How to get rid of food moths in the kitchen using folk and chemical means

What does food moth look like (photo)

Food moth.

How to prevent moths

So, you have figured out how to get rid of food moths in the kitchen forever. Now you need to make sure that she never appears in your house again. To do this you should:

Store all bulk foods in glass containers with tight-fitting lids.
Avoid large food supplies. Store only the amount of dry food you will need for the week.
Regularly sort through the potatoes you store in the kitchen. This measure will prevent the appearance of tuberous moths.
Do not store fruits open for a long time. If possible, store them in the refrigerator.
Carefully check all the products you purchase in the store. You need to remember that you can bring pests into your home by choosing fruits or cereals infected with them.

It is also recommended to use traditional methods to repel pests in the apartment. This way you can protect your home from the appearance of a colony of harmful butterflies and larvae, even if you accidentally introduce them there.

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Type and lifespan

Name: Food moth Lat.:
Sitotroga cerealella
Class: Insects - Insecta Order: Lepidoptera - Lepidoptera Family: Lepidoptera - Gelechiidae

Habitats:	kitchen cabinets
Dangerous for:	groceries, fruit
Means of destruction:	chemicals, folk remedies

Food moth caterpillar.

Many people know what food moth looks like. Most often, so-called flour moths appear in the kitchen. It looks like a small butterfly, reaches up to 10 mm in length, its color is discreet, its wings have a silvery coating, and the caterpillar is pink or light yellow.

Ideal conditions for development are +20-25 degrees and humidity 50%. All stages of development from egg laying to the appearance of the moth take about 1.5 months.

Method 10 – strong odors

If you don’t have anything on hand that could help get rid of moths, you can use ordinary perfume. The thing is that strong smells can scare away butterflies, and they will not breed in your closet. To use this product, you will need to go through your food, remove all contaminated grains and other types of food that may contain eggs or larvae, and then wash the cabinet and spray it with perfume.

Advice:

For this purpose, it is preferable to use spicy scents. Food moths absolutely cannot tolerate them.

What does it eat and what is it afraid of?

Traces of moth activity.

The moth feeds in the kitchen on flour, cereals, bran, pasta, dried fruits, nuts, and dried mushrooms. You can notice it by the grains stuck together, somewhat similar to a cobweb.

Plastic bags are not a hindrance for moth larvae; they easily gnaw holes in them and easily migrate from one bag to another if they lack food.

Butterflies cannot tolerate specific odors, for example, fresh orange peels, garlic cloves, bay leaves, lavender, mint, tansy. But these methods are only applicable against butterflies; aromas do not affect the larvae and eggs.

To destroy food pest larvae, there are household chemicals.

The best folk remedies for food moths

First of all, it should be noted that natural remedies against food moths only work as a preventive measure - therefore they must be used after cleaning.

Folk remedies can be excellent helpers in getting rid of moths

However, many recipes are well proven as proactive methods of combating parasites, so it would not hurt to use one of the methods - this way you are guaranteed to avoid the appearance of moths in your kitchen.

So, what to put in the cabinet against food moths:

Vinegar. As we already wrote, vinegar is effective in removing small eggs and larvae. However, it can also be an excellent preventive measure. A weak vinegar solution leaves a smell that is practically not felt by humans, but it repels moths.
Citrus zest. Place dried lemon or orange peels in your kitchen cabinets. They will effectively scare away flying parasites, and in addition will fill the kitchen with a pleasant, subtle aroma.
Ammonia is no less effective. First, check if your household is allergic to it.
Lavender. No less effective than citrus fruits, but has one side effect. The smell of lavender flowers is highly persistent, so it is not recommended to use it in cabinets with food products that are not hermetically sealed - they will smell of its aroma. But if you store groceries in jars, glass or iron, this problem will not arise.
You can put a clove of unpeeled garlic directly into the cereal. It will not change the taste and smell of food, but for moth larvae it will act as a strong irritant.
The bay leaf plays approximately the same role. It is important to make sure that the laurel is fresh and has not lost its smell - otherwise the technique will not work. Lay out the bay leaves in the cupboard and add one at a time to the jars. The moth will not dare to poke its nose into such a fragrant place.
Moths are repelled by the smells of cloves, geranium, wild rosemary, tansy, fir, rosemary, and basil. You can put dried flowers or twigs in the closet, or use aromatic oils. By the way, fresh geranium flowers, along with moths, repel many insects, including mosquitoes - we recommend planting a couple of pots on the windowsill.
You can put fresh young walnut sheets in your cupboards. An unpleasant smell for moths will scare them away. True, this will not work with the nuts themselves - the kernels, on the contrary, can attract these parasites.
If the smell of camphor does not bother you, lubricate the walls of the cabinet with camphor oil.
Moths cannot tolerate the smell of tobacco. This does not mean that we encourage you to smoke in the kitchen - although, in theory, the method is not without effectiveness. Crumble a couple of cigarettes on the shelves or just leave an open pack in the closet. Reviews on the Internet say that this is enough to even scare away the moths that have already settled in your home.
Sometimes there is advice to spray the inside of the cabinets with perfume or air freshener - moths do not tolerate strong odors. However, we do not recommend doing this: try to minimize the use of chemicals in your kitchen. They can be harmful to health.

