Gardener reveals 'secret weapon' for keeping earwigs at bay in your garden: 'This absolutely works'

A member of the gardening community has shared a shockingly simple hack to keep your garden and home free of earwigs this summer.

Author and master gardener Susan Mulvihill (@SusansInTheGarden) posted the trick to YouTube, showing you can accomplish this task using only vegetable oil, soy sauce, and a perforated container.

The scoop

The hack, like the mind of an earwig, is simple.

All a gardener needs is a small plastic container, vegetable oil, soy sauce, and a garden in which to place their Mulvihill's "secret weapon." Her instructions are as follows.

First, choose your container and puncture the lid with quarter-inch holes. These will allow the aroma to escape and the prey to enter.

Next, bury the container in your garden so that the top of the receptacle sits level with the topsoil.

Finally, pour in at least two inches of vegetable oil and add a dash of soy sauce before placing the lid on the container.

"Earwigs are attracted to the smell of the soy sauce," Mulvihill explains. "They climb in through the holes of the lid, fall into the oil, and drown."

How it's helping

While the creator of the video notes that earwigs are "beneficial insects" because they regulate the population of pests that eat away at gardens, she has developed this trick because when their population gets out of control, they too begin to damage plants.

This represents a cost-effective way to control the destruction caused to a garden by this particular insect.

It's important to first seek out no-kill solutions before taking a step such as this, though. To repel pests, you can explore natural solutions, including planting herbs such as clover and maybe even using beer. 

These kinds of tricks make it easier for people around the world to grow their own food and alleviate the strain on global supply chains and shipping that drive carbon pollution and the warming of the planet. Researchers have found that around 20% of pollution that comes from food production is the result of shipping. 

Folks growing their own food are able to save money, improve their mental health, and put healthier food in their bodies all while reducing pollution, and tips such as this one help gardeners stay on top of their game.

What everyone's saying

Users in the comments were excited to try it out.

"Once again, Susan is spreading great knowledge!" one wrote. "This absolutely works."

Another joked: "Once the earwigs are in the soy sauce oil, it makes a wonderful stir fry."

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