Flour Moths are one of the most common types of household pests. It is not difficult to come across small larvae inside flat cocoons that stick to cupboards and walls in urban households. This is the early stage of the insects, which infest clothes and food, and later become flying moths.
What Kind of Fabrics Are Most Attacked by Flour Moths?
Their preferred victims are natural materials and fabrics such as wool, linen, felt, and leather, but also skin scales and food scraps found on fabrics. They even dare on synthetic fabrics if they find a sauce stain or some candy residue on them.
How to Prevent a Flour Moths Infestation?
It has always been said that prevention is the best medicine, and this case is no different. To avoid the appearance of the problem, you should wash and dry your clothes well before putting them away, especially for prolonged periods.
Food stains, pet hair, and other debris are perfect lures, especially in darker areas, because these insects are more active when there is not much light.
Give your cabinets a regular cleaning that includes thorough vacuuming, especially crevices and holes, and gentle washing. And don’t forget to brush clothes that have been worn less or stored longer.
Be careful about the clothes you buy. Avoid buying from old warehouses with an obvious accumulation of debris, and if you like vintage clothes, make sure they are immaculate before putting them in the closet.
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How Do I Get Rid of Flour Moths?
Start by preparing traps for them. There are fly papers available on the market, but you can also make your own traps using flypaper, to which you add a few drops of fish oil.
What moth doesn’t fall in love with such a delicate aroma?
Make sure this paper doesn’t touch your clothes, though, or the smell stays with you!
Wash all clothes. Bedding, decorative textiles, towels, etc.! This step is important to get rid of moth eggs on the clothes. To be most effective dry them in the tumble dryer. If you can’t tumble dry, fold the clothes, put them in a bag, and put them in the freezer for a day or two.
Don’t forget boxes, suitcases, and wallets. Remove these items from the closets, let them air in the sunlight, and clean them very well. Brush and wash everything you can. Anything that can’t be washed, wipe it off with proper wipes.
Clean the closet very carefully. Let’s get rid of the eggs that are left in walls, corners, and crevices! Vacuum the closet thoroughly with a powerful vacuum cleaner, paying special attention to these areas. And don’t forget to vacuum the bed and mattress, because eggs may have been left there too.
Wash. Wash the closet with a product suitable for treating wood, with water and multipurpose detergent, or with a solution of vinegar and water.
Soak the sponge and wring it out to avoid too much moisture on the cabinet walls, but insist on corners, cracks, and holes. You can also use diluted alcohol to wash if water is not indicated. If nothing works, call a professional exterminator, they will know best how to help you out.
How to Prevent Flour Moths From Coming Back
- Brush sensitive fabric items, such as wool or fur coats, after wearing them. Infestations often occur because the garments come into contact with moth eggs on the outside, and this step will help eliminate them.
- Always wash clothes before putting them away, especially for long periods. We’ve already mentioned how moths love a good snack of food stains. But let clothes dry thoroughly as moths love dark, damp spaces.
- Store your clothes properly. Clothes that you don’t use will probably be stored for long periods of time and in places that do not allow air to enter. Protect delicate garments with specific covers, adding a cedar wood pellet inside.
Winter clothes should be stored in a bag, preferably a vacuum bag (the kind where you use a vacuum cleaner to remove the air), with a few cedar balls inside.
- Air frequently. Try to keep dry air circulating inside the closet. Open it frequently, if you can, include air inlets, and don’t forget to remove clothes from time to time to let them air out.
- Put repellent products inside the closet. There are many options in this field. There are the chemical solutions, the natural ones, and those in between! As far as chemical products are concerned, they are quite effective, but they have the drawback of the smell and the potential dangers they represent.
The old mothballs and camphor pellets are still used, but more natural options are in order.
- There are many natural solutions, and they always include making sachets with aromatic products that are believed to keep moths away: lavender, thyme, rosemary, bay leaf, eucalyptus, cloves, or mixtures of several.
- Spraying your closet and clothes with essential oils from these plants can be very effective, but only do so on clothes that are not sensitive (test on an inconspicuous area of the clothes first) to avoid irreversible staining.
- Cedarwood is a natural moth repellent, and we even mentioned cedar balls back there. There are several ways to use this wood, but the most common are small balls that leave no splinters on clothes. Often the wood can be activated with cedar oil to be even more effective.
