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I moved into an apt which has a pantry moth infestation. I am moving out and do not want to take them with me. I am very dilligent about this kind of thing and have never had to deal with this before. I have eliminated any obvious food source, stored everything else in the freezer and am certain they are coming in through the owner's side, who do not really deal with them. This kind of moth eats your food and doesn't care about cedar. I need something to use as a deterrent and heard bay leaves are the old remedy. Has anyone tried bay leaf essential oil? how about eucalyptus? I am trying *so hard* to catch and not to kill them, but I am catching, like, a dozen every day. thanks :)
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Massachusetts
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Unsu...
Re: Pantry moths / essential oils?
Sun, June 1, 2008 - 11:25 AMYou may try Rosemary, Tea tree, Lavender, Turmeric, Eucalyptus, Cloves, or Peppermint. -
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Unsu...
Re: Pantry moths / essential oils?
Sun, June 1, 2008 - 11:30 AMYou may want to make sachets with a combination of of the different herbs and oils and place them in your closet. :)
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Re: Pantry moths / essential oils?
Mon, June 2, 2008 - 8:38 PMI no how you feel about the moths, I have them to. they drive me crazy! I will try these remedies myself. -
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Re: Pantry moths / essential oils?
Tue, June 3, 2008 - 6:34 AMI know this is the herbal tribe, but I have had those buggers, and couldn't for the life of me, get rid of them.
You have to throw away your staples, like flour etc. They lay their eggs in it, or they just keep coming back, or you take them with you.
I finally invested in pantry moth traps. You can get them at www.gardensalive.com. They were gone within the day. -
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Re: Pantry moths / essential oils?
Tue, June 3, 2008 - 8:57 AMjust try the capsaicin thing .
chili is chili.
pure capsaicin is another .
absolutely no insect wants anything to do with that stuff .
much less most humans ! -
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Re: Pantry moths / essential oils?
Tue, June 3, 2008 - 7:49 PMIf not the moths then the fkkn landlords
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Re: Pantry moths / essential oils?
Sun, June 1, 2008 - 11:36 AMHi, Lavender is used a lot here in France, and Lemon grass in Asia. The rosemary is good, eucalyptus, geranium, and the tea tree. Good luck! Let us know what works.
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Re: Pantry moths / essential oils?
Sun, June 1, 2008 - 3:32 PMcapsaicin oil/extract ... hee hee ... scare all them buggers a-way -
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Re: Pantry moths / essential oils?
Sun, June 1, 2008 - 5:12 PMThanks everyone for the responses :)
... to be specific, these are nasty grain moths, they infest your food, not clothing, so clothing moth remedies don't seem to work for them.
They are pervasive. From what I am reading, they are insanely hard to get rid of and burrow into woodwork etc (this apt is full of old rotting wood, cupboards etc). Lavender was the 1st thing I'd tried but they didn't seem phased. From what I've read they like to eat chili so capsicum may not work. What I am trying, beyond not leaving *any* food or trash out, is
1) Spray everything with a mixture of basil EO (they dislike mint family), eucalyptis and cider vinegar (who knows, it has so many uses). I had a lot of EOs on-hand.
2)Then I bought some neem oil and put drops on cotton balls along with some clove oil and tossed one into each cabinet and shelf.
3)Lastly I put some water in my plug-in ceramic diffuser and added basil, neem and lavender and fired it up. Hopefully the EO sledgehammer cocktail I've created will help. I have no prior experience with neem as I've been a Western herbalist. It's supposed to repel pest insects and interfere with their pupating stages somehow.
ew -
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Re: Pantry moths / essential oils?
Sun, June 1, 2008 - 11:28 PM
How big a stash of grains and flours do you normally keep on hand? While I don't like to throw food away, in your situation I'd be tempted to try to use up grains and flours at your old place, and throw out any that you haven't used up by moving day. Then make sure to wash all your jars and containers well before moving them to your new place. If you have a dishwasher I'd use that for the extra heat to make sure everything is killed. (Btw you are storing grains and flours in glass jars or plastic containers, yes? In my experience the fastest way to get an infestation of the moths you're talking about is to keep grains or flours in paper or plastic bags and not move them into a glass or plastic container.
Oh yeah, they eat seeds too -- the last time I had to deal with them they were in the sunflower seeds!
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Re: Pantry moths / essential oils?