Choose a method of protection against moths that is comfortable for you, and parasites will no longer bother you!

Lifespan

Life cycle of a moth.

After mating, kitchen moths look for a moist, warm place where they will lay eggs. She needs 5-7 hours for fertilization and laying, after which she dies.

It takes 5-7 days from the maturation of the eggs to the appearance of the larvae. At one time, the female lays 50-100 eggs; they are very small, and it is almost impossible to notice their presence on food.

After emergence, the larva begins to eat food and throw waste into it. Cocoon formation is the final stage when cobwebs or balls appear in products.

The life cycle from egg to mating adult lasts 6-8 weeks.

Method 7 – wormwood

How to remove pests without organizing cleaning? This can be done using ordinary wormwood. You need to take its bushes and place them in those cabinets where you store food. The bitter smell of this herb will prevent pests from entering these cabinets and laying larvae there.

Important:

This remedy is best used if you brought food from the store into your home and found moths in it. It is the easiest to use and gives instant results.

What harm does

Moth in the cereal.

Unlike ordinary butterflies, which breed in the summer, the food species in an apartment can breed all year round. This is one of the reasons why food moths are dangerous and why they need to be removed as quickly as possible.

It usually starts in products that have expired or when sanitary rules are violated. She wanders around the kitchen cabinet and eats everything that comes in her way. The pest especially loves cereal products, pasta, flour, nuts, dried fruits, and candies. All products that end up in cabinets contaminated with moths and their larvae will be spoiled.

You may wonder if food moths eat clothes. The answer is clear: it is not dangerous for fur and wool products.

How to get rid of it at home

Many companies now offer services for quickly removing “unwanted guests” from your kitchen. However, we believe that it is not worth going there when it comes to food moths.

Firstly, they often use aggressive chemicals that are undesirable to come into contact with products and work surfaces. Secondly, their services are quite expensive. And most importantly, it’s not difficult to get rid of moths on your own; you just need to be diligent and carefully follow our step-by-step recommendations.

You need to check all stocks

First of all, it is necessary to conduct a thorough inspection of the premises. First, inspect your kitchen cabinets and their contents. Check all containers with cereals, flour, spices and other groceries. You should be especially careful if you store food in plastic bags.

By the way, hungry larvae can easily chew through bags and even plastic containers, so if the package is closed, this does not mean that it is not infected.

Check the tops of cabinets, baseboards, cornices, and chandeliers. Adults may be hiding there and must also be destroyed.

Don’t forget about ventilation: moths can hide there

Next, you should proceed directly to cleansing the kitchen of parasites. Unfortunately, we cannot offer a large number of options for how to get rid of food moth larvae - the most effective method is to throw away all the food. If you don't want to act so radically, follow the following instructions.

First, throw away those foods that are obviously contaminated. If you are not sure about something, remember that it is better to be on the safe side than to have to deal with multiplied moths again later. Therefore, do not skimp on cereals that seem suspicious to you. Throw away anything that causes even the slightest suspicion of contamination.

Wash all the jars and wipe them with vinegar. We recommend vacuuming the shelves with a vacuum cleaner without an attachment. The process is quite tedious, but you are almost guaranteed to attract all the parasites.

Then wash the shelves and cabinet walls. You can use vinegar, a solution of laundry soap, or special antiparasitic agents - raid or raptor, for example. However, we must warn you about the latter: they should not come into contact with food, so it is better to look for another option.

Don’t neglect professional products: they are very effective

In this way, treat all surfaces where larvae may be located.

All that remains is to defeat the adult moths. Catching them manually is ineffective - the sneaker method of fighting parasites has long been outdated. It is better to use a special trap.

