I have a problem with moths in my pantry. We had some food items stored in a shed outside, in which my son left the door open one day. By the time we caught the problem....it had multiplied. By the time we found the moths in the shed, I had already moved some of the food items into the house. Now I have moths everywhere. They are in many of the foods, which I am trying to get rid of the bad stuff, but I need to kill the bugs before they get into some of the other stuff. Anyone have any suggestions?Keep in mind that I have a LARGE pantry, so I can't put everything in the freezer, and I can't BOMB the place, because this is our food. Thanks!

-- Martha DiLullo (MarthaAnnD@worldnet.att.net), November 13, 1999

Answers

At a lot of hardware stores they carry a product called the pantry pest trap.It is a cardboard trap with a attractant the moths are atracted to the sent and get stuck to the trap.This product works great on the moths [they come out in clouds] the traps have no smell humans can detect are copletly safe and work well.One draw back is they wont work on imature larva but you can freeze flour ect to kill larva. One mail order source for the traps is gardens alive there a organic garden supply place #812-537-8651.

-- kathy hart (www.sadlebronc@msn.com), November 14, 1999.

Why not cycle your most valuable items throught the freezer? Maybe a day or two would be long enough. Don't know where you live, but if you're up north, there should be some freezing soon. We left our sealed buckets of nuts, raisins etc outside in cold weather (in WI) last winter to get rid of moth infestations. Good luck.

-- David C (fleece@eritter.net), November 14, 1999.

AHA !!! I thought that we were the only ones who had this problem!I tried the sticky tape and only managed to wipe out many but not all of the flying ones.I read everything I could find on moths and found that they get into stuff you would never think of...potato bins,raisins,dehydrated onions,etc. I assumed that open (used) containers were the hiding places, but it turned out that I had an unopened box of cornmeal that was housing so many larvae I think they were building highways. Apparently they CAN get in through the box seams!!!!!!!!!!!! I only got rid of them when I gritted my teeth and threw out everything that was in a box or a bag, then sprayed a mixture of water and vinegar on my storage shelves.I have not seen one since. Good luck ! Check everything !

-- Lesley Chasko (martchas@gateway.net), November 14, 1999.

Don't throw the food stuff out! You can kill the larvae by heating throrughly in the oven or as mentioned above - freezing. If you can't stomach eating the weively flour and such, then bake it for the farm animals to eat. Or give it to some countryside folks who can use it to feed their animals. Don't waste it! I'm old enough to remember when such items would have been most welcomed!

-- Eve (gen3eve@aol.com), November 16, 1999.

Diatomaceous Earth, food grade, not pool supply, can be added to dried foods at up to 5% by weight. It is fossilized exoskeletons of microspoptic organisms that look like snowflakes. The sharp points pierce the larva bodies and cause dehydration. The DE from the pool store is steam heated and thus has a different chemical compostion. DE is not healthy to breathe, but is approved for use in commercial food mixes. I have found it practical for bulk storage, it can also be used against fleas, slugs and roaches.

-- Kendy Sawyer (sweetfire@grove.net), November 17, 1999.

I have not posted here before but I thought this was worth a try. We encountered the problem here after shopping at a "bargan grocery store". Yep, we got good buy on all kinds of canned goods, can and glass jar type. I opened a jar of applesauce, and there under the lid were webs and larve of the moths..inside (over the seal and through the rubber on the lid) were webs and larve and even one that had matured and looked to have been just emerged from its web. When I opened the jar, I heard the seal release as you normally would. I cannot figure out how the little buggers managed that. We do not shop at bargan grocery stores UNLESS it is for food in cans that will be stored as supply. PatW

-- Pat Warden (hairles@bellsouth.net), November 19, 1999.

Up to a point, you can screen the stuff out through a wire colander, and heating or freezing will kill the buggers off, but not only will they still be in there, so are their droppings, which of course are worse for you than the bugs themselves. If you feel gritty stuff under the packages, seeping through little holes, or in bottom of sacks or boxes you empty, we recommend the chicken feeder for the lot. Sorry.

-- Sue (kbechler@frontiernet.net), November 27, 1999.

