Pantry moths

[SheenaGreena]

the only driec herbs I have in my pantry are rosemary, bay leaves, and thyme yet they are still buzzing around.

I will definitely try thedryer sheets. Sometimes I am too terrified to open up the pantry door, because I think I'll see a huge swarm of moths fly towards my face

[tdo-ca]

the only driec herbs I have in my pantry are rosemary, bay leaves, and thyme yet they are still buzzing around.

I will definitely try thedryer sheets.  Sometimes I am too terrified to open up the pantry door, because I think I'll see a huge swarm of moths fly towards my face

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When they were "bugging" me, they were in those very herbs...rosemary and thyme, in the sealed glass containers - can microwave or cook or freeze the containers, or simply replace them - just get rid of old dry goods, and when you inspect it is likely you'll find a nest of moth carcasses - we went to the glass jars as others did after a thorough clean and haven't had a visitor in years...

[nduran]

I've been living in SF for seven years now and have never seen a pantry moth. Never been able to afford a place with a pantry, either, but still... Odd...

I have a little contraption I bought at The Sharper Image many years ago that attracts flying insects with a UV light and sucks them into an inescapable trap with a small fan. It's always kept gnats and mosquitos in check when I didn't have window screens.

[Jon Savage]

Our cat finds them quite entertaining. Mason jars, freezer ziplocs seem to hep as well but we are rarely completely moth free.

[Carlovski]

Eww, Eww nasty. Just found my cupboard (I live in a shared house) infested with odd looking bugs. Traced them down to a bag of (quite expensive) italian imported risotto rice. They don't appear to have infested anything else - most things are sealed and all my basmati is in another cupboard, and they completely ignored all my dried pulses. The rice was completely blown out though, grains had turned powdery, and it was a mass of bugs.

I did cook with some of it before they 'appeared' though (Couple of months), and it looked fine, did I eat a load of bug eggs? Not really bothered, but I like to know how things work!

I'm just glad I didn't make that risotto I was thinking about when I got in drunk the other night.....

[plk]

An infestation recently emerged in my cupboards. Ugggh. Tried the dryer sheets and that didn't really help. Maybe I needed to use the whole thing of dryer sheets? Anyway, we discovered that the biggest problem was with a bag of pecans. We should have kept them in the freezer anyway so that they wouldn't go rancid, but holy crap, who knew that they woud be such a breeding ground for the little bastards? After tossing pretty much everything and vaccuuming a lot, I think they're finally gone now. Lesson learned: freeze nuts even if you think, "bah, I'm sure I'll use these soon."

[SheenaGreena]

Just last week I found out that I left a huge bag of raw, shelled, peanuts open on the top of my refridgerator. I was going to use roast them anyways but instead I found lots of cocoons, babies, and dead moths.

Barf

Then the other day I dip into my large bag of rice (20 lbs), only rinse the rice once (usually I rinse it 5-10 times) and then throw it into the rice cooker. Lo and behold I grab a bowl of hot steamy rice and what do I see but a little moth baby on my spoon.

It's a shame when you have to throw away half a 20lb bag of good korean rice

[Fat Guy]

I've recently been battling these little guys here in Manhattan. We've had a bad summer for pests of all kinds. I haven't had a terrible infestation, but the larvae had been showing up persistently in the cabinets for a couple of months. I tried better storage and cleaning, as recommended on this topic, but those steps were insufficient. I then consulted several pest control websites as well as a real-life exterminator and came up with the following two-pronged approach: First, there are special pheromone traps that attract these kinds of pests, called Pantry Patrol traps. There's a trap, and in it you put a little vial of a liquid that attracts the bugs. That kills the ones that are out and about. Then, to kill any eggs and hidden bugs, I've sprayed this toxic stuff called D-Force HPX into the cabinet cracks and corners. The recommendation is to do it every 3 weeks, for 4 repetitions. Not that I love the idea of using insecticides in my food-storage cabinets, but this is what has worked for me and I wasn't prepared to play around with bay leaves and dryer sheets while these things reproduced in my cabinets. I just took all the food out of the cabinets and sprayed in the morning, went out for awhile, and repacked the cabinets later in the day. There's a very precise nozzle attachment that ensures you get the stuff into the cracks and not all over the actual cabinet shelves. I ordered everything from http://www.doyourownpestcontrol.com/

[snowangel]

Steven, what's the verdict on the treatment?

In the most odd of all, I had my second bought of pantry moths this summer. I cleaned, treated, whatever. Lo and behold, I found the culprit a few days ago -- a little baggie (from Central Market!) of jalapeno powder. My, the moths were having a grand old time in this little ziplock. Puzzling little buggers, aren't they? I'd have thought they'd have preferred a grain.

[Fat Guy]

After two repetitions I never saw another one. I've done three now, and the fourth is coming up soon -- I'm going to do the full recommended course.

[WHT]

Part of the problem is any grain can bring them in. I took a friend over a year to rid herself of the. They can lay eggs in areas that you would not think of on your own. Unless you are willing to stam clean every MM of space it may take a couple of tries.