This could be the familiar adhesive tape that is used in the summer as a fly trap. A more modern option is a pheromone trap. It emits a pleasant aroma for moths, which attracts them. Then you just need to throw away such a trap. The trap will neutralize the males, and the females will not be able to reproduce and will soon die out - remember, the life cycle of a moth is only one week.

A trap is a reliable way to catch adults

Just in case, vacuum the ceiling and cornices - most females are very slow and this way you can significantly reduce their number.

Reasons for appearance

Cereals infested with moths.

At home, moths can appear in products brought from the supermarket, contaminated with eggs, but invisible to the eye. Food moth larvae appear most often Therefore, to avoid this problem, buy products from trusted stores and carefully check the tightness and appearance of the packaging.

Moths can travel from neighbors if they have such a problem. Through a window or vent, she may travel in search of food.

Method 3 - aerosols

These are the simplest means that allow you to quickly get rid of adult pests at home. To get rid of insects, simply spray them on surfaces. The product will instantly kill the butterflies and then rid your home of larvae in a few days. Long-acting aerosols, when used correctly, will protect your home from pest invasion for several months.

There are currently a considerable number of such drugs on the market. The most famous and effective of them are currently considered to be Armol, Raid, and Combat.

Ways to fight

If you do not fight the insect, it multiplies quickly and affects a large amount of food. Stopping the process will be much more difficult than at an early stage. Therefore, it is important to carry out some measures to detect and eliminate parasites. So, here's how to deal with food moths.

We are conducting an audit

Products in the kitchen cabinet need to be carefully examined; the presence of lumps or cobwebs indicates pest infestation. For reliability, it is better to process all cereals before storage: place in the freezer for 2-3 hours or in the microwave at maximum power for 30 seconds.

Proper storage of cereals is the key to their purity.

Processing and cleaning of kitchen furniture

How to get rid of food moths in the kitchen, these methods will help.

The first step is to go through all the corners and crevices of the cabinets and throughout the kitchen with a vacuum cleaner.
Wash everything with soapy water and wipe the shelves with vinegar.
Wash curtains, tablecloths, towels.
After cleaning, ventilate the room.

Pheromone traps for adults

Pheromone traps.

Mostly male moths migrate. Traps containing pheromones attract females. When they sit on the sticky parts of the traps, they die.

Velcro is also made using this principle to kill adult specimens. This kind of bait should be used with caution so as not to lure even more male moths to the scent of the female.

Household chemicals

There is no shortage of household chemicals, so you can choose a product that is ideal for your specific situation.

Aerosols and sprays must be applied carefully so that they do not come into contact with food.

Gels and pencils will help in the fight against moths. Inexpensive but effective are crayons .

Fumigators, such as raptor, act on adults and are not dangerous to the larvae.

Folk remedies

Lavender and mint repel moths.

Folk remedies will help you get rid of food moths in your closet or pantry. This is more of a preventive measure, but the smell of some plants repels moths. If, after cleaning, you lay out fresh orange peels, unpeeled garlic cloves, bay leaves, lavender, wormwood, mint, adult butterflies will leave their home.

Herbs can be replaced with cotton pads soaked in essential oils. You can use sachets with mixtures of herbs against moths, which need to be placed in the kitchen in food storage areas.

The article at the link suggests 20 effective ways to get rid of moths.

Signs of kitchen moth infestation

Having figured out how moths appear in the kitchen, we move on to the next stage - getting rid of them. It is important to understand that the sooner you begin the process of “treating” the kitchen from food moths, the less effort you will have to put in.

Carefully examine all the cereals you bring - there may be an uninvited guest in them

By these signs you can determine that the room is already infested with parasites:

The most obvious sign is adults. If you see at least one butterfly, we recommend that you immediately attend to the issue of eliminating parasites.
Musty smell on food shelves. Dead larvae and waste products decompose and emit an unpleasant, subtle aroma.
The presence of cobwebs, darkish or gray cocoons in cereals and grains. This means that the product has already become a nesting ground for larvae.
The most unpleasant sign of infection is the presence of yellow worms and moth larvae. They can crawl around in food or crawl along the walls of the cabinet.

If you are not sure whether you have moths in your kitchen, use our life hack. Turn on a small flashlight in the kitchen at night and wait five to ten minutes. Adult butterflies always flock to the light.

If you encounter such phenomena, you must urgently begin to eliminate the parasites!