Thanks everyone! I used a little bit of everyone's advice. I finally did bite the bullet, and tore into everything...found a big family of moths living in the boxes of macaroni and cheese. I had to throw them out (about thirteen pounds of it!) Not only had they made webs in the noodles, but they did something really wierd to the cheese mix! ECH! I also got some of those Fly strip thingees (I couldn't find the moth traps anywhere..I looked all over, but they just may not be in my neck of the woods yet!) But the moths really did like the fly strips! In my tearing open things, I also found a killer family of Bull Weavils....no kidding, they moved right into the bags of corn I had in my shed!! Have your ever poured a Coke in a glass really fast and heard it fizz? That is what the bags of corn sounded like from the Weavils! We dusted the corn with diatomacious earth, and put it into a big garbage can...it is now chicken feed. I feel much better about the whole thing now. I haven't seen a moth for several days. I have a contract with Sears pest control as well, and will be calling them back out to do some more of their stuff as well. Thanks again everyone!

-- MarthaDiLullo (MarthaAnnD@worldnet.att.net), November 30, 1999.

Bay leaves in the dry goods and in a shallow pie plate put some used oil(frying oil) works well. Put on a high shelf and leave it, the moths will kill themself in it.

-- Irene (aihm@cecomet.net), December 30, 1999.

I found a vacuum sealer at a garage sale, the kind that seals in boilable, microwaveable, reusable plastic bags and canning jars. They are pretty pricey in some specialty mailorder catalogs. I use mine for just about everything now that I have extra bags-stuff from the grocery (put bag or box inside the sealable bag and seal away) and bulk items like grains and beans from our food coop. The lack of oxygen must do in the little buggers and their eggs. I have also been surprised that for some reason moths don't chew through those bags as they will sometimes do with regular plastic. An ounce of prevention here, no real remedy to a current infestation.

-- Marilyn Dickerson (rainbow@ktis.net), January 18, 2000.

I too, am going NUTS with the inside laundry room moths. They kept multiplying, flying about, larvae on the ceiling, totally disgusting! I realized their food source was a bag of unsealed bird seed. I set out three flavors of liquids to test their preferance, container of cooking oil, one of soap liquid and water, and one of beer. The beer container won, "Wings down" (sorry). But three days later, and I have some still fying and hatching. I have removed the immediate food source, and will keep setting the "beverage of choice" container. Anyone with other suggestions besides chemicals?

-- Sick of moths (flying@about.house), January 18, 2000.

I have had success with the use of cloves and lavendar setting on shelves in open plates. It of course does not kill the larve but chases away the adults.

-- Renaye Johnston (rjohns9237@aol.com), April 23, 2000.

Just a comment, probably most of you already know this, but having moths in the food doesn't say anything about your housekeeping practices. The food gets contaminated while stored in the warehouses. My husband's uncle used to deal with the legal end of problems like this for Hershey, and he's the one that told me about the warehouses. Another reason to grow your own food, folks!!

-- Kathleen Sanderson (stonycft@worldpath.net), April 23, 2000.

Something we have had success with is putting cedar shavings in the mesh meat bags from our butcher and leaving in the big pantry. We also have a room that we couldn't afford to line for winter clothes and do the same in there. It has worked for two years.

-- Susie*Ks (goodartfarm@msn.com), April 29, 2000.

Thank heavens I'm not the only one with moths. For the longest time I thought it was just me. I too hung the fly catching strips and they work great, but do nothing for the larve. We recently started redoing part of the kitchen. Taking down the old "popcorn" plaster ceiling and soffits. You would have thought we were being attacked! They nested between the plaster ceiling and wall in the smallest of cracks. I didn't realize they were attracted to oil - reason the ceiling is being replaced. You can't clean it! They loved it. I was hoping the rest would just diminish but I will have to keep throwing boxes out. Apparently there is NO other way to get rid of them. I too shopped the bargain grocery stores and wondered if I brought them home in the boxes, it's a definite possibility. Thanks to you all for the advise.

-- Judy (greeneyes2820@aol.com), July 11, 2001.