[MomOfLittleFoodies]

Part of the problem is any grain can bring them in.  I took a friend over a year to rid herself of the. They can lay eggs in areas that you would not think of on your own. Unless you are willing to stam clean every MM of space it may take a couple of tries.

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I've had to pull pantry moth cocoons off of the "cottage cheese" textured stuff on my ceiling. Talk about a pain in the butt.

[RobertCollins]

But not until I moved to SF did I encounter "pantry moths".

. Someone must have a solution.  Please help!

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I wrote to Lundberg Rice company and asked about what we called the little moths, "Millers". They advised me to put my grains in the freezer for a couple weeks.

It works as the things are apparently originally from India. Chilies are also infested and will freeze the eggs out just as well. We even freeze our purchases of flour and other grain products.

My farmer father-in-law once commented to me after I had complained of insects and food, "Would you want to eat the food if the insects wouldn't?"

[Beth Wilson]

The guy at the bulk food place I shop at suggested that I put items in the bottom of the freezer where it is coldest and leave it there for at least 3 days to ensure the larva are done in for sure!

Haven't had a problem since. Works for dried fruit, nuts, grains etc.

Nothing worse than starting your day with critters floating in your cereal

[GlorifiedRice]

I really really want to get a tuckerbox, but we'll see.

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Once again, I find evidence of two people separated by a common language. What is a tuckerbox?

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Sorry. It's a chest freezer.

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I was almost certain that you were referring to a Hoosier Cabinet...

I wonder how people in the old days with Hoosier Cabinets dealt with moths?

BTW make sure to carefully check all pasta while you are cleaning out the pantry after a moth infestation. Moth Larvae can live in a space as thin as spaghetti. Heres a video of spaghetti larvae:

http://my.break.com/content/view.aspx?ContentId=348061

[eatrustic]

I really really want to get a tuckerbox, but we'll see.

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BTW make sure to carefully check all pasta while you are cleaning out the pantry after a moth infestation. Moth Larvae can live in a space as thin as spaghetti. Heres a video of spaghetti larvae:

http://my.break.com/content/view.aspx?ContentId=348061

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Holy crap! The cocoon was actually inside the strand of spaghetti! Sometimes I wonder if it's a curse or a blessing that I need my reading glasses to see small details these days.

I've always found my army surplus flame thrower has worked wonders with these little buggers

[scubadoo97]

Yes, after a bad outbreak we found them in between the cardboard tops of unopened boxes and even under the cap of unopened spices. They seemed to also like to nest in the rolls of wraps, plastic, parchment and even wax paper. Found them lodged in between cup cake paper cups.

[mydogbites2]

I've never managed to find a tiny infestation. Once I find one moth or larva, there's always something crawling or cobwebbed with cocoons somewhere. I don't know of anything dire that would happen upon ingesting them, but once a foodstuff has become more bug than pantry item (as seems to always be the case once I find even one sole moth), it's history.

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Once you see one there are thousands.. Sad but true.. Almost every human house maintains a population of insects of some sort.. The ones you see are looking for less populated areas.

RAID in mass quanitys will help some.. just dont huff it.. or maybe it will.. you will be so off your rocker that you will think the little buggers are funny.

Chow down,

Kev

[Pierogi]

Once you've got the little SOBs under control, freezing/chilling is the way to go for grains, nuts and dried fruit. Luckily I go through pasta/rice/cous cous fast enough that they don't seem to linger long enough to attract them, so that hasn't been much of an issue. Even so, bulk packages of rice and other "attractive" goodies go into air-tight containers.

But I'm not much of a baker, and I prefer unbleached flour, which seems to be more susceptible to the beasts. Into the freezer it goes, in a plastic canister with a good seal, as soon as it comes home. The plastic canister & air-tight seal protects it from absorbing moisture and/or odors from the freezer. Corn meal, Bisquik, polenta, grits and cake flour get put into zip-top bags and into the fridge. I've got 2 "crisper" drawers with humidity controls. One gets the grain products, and the humidity control is set to low. Nuts and dried fruit go in there as well, also in zip bags, or in their original plastic bags with a clickie seal.

Just remember, if you're baking, to pull the flour out early enough to let it come to room temperature before you want to use it. The stuff in the fridge doesn't seem to matter as much, I'd guess because the temperature isn't as low.

*crossing fingers* this, and the pheremone traps have worked for me for a good long while (spitting over my left shoulder, turning 3 times and shouting beetlejuicebeetlejuicebeetlejuice for good measure........)

[markemorse]

Unfortunately I'd like to welcome myself to this topic...if any Europeans are experiencing this problem, I'd be interested in whether or not you've tried dryer sheets and if so, what brand....just spent last night throwing away a lot of stuff...

[Lisa Shock]

As a former Tupperware Lady (grin) and a former Orkin Man....

