Freezing clothes to get rid of months

[Allergyupset]

Apparently it's possible to get rid of moths and moth larvae by putting your knitwear in the freezer. I only have a small freezer so I'd have to do it in lots of batches.

Has anyone tried this?

Did it work?

How long did you leave each batch in the freezer for?

If you find an item with moths on it, should you wash it first or should you put it in the freezer first and then wash it afterwards?

Anything else I should know?

I have multiple allergies and chemical sensitivity, so I cannot use any kind of fumigation method. I've heard you can try cleaning the area with vinegar, but I can't use mothballs, lavender, cedarwood or any other scented stuff.

Any advice please? I think it's been made worse by the fact that I didn't go out much last year due to the lockdowns, so I'm discovering knitwear at the back of the pile that hasn't been touched for ages and it's really upsetting.

It's made worse by the fact that I live in a small flat and I don't have any spare cupboards or drawers for my knitwear, so it's all kept "open" under my bedside table as I have literally nowhere else to put it.

It is possible. Do you have a problem with moths eating your clothes or is it a preventative thing? If it's actually a problem then you'll need to consider the other fabrics in your home (curtains, carpets, rugs, cushions, bedding etc) and I don't think that's practical in a small freezer.

You'd also need to consider how to deter their return. Do you react to cedar?- moths hate it which is why it was traditionally used for blanket chests. You can buy small cubes that exude the smell and refresh them with a quick sand when needed

They haven't actually eaten my clothes yet, but I keep finding them in my knitwear and we occasionally see them flying around. Luckily most of my knitwear isn't actually wool so it isn't actually eaten as such, just that I keep finding larvae (a few alive, mostly dead and having left sticky stuff) so I end up having to wash things.

Luckily we have wooden floors, no carpets or rugs or anything like that.

I can't bear any kind of smells at all. I only use scent-free products. Using organic doesn't make any difference, it's the smell itself.

I still don't know how long to keep each thing in the freezer. There are different bits of advice online. Some say two days, some say two weeks, so I don't know what to do.

Can't the items be stored in a plastic box with a lid? I used the underbed storage ones for my baby's clothes when we hadn't got her room/furniture sorted. (My username is very appropriate for this thread 😂)

@Carpetmoth I guess I could buy a large plastic box, that's a good idea. Why did I not think of this?! Sadly we have a solid bed with no under-bed storage. But I would still need to get rid of the moths first because otherwise they'll just end up living in the cardigans in the plastic box, so I still need to be careful to get rid of them all.

If I wasn't using the clothing for a while I'd stick them in vacuum bags. If you do that and then freeze the lot at -24C that will probably work well and wouldn't take up so much room in the freezer. And nothing could get back in after you take them out.

I don't have any vacuum bags, but I should probably get some. The ones I've just put it the freezer, I've put in a carefully wrapped plastic bag.

Must check my wool dress tomorrow. I might have to do this myself!

Lavender is apparently a deterrent for moths.

Thanks but I can't stand lavender, it makes me feel sick. I can't stand any kind of smells.

Place fresh bay leaves amongst your clothes

Sorry don’t meant to sound insensitive but I didn’t even realise this was a thing. How do moths get into your clothes and live there? Starting to panic as I have a lot of jumpers etc in my wardrobe that I haven’t worn in a while

@foreverandalways Actually, bay leaves I'm fine with. When you say fresh, do you mean as in picked from a tree, rather than the dried ones you can buy for cooking purposes?

You can get the sticky traps on ebay that would catch some of the flying ones.

Haven’t tried it for moths but I freeze flour. I read somewhere that thawing any eggs not destroyed will react as if it’s spring weather and hatch.

So if you freeze your sweaters then leave them in the freezer for 3/4 days, take out and when they reach room temperature repeat the freezing.

@So if you freeze your sweaters then leave them in the freezer for 3/4 days, take out and when they reach room temperature repeat the freezing.

As in freeze the next batch of clothes, or as in repeat the freezing for the same clothes? Sorry for the ridiculous question but I need to make sure I'm getting this right.

Moths are a pain. They love wool but will eat and lay eggs in almost anything! I've found them in bird food, on animal hide and recently in the food cupboard in an old herb mix.
Freezing definitely works. For items I need to store undisturbed for a while I use plastic boxes or moth proof bags. You can get long lasting moth killer sheets which are odourless to put in-between items

Those sticky traps are amazing. Got the John Lewis ones. The traps make the male moths believe an orgy is taking place. The result is amazeballs! All the male moths get stuck. It definitely makes a difference to the population. Clean clothes otherwise and pull them out and shake blankets. They love a nice expensive fabric and a dark place.

And I found a Miele hoover liberated the eggs from the carpet. They are that powerful!

@MrsHookey Thank you, I will look into getting some sticky traps. Do you need to put them all around your house, or just near the clothes?

@Beamur Thanks. How long would you recommend freezing things for?

Please don’t get rid of December, as I love Christmas! Ooh, March is my birthday, so don’t pick that one .

(Sorry OP, I couldn’t resist being silly when I saw the title!). I’ll leave the sensible answers to the others! As you were……

You can get microscopic wasps you release that destroy the moth eggs

www.dragonfli.co.uk/products/clothes-moth-egg-killer-trichogramma-evanescens

When the food source disappears then they do too…

@RockPaperScissorLizardSpock

Please don’t get rid of December, as I love Christmas! Ooh, March is my birthday, so don’t pick that one .

(Sorry OP, I couldn’t resist being silly when I saw the title!). I’ll leave the sensible answers to the others! As you were……

Haha, yeah I realised my typo as soon as I'd submitted it! I wish it was possible to edit it but never mind.