Cupboard moth

[GloomyWeek44]

Crikey.

DM bought a giant bag of walnuts. I reluctantly took them. Then sometime later found the bag to be infested with moths.

I've just been clearing out the rest of the cupboard. They are in everything! They don't seem to like pasta. FFS.

They had a field day in the hemp protein powder.

Oh no, is this a pest I need to fear in my larder? I thought moths liked wardrobes?

Unfortunately it is a thing. Pantry moth.

We get them a lot in the height of summer. There just needs to be one egg in flour or some dried goods, and then they are in.

You will unfortunately need to clean out the whole cupboard and throw away, in the outside bin, anything infested. Hoover the cupboard as they like nooks and crannies. Then bleach the shelves, or use vinegar. Put what doesn't seem affected into the freezer , like flour, rice etc as the freezing will kill off any eggs.

Then get a bunch of bay leaves and leave them in the cupboard.

They are awful things, and terrible to get rid of. The bit clean out is the only way.

I just keep flour in the fridge permanently now. It seems to be the thing that attracts them the most here. Since doing that, it seems somewhat better.

Yes, you have to get rid of absolutely everything and clean like you have never cleaned before. When I had them, I found eggs in the ridges of the screws holding the cupboards together.

Oh dear god.

Thank you for these tips.

Nightmare.

We had pantry moths early in the first lockdown. We had to throw away a huge quantity of food and buy so many plastic containers to store the new dried goods. They even liked chilli flakes!

Ah I've been there a few years back, steaming everything did the trick really quickly.

Steaming what @eandz13 ?

We had these. Had to throw away so much food. Think they came in a packet of gram flour. Wash out your whole larder with vinegar. Put all replacement flour, rice, spices etc into sealed containers and the fridge. Oh god, I'll never forget pouring out arborio rice into a bowl first to be on the safe side and a big mouth flying out. You'd see the eggs caught in the sticky plastic resealable openings. Everything felt dirty for months until we were sure they were gone.

If it's really bad, these are brilliant.

You might be able to get them cheaper on Amazon.

I am getting those! Will chuck anything at the problem.

Throw away all the food. All of it. The eggs are virtually invisible and could be on packaging. Clean every inch of your kitchen. Spray into every tiny corner, nook and crevice. The cracks where the shelves meet the walls of the cupboards. The tops of the units. Then keep your fingers crossed.

Cleaned the ceilings where they had started to emigrate.

Now they know the cupboard is not safe.
It's like an Alfred Hitchcock movie. Every time I walk in there and silent moths sat on the surfaces.

Those moths are horrors. If you try swat them they go for you.

As it happens I went to go sort out my Christmas biscuits which are in the cupboard and I couldn't remember what I'd already bought. . Low and behold, I get greeted by one flying at me.

So you were not alone in the big clean out OP. I found the nest web looking thing in the oats. So that got chucked and everything else inspected.

We don't get those traps (don't know why not) so I have a bowl of vinegar with some washing up liquid in as my trap. I got one moth in there now. And here was me thinking I'd been quite meticulous yesterday, so I don't know where it came from. And a whopping bag of bay leaves.

It's really hot here right now and I find them a lot worse in the heat. I was checking out my crackers with a fine eye, I don't want to open them yet as want to keep them as fresh as possible, but if they are in there, I'm going to be mighty pissed.

I've actually got quite good at swatting the fuckers between my hands.

I'm going to have another big clean within the next 7 days.