1.  If it isn't canned or bottled, put it in sealable plasticware.

2.  If it's a large bag of pet food, get a sealable plastic bin (read trash can) and keep it sealed. 

3.  If it's infested-- throw it away.  Go find a dumpster in the next county and donate it there. 

4.  Run a vacuum over the shelves after you have removed contaminated items.

5.  If you buy anything in paper like sacks of flour-- run them through a sieve and then put them into smaller sealed containers.  (This applies to commercial quantities.)

6.  Freezing will keep insects from continuing on their life cycles, but they are rarely killed at subzero temperatures. 

7.  In my personal experience, nothing is worse than birdseed.  Keep it in old mayo jars so you can throw it out after it has sprouted moths.

Don't use chemicals where you store your food!  Good housekeeping procedures are far more effective, less toxic and will teach you not to buy stuff you don't need, even when it's on sale.

HVR

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I have to agree entirely, especially about the fridge/freezer part. Don't waste storage space in your fridge or freezer, you are just keeping bugs dormant. My husband used to develop software for a pest control company and the guys with the advanced degrees in entomology told us not to bother with cooling anything.

We had a terrible infestation about 4 years ago, which was complicated by small lizards coming in to eat the moth larvae. Since that time, I got a FoodSaver and a bunch of different sizes of glass canning jars. I store many items in the glass jars which I seal with the jar attachment on the FoodSaver. Other items, that will get consumed within a week, I seal with the FoodSaver bags.

The canning jars are relatively cheap (compared to plastic containers), they last forever, you can get new lids cheaply, and they work well with all sorts of leftovers in the fridge/freezer too. Ok, you do need to be careful not to drop them! You also don't have to worry about chemicals like BPA, and other toxins in plastics, with glass jars. The widemouth jar sealer works very well, and I recommend getting widemouth jars for ease in scooping things out.

The regular mouth sealer is difficult to get a good seal with, and you can see a bunch of complaints about it on amazon. But I have discovered that if you disconnect the sealer hose and let the air into the accessory before trying to take it off the jar lid, it seals almost every time. I still prefer the widemouth jars.

I keep spices and things like baking powder in small screw-lid jars, which I check carefully since I don't trust them as much as the vacuum-sealed stuff.

We have not had a problem in 4 years, and I believe that vacuum sealing combined with glass jars has been the cause of our success.

[sygyzy]

I have not read through the thread but my apartment (West Coast, So Cal) suffers from these. First, we do a thorough cleaning and throw away any grains that are "infected" Then we clear out the pantry and spray this industrial strength bug killer (I can provide name if needed) into all the crevices and shelves. Then we wipe it down, so it's dry, also picking up carcasses and eggs, lots of eggs and webbing (cocoon). Then we put out these sticky traps with a pink little tab of bait. We put this on the top of the fridge out of sight. This usually clears them out save for a few lingering ones.

[andiesenji]

I haven't had a problem with pantry moths for quite a while and always store grains and etc., in the freezer for several days after purchase.

However I had a nasty surprise in my spice cupboard today when I came across this container of nigella which has never been opened so the insect eggs were in there when received.

I have contacted the vendor and am awaiting a response.

Not a pretty picture. The grubs are quite large and there is no evidence of winged critters to date.

[rotuts]

these moths have returned to my kitchen:

http://www.google.com/search?q=grain+moths&client=safari&rls=en&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=KwTTUcbrBYqy0AG7mIGoAw&ved=0CEkQsAQ&biw=1260&bih=1054

ive been using Flying Insect spray XXXX for a few weeks with so-so results. ran low. used some Ant and Roach XXXX this stuff is the Neutron Bomb compared to the FlyinInsect XXXX

looked up the ingredients and low and behold they are toxic to Cats. they interfere with various liver enzymes etc. in cats not dogs or you or me. you see my pal Earthquake on the L ?

so did a research:

found these:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005584HGU/ref=pe_385040_30332190_pe_175190_21431760_M3T1_ST1_dp_1

got them a few minutes ago and set up two traps: one in the kitchen and another in the room around the corner where I see these b*ggers in the PM

with in 5 min the kitchen trap had two suckers in there in 20 min 6.

should have gotten two x 12. Amazon noted my interest and increased the price by $ 1.50

love this stuff. Mr E (the cat) enjoys watching them circling around. the Girls are going to be Lonely Tonight!

PS the package does not say how long the phrenome or pheronome lasts

any ideas?

Edited July 2, 2013 by rotuts (log)

[annabelle]

Those moths like grains, milled and unmilled. Oftentimes, they are in unopened packages of flours, cereals, cake mixes and the like. Often those items are on the clearance shelf because they aren't moving.

Your food is probably spoiled and I would throw it out. The next time you buy flours and grains that aren't going to be used quickly, put them in the freezer for at least 24 hours and that should kill the little buggers off. Alert your market if you shop at the same place often. Health food stores are notorious for being loaded with these moths and with "biscuit beetles".

When you remove the packages from the freezer, put the product in plastic containers or bags with labels. You'll need to wipe down your shelves with a weak bleach solution and let it air dry before you put everything back. Think of it as a late Spring Cleaning.