Biting into a Peach and Finding an Earwig? Here is Why.

There is nothing worse. You pick a ripe apricot or peach off your tree, take a bite, and an Earwig scurries out of the pit onto your face.

I've seen homeowners cut down perfectly good trees because of this. Don't do it.

The "Split Pit" Problem

Earwigs can't chew through the solid fruit skin easily. They are opportunistic.

If you water your trees inconsistently (heavy water after a drought), the fruit grows too fast and the pit inside splits open. This creates a tiny tunnel from the stem to the center of the fruit. The Earwig crawls in to sleep during the day because it's dark and wet.

The Sticky Barrier

To stop them, you have to stop the commute. Earwigs sleep in the soil and climb the trunk every night to feed.

Buy a tub of Tanglefoot (sticky goo). Wrap the trunk of your tree with duct tape (don't put goo directly on bark!), and smear a ring of Tanglefoot on the tape.

The Earwigs get stuck on the runway. Your fruit stays bug-free.

Clean the Ground

Also, pick up the rotting fruit from the ground! A pile of fermenting peaches at the base of the tree is literally an Earwig breeding facility.