Mon, June 2, 2008 - 8:44 AM>I have eliminated any obvious food source, stored everything else in the freezer and am certain they are coming in through the owner's side, who do not really deal with them.
Hi :)
Yes the first thing I did was toss out ALL my chickpeas white beans tsampa oatmeal you name it that had been sitting in a box on the counter. EVERYTHING is in the fridge or freezer including spices and I don't even eat grains in the kitchen anymore. Whatever's going on it's not from any of my food. I barely eat there and have been subsisting on salads, filtered water and frozen TJ's I bring to work with me *SIGH*
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Re: Pantry moths / essential oils?
Mon, June 2, 2008 - 8:48 AMOne thing is that the owners did keep the trash bag around in the back room by my door for way too long. I have given up on them being reasonable hygeinic. I don't have a dishwasher so everything is going into the oven for an hour then into new cardboard boxes unless it can't be baked (any ideas what to wash things like my wooden spoons with?). The finishing up the food is a very good idea, however I have so many spices and herbs in the freezer, I can't afford to replace. Hopefully freezing will work. Bear in mind I moved in May.
aggghhhhh
I imagine what people would have to for something like mites! -
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Unsu...
Re: Pantry moths / essential oils?
Mon, June 2, 2008 - 8:00 PMYou can bake your wooden spoons on low if you like. It won't hurt them at all.
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Re: Pantry moths / essential oils?
Wed, June 4, 2008 - 12:40 AM
> The finishing up the food is a very good idea, however I have so many spices and herbs in the freezer, I can't afford to replace. Hopefully freezing will work.
I've never (yet) seen them infest a spice or an herb, so those are probably fine. I would just recommend using up or throwing out all flour, rice, wheat, sunflower seeds, etc.
Good luck with your new place!
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Re: Pantry moths / essential oils?
Wed, June 4, 2008 - 1:32 PMactually, you may also have brought them home in the food you bought. The eggs are minute and cannot be detected by a shop keeper. I know people who have had the same recurring provlem and just freeze anything starchy over night, before moving it into the food cupboard. So: rice, flour and all that,..
I have had them in my dried fruit before, and my mom in her herbal teas.. so freezing any of that for a night would kill off any eggs you may have brought in.
Since I have done that, and moved all my non freezables into zip lock bags or sealed tubs as soon as opened.., I havnt had an infestation.
Someone once suggested to me that the european kind here likes to be near Birch trees, and that has been the case in all the apartments where I had infestations..
And lastly: Neem is really a great repellant for all insects,- they know how bad it is for them and they really do keep away. But I think it may not be without concerns for humans, so I would stay away from breathing it in../touching/ingesting it -
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Re: Pantry moths / essential oils?
Wed, June 4, 2008 - 8:22 PMOK -
1) Not clothes moths pantry moths
2) NO FOOD in kitchen besides what is in fridge or freezer. Nothing on counters or in cupboards
3) I MOVED IN to a house with an infestation. It started way before me. The folks on the other side are unsanitary. I'm beginning to believe they enjoy the taste of MOTH (it is an acquired taste).
Thanks everybody.
I pitched everything but the spices I froze. I did find tiny holes in my bag of goldenseal GRRRRR. Ugh they are gross. I was moth-free for 24 hrs then they showed the apt today and I caught 8. They act like it is no big deal they sift thru their food for worms on a regular basis. omg omg omg.
Neem - I didn't know it might be toxic to humans. I did have it going in the diffuser but then a moth landed on the wall right above it and hung out :-P However, as I said until the lamblorbs came in today I was bug-free for a day @ least. -
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Update
Sun, June 22, 2008 - 6:36 PMI moved. I went thru *every* single thing in the kitchen (mostly pots pans silverware etc in boxes) (never used the cupboards or drawers as they were gross) and soaked then scrubbed it thoroughly, moved them to new boxes and threw out the ones they'd been in, left the whole mess in the car for 3 days during an intense heat wave, then directly to the freezer for a few days. All of the food I had was already in the fridge or freezer. Pleased to say I have not seen a moth in 2.5 weeks. Thanks again for all the suggestions.
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Re: Pantry moths / essential oils?
Wed, June 4, 2008 - 12:27 AMI also had this problem once years ago, and had to pitch everything in the cabinet - flours, crackers, tea, paper products - everything that wasn't in a can that I could wash off! Herbs may help afterward, but I would pitch everything anyway.
