plants will stay safe. Earwigs enter yards because of moisture. The more damp your yard is, the more likely will the earwig population soar, so if you wish to stop the insects, and fix your moisture issues.
Check if there are any drainages, or any leakages coming and increasing the humidity level, because this is a way that they would come and freely infest in your garden. Taking care of this issue will decrease the chances of having them infest again.
Earwigs love hiding under or between surfaces so that you can set traps for them. You can use magazines or cardboard to set the earwig trap. You just need to fold or roll the papers and keep them at different points in your garden at night. Focus more on regions with earwigs.
Check the papers for earwigs during the day or when the sun is out. When you find some insects, kill them instantly. Do this daily, and you’d see a decline in the pest population in less than a month.
Birds, frogs, praying mantises, and ground beetles are some examples of pincher bugs predators. These animals are beneficial, and they will not destroy the plants in your garden, if any of them come again, they will be helping your garden stay free from earwigs naturally, as you introduce their predators.
You can also use some organic repellents such as diatomaceous earth, baking soda, and soy sauce to repel earwigs. If you have an organic garden, stick to using organic products to repel pests.
Conclusion
Surely, the neem product works, and you must use it to control your earwig problem. Remember these useful points from the article:
- Dilute your pure neem before using it, as it can burn plants if you use it directly.
- Spray the earwig repellent in the evening because earwigs are nocturnal insects.
- You can mostly find earwigs in damp and shady places. Look for them there.
- You can set earwig traps in your yard to catch and kill them.
- Wear goggles, long sleeves, and other protective clothing when using neem, especially if you have sensitive skin.
Now, you are ready to go kill every earwig in your garden. Remember to stick to the precautions.
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