The most common place we find moth infestations are in our pantries. Look for tears in corners and small holes in any sort of box or container that holds grain or flour, cereal is included. We will sometimes find a part of your food which is stacked together with some sort of adhesive material and you will be might notice an unusual odor. This may be a sign that you have moths in your pantry and in your food items.

Sometimes larva can be seen in food stuff, these resemble small dried up maggots or sometimes you can see moths flying around your kitchen. If you have a very bad moth infestation it can take six to eight weeks for these moths to complete their life cycle. It can be very frustrating to deal with because you can’t exactly use a lot of pesticides in your kitchen and you do not want to put pesticides into your box of Cheerios. This is why it is important to use moth traps and natural moth repellents, folk’s I am not talking about moth balls here.

Here is a check list of things you can do to prevent and reduce pantry moth infestations:

1. Recognize all of the places where there are moths present.

3. Remove all items from these areas.

4. Clean these areas methodically.

5. Vacuum every surface, wall; shelve etc near these moth infested areas.

6. Follow up with a light vinegar rinse. To do so put some white vinegar into a spray bottle, coat and swab or apply it directly to a cloth and wipe or spray everything down.

7. Destroy any moths left soaring around in the air. You can do this with a fly swatter and use moth traps. There are many different types of moth traps available online for reasonable prices.

8. Prevent further moth infestations by using moth traps.

Preventing food from a Moth infestation

Take some initial steps with your grain foods and prevent the moth infestation from ever happening in the first place. To do this you will want to take every grain product (cereal, flour, rice ect..) and put it in the freezer for four days. Freezing your grain will kill any eggs or larvae that are already present. Take these foods after four days and put them in an air tight container such as a glass or metal container. If you are not sure if your container is air tight then put water in it and seal it, if it leaks then its possible that you could get another moth infestation. If these hits do not work then you may consider just keeping your grains frozen.

Moth infestation in your garments

If you find moths in your garments, the approach is very similar to that of a moth infestation in your food; interrupt their life cycle by killing the eggs and larvae. All of the infected clothes should be dry cleaned or washed. Clean wherever the clothes will be stored. If it is a closet then remove the shelf and rods. If it is the dresser then remove the drawers and clean the underside and interior surfaces where moth eggs and larva can be hidden.