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Old 02-28-2012, 01:20 AM   #1  
Less is more.
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Default Evil, evil Pantry Worms/Moths

We haven't seen any moths yet, but I do see tiny black beattles and many, many of those evil worms/larva.
ARG!! do they ever go away?? we moved into this house 2 years ago and DF and I were thankful that we didn't have to deal with them anymore. (As my dad had a bad infestation of worms and moths for months before he was finally able to get control of it.)

But, like stupid idiots...we brought all our food from the old house into the new house and infested our pantry.

It's been slow, but after 2 years, it's finally getting to a point where they are starting to get out of hand. Before it was like 3 or 4 in the bottom corner of a drawer, but now I see dozens and their webs and skins everywhere! plus beattles so we're sure we have all stages surviving in our pantry.

I guess being pregnant pushed me into not being able to take it anymore lol. I've taken everything out of the pantry but I'm dreading throwing it all out, I'm thinking about throwing it in the freezer for a few days, I know that kills everything. anything that looks badly infested though is going right in the trash.

I'm scrubbing the pantry with bleach water but I know I'm not able to get into all the tiny cracks (and the cheap wood of this pantry is full of cracks, let me tell you) I'm thinking of taking the vacume to it once the wood dries.

I hear they can get through plastic? like the plastic bag that cereal comes in and zippy bags? It just seems it would take up so much space to have everything in a glass container or a pastic rubbermade-type container.

On the plus side now we have a reason to throw out all those cake mixes we haven't used in 2 years because of our lifestyle change.

anyone have this problem before? How did you deal with it?
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Old 02-28-2012, 01:55 AM   #2  
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I got rid of mine with a combo of:

1. Cleaned out the entire pantry, throwing away anything infested in a bag that went straight outside.

2. Vaccumed, wiped down, and sprayed with bleach water all of the cracks and crevices in my similarly old pantry. If you spray the bleach water right into the crack, it'll drip down pretty well, in my experience.

3. Taped bay leaves (which repel the moths) on my pantry shelves, and spread some diatomaceous earth along the cracks (it's like glass to moths and larvae - they walk on it, they eat it, they die).

4. Freeze all new grain products coming into the house for two days. This prevents new larvae from being introduced.
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Old 02-28-2012, 03:15 AM   #3  
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I had an infestation and still get the creeps. It took two seasons to get rid of them, pretty much using the same methods. I still put bayleaves on the shelves and hang dock leaves (okay I know they are for flies but I am covering all the bases)

Absolutely everything I store is shoved in plastic bags or plastic containers, now and I still scrutinise the drawers, bases, put spray down the backs of cupboards and hoover the walls and curtains regularly.

I never kill insects, it pains me to have committed worm genocide but ... ewww, gross...

Moths get gently evicted now.
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Old 02-28-2012, 04:55 AM   #4  
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Oooo goodness we had this problem.

I have to keep most flours, cereals, and other grains in the refrigerator. They seem to like those the most. Yes, they can chew through plastic bags (such as bags of rice or cereal) and paper bags (such as flour bags).

We have to be careful to go finish dried beans, rice, etc very quickly- within 2 weeks of purchasing. I no longer keep these items in the pantry, but in jars on the counter. This has helped a lot.

I used to ignore moths but now I kill them immediately. As soon as I see them. This has also been huge in preventing them from laying eggs and reproducing. I haven't seen a moth/larvae in months.

I tried bay leaves but it didn't work for me. These things are fierce! Throwing away infested food and keeping beans, flours, oatmeal, rice, etc out of the pantry has done the trick.

Last edited by indiblue; 02-28-2012 at 04:57 AM.
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Old 02-28-2012, 04:20 PM   #5  
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All of the above, plus pantry moth traps from Gardens Alive. Everything those little buggers can eat is at minimum inside a Ziploc plastic bag, inside a heavy plastic container, with bay leaves between container and bag. Ughhh, it's a battle ... but it can be won!
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