Clothes moths!

[Baileys20]

If you have won the battle against moths permanently tell me how!

Over the last several years I’ve tried everything moth smoke bombs, spray, clothes protectors, boil washing/dry cleaning, glue traps, daily hoovering, only freshly laundered clothes go in wardrobes and drawers. No animals to drop hair, only have carpet (it is wool!) on the stairs, albeit even after several years no sign of them homing in on it. They tend to be more prevalent in spare bedroom and in my wardrobe (literally last year they had no shame and would casually be walking up the arm of my clothes every time I opened the door -resolves with smoke bomb but next season they are back! as they have a fancy for my clothes, and less so other family members stuff.

Have never been able to identify a single source of the problem, and find it hard to believe there is one in our case based on the fore mentioned. I don’t have anything wool, and will not buy anything Wool, silk etc due to moths.

Would consider changing the carpet to man made if it would guarantee success. Bought the carpet when we moved in and it was an expensive one and fear that If I do so It won’t make a difference and we still will have the problem as nothing has made a sustained difference to date and they are not problematic in the stairs area.

I’ve been obsessed about them at various points. To being more casual about it but I have had enough of living with them and want them gone permanently, not just till the next breeding cycle starts.

I’m fed up of their larvae chewing my cotton items even when they are spotlessly clean from a boil wash, and in some cases new!

If there invisible I may be able to cope ..... Please can you attach the link for the wasp you purchased.

Thanks

Anyone with experience of using parasitic wasps to get rid of clothes moths, if so, did it work and any cons to doing so?

Ps my uv insect killer is on! I know moths aren’t attracted to the light but some of the reviews mentioned they caught the odd moth, hence worth a try.

Dithering about electric zapper, especially as I need to restock sticky traps. Interested in your results @Baileys20

Will let you know. So far it’s been on a few hours and caught nothing. Albeit, I’ve not seen any fluttering today in the particular room I’ve placed it in. Typically, I have seen a few (3!) in another area this evening.

These are the ones I've bought:

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

I might buy them monthly throughout the year

How long were you using them before they were effective and has this resolved your moths and the damage from their larvae?

@Baileys20 Any update on electric zapper. Not sure to risk £30+ on one or spend similar on yet more sticky traps which are working.

Do you put jumpers in the freezer for 24 hours to kill the larvae?

Must admit it’s has caught not one! But I will persevere in the hope that any fly in there by accident, and always handy to have for future in the summer when using the garden in the evening etc.

Have also ordered the wasp.

Someone may be along to advise. I read to put them in there for upto 2 weeks. Don’t really have the space in the freezer to do that so going down the parasitic wasp route to give that a try.

Honestly, after 4 years trying to fight them, I moved. They followed 😫 but only for the first year. After that they seemed to disappear and I’ve not seen them again for the past 7 glorious years.

A dramatic non helpful solution I know, sorry 😂 I did read about freezing your stuff and would have done if my old place had a larger freezer!

Amazing! for them to just disappear.

@Baileys20

How long were you using them before they were effective and has this resolved your moths and the damage from their larvae?

I've only bought x2 pack, but after a month I've noticed a dramatic difference. We also use sticky traps.

Sounds promising. I have started using them today, still using sticky traps also, so will see how it goes over the next several weeks. Fingers crossed!

I fought moths for years, I managed to get them down from spotting about 10 moths a day to the occasional one or two every few months and eventually ripped up all my downstairs carpet as they were just moving from room to room. I only see them now a few weeks after DM visits!

If you really want to get the numbers down you have to target the caterpillars as well as the adult moths, so if those wasps work then great. The thing that I did which resulted in the largest drop in numbers was use the sticky traps ( I must be on the suppliers Christmas cards list by now) plus worn socks. The caterpillars are attracted to the smell of worn clothes, so I figured that putting worn socks down in the dark places that they love might work. At the start I was getting up to 6 caterpillars a day from the dirty socks on the carpet under the tv stand, and then more on socks under beds and in the wardrobes. It had a big impact on the numbers as fewer were able to get to adult moth laying stage. The easiest socks for spotting them are plain black but you can sling any worn sock down and then check it in the morning and at night and just pick off any caterpillars ( I was a quite a blasé squasher by the end of it). You can keep the same socks there for a few days before replacing them with freshly worn ones. Hope this helps,

Moths require constant vigilance.

Hoovering often - I usually find the cause of infestation in clothes is a patch in the carpet behind furniture or little disturbed. Robot hoover helps with this as small enough to get under furniture and does the corners each time. Thorough and regular hoovering to keep on top of it.

Moth bombs should kill off the moths- have to do the whole house at the same time and repeat a week later for further hatchlings.

Heat treatment by professionals kills larvae as well as moths. I have not done this.

Keeping delicate clothes that you don’t want eaten in moth proof bags (not any old plastic, they get in) and rotating/ freezing. The ideal would probably be to keep all clothes in a freezer chest! My husband’s wooden sweaters and fancy suits get attacked.

It’s a real bloody ball ache. In the days of having servants i think clothes would be taken out every 2 weeks and aired and given some light. Moths don’t like to be disturbed.

Sticky hormone patches help you monitor if you have an issue, they’re not much of a treatment themselves - reduce the male population somewhat but they will never eradicate.

Keep deterrents (strong smelling stuff, lavender, soap in drawers etc) away from attractants (sticky patches).

At this time of year I have noticed they are around outside so reintroduction of them is likely. Open windows etc - but you need to have windows open to keep air quality ok inside.

If you let up for a few weeks, months, they will be back so you need to do a monthly check in to make sure no dark little areas for them to lay their eggs on.

Ps - solidarity in the war against moths. Hate the bastards.

I’m on the case! and feeling hopeful. Offending furniture gone -always like furniture that is raised of the ground eg beds, cupboards and things to make it easy to clean under. Parasitic wasp doing their work. So let’s see. Having a general clear out - which I’m loving . Everything being washed on 70 and tumble dried where possible. Stick traps have caught 1 so far this week.

@WeeMadArthur

I thought the caterpillars hatched out of the eggs that the moths laid and that this would take longer than overnight? or do the caterpillars crawl to the smelly socks from whatever thing they've been chomping on? Or do they really hatch that quickly?

Following as we too have been suffering for about 2 years. An almost at the point of getting rid of the wool carpet Tbh but that is also because I think I am allergic to it, not just the moths.
Intrigued about parasitic wasps at going to google

@WerkHorse I’m not sure of the timings on how long it takes for them to go from egg to caterpillar to moth, but I know that the caterpillars like to live in dark spaces under furniture and do come to the surface of the carpet if you leave worn socks down. When I pulled up my carpets there were lots of cocoons underneath the carpet near the edges so if you are spraying/steaming them I would say concentrate most effort on a six inch strip round the sides of the room. Tha cocoons are really hard to reach unless you can get treatment to penetrate right through the weave of the carpet so that’s why it’s important to catch the caterpillars before they can get under there to hide.

God they are utter bastards aren't they? We had a bad infestation about 5 years ago and they were under the carpets. Moth free for ages but this summer they seem to be back ☹️

A bit of an update .... within the first few weeks of using the parasitic wasps we’ve saw a reduction in the numbers, the odd one here and there but not more than a handful. In the last couple of weeks seen none and on our third cycle. Appreciate it may be the cooler weather but we tend to keep our house fairly cosy from a heating perspective, and hence they can be problematic all year round. It could be just chance that I’ve not noticed as many, but I am quietly hopeful and based on current results likely to continue with the wasps till next spring to see if they have definitely made an actual improvement, or not.

Fingers crossed!