Preventive measures

When replenishing your food supply, it is important to remember some preventive measures:

Be careful when purchasing groceries at low prices, checking the expiration date and condition of the packaging.
Before storing, treat with cold or high temperature.
Store all products in airtight containers.
Use moth repellents.
Do not stock up on large amounts of food.
Monitor the condition of kitchen cabinets, wash and ventilate them regularly.
Conduct an inspection of existing inventory.

Following preventative practices will help preserve food.

Method 9 – tobacco

Like wormwood, this smell is extremely unpleasant for pests. How to quickly get rid of insects using it? It's very simple: you just need to put the tobacco in the cabinets and leave it there for several months. Even if the kitchen moth has already laid eggs in these cabinets, the hatched larvae will leave them very quickly and will not return to such places in the future.

Video: how to get rid of moths using tobacco and other means?

Important:

Remember that only high quality chewing tobacco can be used for this purpose. The same material that is used in regular cigarettes may not be suitable for this purpose, so you should not experiment with it.

Do food moths eat clothes and what kind?

The food moth is capable of destroying huge human food reserves , but this insect does not touch clothing . Such a butterfly is not dangerous for the wardrobe. However, you should not relax, because clothes moths can also live together with food moths . This moth is visually very similar to a food butterfly.

Often, in the struggle to remove food moths, people do not pay attention to clothes moths. Food moths also do not lay larvae in clothing, and the larvae do not harm fur, sheepskin, cotton and other types of fabric.

Food moths do not harm human clothing at all

What causes moths in an apartment - find out the reasons for their appearance

Purchasing new furniture that has been in storage for a long time.
Insufficient care for used furniture (old Soviet sofas, armchairs, mattresses, etc.).
Moths entered the home with purchased products if they were stored beyond their expiration dates and in unsealed packages.
Insects are brought into the house as a result of purchasing used clothing from individuals, second-hand stores, etc.
Moths often enter homes along with donated items.
Pests easily enter the apartment through ventilation holes and the front door (if the insulation is felt).
In a multi-storey building, moths can be found when grocery stores and catering establishments are open on the ground floor.
If there are pets living in the house, they could very well bring insects home. The moth settles in the animal's fur, using it as a temporary shelter.

Before getting rid of moths, it is important to understand that in a house where there are a lot of moths, there is no way it could have come from anywhere. Often homeowners bring in pests with things, equipment, and products that are infested with larvae.

The best fumigators for moths

Many people believe that fumigators can only fight mosquitoes. But that's not true. Fumigators are also great against moths.

Using them is quite simple - you just need to stretch the extension cord into the closet and plug the fumigator into an outlet.

No. 1. Raid

The fumigator can be used both with plates and with a special container for liquid. It effectively destroys moths in a short time.

No. 2. Mosquitoll

It is enough to connect the device to the network to start the process of evaporation of the liquid. It is popular among consumers due to its high performance.

No. 2. Raptor

The principle of operation of the fumigator is the same as all the others. There is no smell coming from it. It works with liquid and plates, depending on the type of device.

The disadvantage of this method is that it takes a long time, since getting rid of moths using fumigators at home is not always easy. The process may take weeks.

The instructions say that the fumigator can be left plugged in both day and night. Nothing bad will happen during this period. The fumigator is safe for people and pets.

Special sections and butterfly tablets

Sections are special means that are saturated with solutions that are unacceptable for moths. Such sections are also called “smells”, which are hung in the closet or glued to the door. These drugs are good because in addition to repelling insects, they prevent the emergence of new pests. They are used as both the main means of repelling insects and for preventive purposes, especially if an expensive fur coat is stored in the closet. Read more in this article for 5 proven remedies on how to remove moths from a fur coat.

“Scents” have a short lifespan, so to prevent the appearance of moths, it is necessary to change them every 1 month. Today, modernized versions of repellers are known that can serve for a year.

To remove food moths, you need to place sections in the kitchen in cabinets near the cereal storage.

In addition to sections, you can also use dry perfumes against pests, which come in the form of small bags filled with herbs. Often such herbs have a pleasant smell for humans, but repel moths. In addition to dry grass, the bags can be filled with special flavored balls.

Another effective industrial product for repelling food butterflies is a special tablet. Such a tablet is placed in those places where there are signs of the existence of moths, after which its action begins. It begins to emit a smell that forces butterflies to leave their usual habitats. The duration of action of one tablet is six months, so you can forget about the problem for a long time.

Is the moth afraid of the cold?

What else are moths and their larvae afraid of, besides insecticides and fumigators, the use of which does not reach the required level? Food butterflies are quite sensitive to temperature changes, so any temperature fluctuations can serve as an option for killing insects. Moths are afraid of the cold, so to kill them, you can simply place the jar or bag of cereal where the insect lives on the balcony.

The death of the insect occurs when the temperature drops to minus 2 degrees. The larvae are much more stable, so you will need to wait until the temperature drops to -10 degrees.

Even if you find parasites in the summer, you can always use the temperature method of killing moths. To do this, place the container where the cereal is stored along with the butterflies in the freezer. You can get the container out after a few hours, when the insects freeze out.

An exhaustive answer was received to the question of whether moths are afraid of the cold. But what about high temperatures? At the upper limit, the death of food butterflies occurs with an increase in temperature above 40 degrees. It is impossible to increase the air temperature to such limits, so the best option is to scald the insect with boiling water. But in this case, you will need to either remove the moth from the container with food, or pour it directly there.

If moths live in clothes, furniture or other objects, then it is enough to take them outside to freeze the insect. Many people do this when they find moths in their apartment. They simply take all their clothes out onto the balcony for a day, resulting in the destruction of insects.

Having considered the main methods of destroying food moths, it remains to find out what can be used to repel the moths in order to avoid unpleasant consequences. The modern industry, which produces special aromatic preparations, will help us understand this issue.

Tips to help fight moths:

And a little more about prevention

The following tips will help you avoid the recurrence of moths:

Try not to let food sit for more than 2-4 months and, of course, do not store supplies that have passed their expiration date.
Store foods you rarely use in the refrigerator.
Buy dry foods in small quantities so you can eat them within a couple of months.
Buy groceries only from reputable manufacturers and, if possible, check the quality of the goods in the store. To be sure, freeze freshly purchased cereals, cereals, flour, nuts, dried fruits and other products for 3-4 days (in dry form).
Animal food, such as bird seeds or fishing bait, should not be stored in the kitchen.

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Moths in the kitchen: how to find a nest

In order to remove a moth, first of all, you should find its nest . Of course, this insect is not as unpleasant as a cockroach, but it can cause a lot of harm.

The moth nest is the very place where the maximum number of butterfly caterpillars are concentrated. Visually, the nest , if formed in cereals or flour, resembles lumps and pellets. Pieces of cereals or groceries are shrouded in silken webs. Between the lumps there are larvae. The walls and surface of the dish in which the cereal is located are strewn with white caterpillars.

A moth nest can be placed in a cereal package

Pay attention to where exactly you meet moths most often:

On the shelves where cereals are stored
In the bread bin
In the spice box
In a bag of sugar, in a bag of flour and so on

If you find a nest in your grocery store , carefully check each package of cereal and pasta. But the best thing is to throw out absolutely all supplies in order to definitely kill the insect. Even one or two larvae can contribute to the reproduction of moths in the future.

Food moths nest in human food

How to get rid of food and clothes moth larvae - general cleaning

The main danger is larvae. Butterflies are essentially harmless. But they are the ones who give a dangerous signal that the main pests are hiding in secluded places in your home.

How to kill food moth larvae in the kitchen

Empty the cabinets, collect small particles of cereals with a dry cloth. Go over all surfaces and corners with a vacuum cleaner.
Soak a sponge in vinegar (table vinegar, apple cider vinegar), squeeze lightly, and treat the inside of the cabinets. Dry with a dry cloth.
Conduct a thorough inspection of the bags and containers where cereals are stored.
If, as a result of the inspection, remains of empty cocoons and larvae are revealed, these products should be thrown away immediately; they are contaminated and should not be eaten.
If there are no clutches of larvae in the cereal, place the dish along with the contents in the microwave for literally 3 minutes (maximum power). If you don't have a microwave, use the oven or freeze the food for at least a week.
Wash all containers thoroughly in soapy water. Wipe dry, then treat with vinegar.

How to save clothes from clothes moth larvae

Empty the closet, shake out every item of clothing.
Throw away old items if they are damaged by moths.
Dry all your fur clothes on the balcony and dry them in the sun, the ultraviolet will do its job.
Wash bedding and clothing, especially woolen items. Washing time is at least 45 minutes. Freeze all washed laundry for a day.
Using furniture cleaner, wash all the walls of the closet where clothes hang and linens are stored.
Leave moth repellent on each shelf: sections, tablets, traps, etc.

To remove moth larvae from rugs, furniture and carpets, you need to use special sprays and aerosols. Before processing, the rug, carpet or furniture is taken outside and beaten out.

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