How to get rid of moths in the house - food and clothes

Good day. A few years ago there was a period when I did not live on my site, but lived in a city apartment.

After returning, I discovered one unpleasant fact: a mole started in the house. I had to carry out a set of active actions aimed at getting rid of such unpleasant neighbors.

My efforts were crowned with success. Want to learn how to get rid of moths in the house? How to avoid its appearance, what needs to be done for this? Now I’ll tell you as detailed as possible on a specific example.

How to get rid of domestic moth in the apartment and in the kitchen

Small, gray-green or dirty brown butterflies up to 15 mm long in cabinets or in the kitchen not only cause disgust, but can also spoil things or products.

Allocate about 30 species of this pest: wool, carpet, furniture, clothes, food and others. It’s possible to understand that a moth started up in an apartment not only for adults (butterflies). If caterpillars and threads resembling cobwebs appear in cabinets and storage areas for cereals, check with a flashlight all products and items made from natural fabrics.

Butterflies flying around an apartment or closet are safe adult moth males. Due to the lack of an oral apparatus, they do not feed and die in a maximum of a couple of weeks. First of all, it is necessary to fight with eggs and voracious larvae, which are laid by inactive female pests living in dark places.

The reasons for the appearance of moths. Unlike, for example, cockroaches, this insect is indifferent to the sanitary condition of the room. Moth can live even in a perfectly clean house with normal levels of humidity and temperature.

Sources:

• outerwear, shoes and carpets made of natural wool or fur are the most common reason, even things bought in expensive stores are fraught with danger, and well-worn - even more so;
• furniture and food - the source of infection is improperly stored food (mainly cereals) and furniture, in the filler of which larvae and eggs can easily transport;
• ventilation systems and windows - typical for apartment buildings, moths can fly from neighbors;
• pet hair - this method of spreading moths is rare, so only adult butterflies move on very long pet hair.

Shop Tools

Spray can - An affordable, easy-to-use agent is a solution of an insecticide (chemical poison against insects) in a cylinder under pressure. After spraying, the particles of the toxic substance enter the respiratory tract and the moth's chitinous cover, after some time the pest dies.

The following products were widely used: Raptor "Protection against moths", "Mosquitall", "Antimol", "Armol", "Desmol", "Extramite" and others.

Methodology: before processing, remove from the cabinets, remove and ventilate all clothing. Vacuum carpets, furniture, and other fur surfaces. Use the product according to the instructions on the spray can, processing not only clothes, but also storage places (especially cabinets), then leave the room for several hours. The final stage of moth control in an apartment with an aerosol is spring cleaning.

Disadvantages:

Fumigator An electrical device that slowly vaporizes a plate or insecticide solution by heating. The concentration of the active substance in the air is strictly dosed and stable, which is safe for people and pets. Also, the fumigator does not cause an unpleasant odor.

Due to the uniform spraying, the poison lasts longer than when using other means, often destroying not only the moth, but also other insects, such as cockroaches and mosquitoes.

The fumigator allows you to get rid of any kind of domestic moth (kitchen, clothes, larvae and adults) in 2-14 days. At the same time, preliminary preparation of things or an apartment is not required.

The following manufacturers of fumigators have proven themselves well: Raid, Raptor and Mosquitall. Some devices need to be turned on for only 1-2 hours per day. Terms of use are described in the instructions.

Disadvantages:

• requires connection to an outlet and constant monitoring of the state of the plates;
• does not allow to create an increased concentration of poison in the cabinets with a large number of insects;
• It doesn’t act immediately, but with some time lag (from 2 days).

Moth sections - unlike previous products do not contain insecticides, the principle of action of these drugs is based on scaring away essential oils with an unpleasant odor for moths that people and animals do not perceive. However, only adults (butterflies) are sensitive to essential oils, while caterpillars almost never react to smell.

The most famous manufacturers are Mosquitall and Raptor.

Traps. Adhesive tapes and other structures that catch insects on the bait. In a way, they are effective only against adults, but are useless for killing moth eggs, so they can only be used as an adjunct to insecticides.

Folk remedies

Despite the cheapness, safety and ease of use, it is almost impossible to completely get rid of moths with folk remedies, since the action of all substances and methods is based on repelling the pest with an unpleasant odor or a physicist, in which at least one insect almost always survives.

A few decades ago, moths in closets were disposed of with naphthalene, but studies have shown that this substance only repels insects, and naphthalene fumes are a powerful carcinogen that can cause airway cancer.

Excretion of food moth. To destroy moths in the kitchen, revise the food: throw away heavily contaminated food stocks, sift cereals and pasta, inspect nuts and dried fruits.Store food only in closed containers so that in case of infection the moth could not put the larvae elsewhere.

Not very affected products can be saved by placing them in an oven with a temperature of 60-70 ° C or a microwave for 15-20 minutes. Wash the storage cabinet with warm soapy water, then with plain water and dry it. Lubricate slots and grooves with table vinegar and keep the doors open until the vinegar smell has completely dried and disappeared.

On the way to food, this species gnaws holes in plastic bags and synthetic fabrics. A woolen moth lives for about 2 years, can go without food for several days, and the caterpillars can withstand temperatures from 0 to +30 degrees Celsius.

Wash the affected item at the maximum allowable temperature. Expand and dry in the sun. Moth is afraid of direct sunlight.

Home remedies that repel moth butterflies by smell:

1. orange peel - helps against food moths, spread the crusts in food cabinets, butterflies don’t like the aroma of citrus fruits, pests will look for a new place for laying eggs;
2. lavender and geranium - used as a prophylaxis against any kind of moth (only adults), distribute the dried lavender, folded in a cloth bag over cabinets and bedside tables, the plant itself can also be replaced with oil or fragrance of lavender;
3. Tobacco is another folk remedy for repelling moths; pour dried tobacco in places suitable for the insect.

Prevention of occurrence

To reduce the risk of moths entering the apartment, follow these guidelines:

The best remedies against moths

Even from previous generations, confidence was transferred to us that there is no better remedy against moths than the notorious naphthalene. And yet this is not so.

Since naphthalene merely scares away the malicious butterflies from the places that they processed, but does not kill them at all.

But how to get rid of moths in an apartment in other ways? Where to start, and how to make the fight truly effective?

What is the purpose?

Oddly enough, but it is necessary to start with a clear understanding of what to struggle with. Since few people know that the extermination of moth butterflies is a secondary matter.

Since the hostess is chasing moths flying around the apartment, thereby eliminating the males harmless to clothes and products, the female lays a lot of eggs, after which the voracious caterpillars hatch. So the biggest threat is precisely the larvae of the moth, how to get rid of them is a priority question.

In the closet

The moth that lives in the closet is also called wool or felt. And this species is dangerous because it lives and multiplies all year round, calmly withstanding temperature drops even to 0 °. At the same time, the insect eats fur, felt, wool, feathers, even book bindings, gnawing plastic bags on the way to its food.

If a mole is wound, how to get rid of its larvae? The answer is simple - they do not tolerate fresh air and bright sunlight, so all clothes should be “aired” for a day in a well-lit place.

Clothing that is not in use should be especially carefully checked. For it, it is necessary not only to fulfill the first two points, but also to treat it with an antimole drug, before wrapping it again in bags and hiding it in the far corner.

Lavender or fir essential oil is a good remedy against moths. Therefore, small dry bouquets of lavender should be put in the cupboard, after wrapping them in gauze. You can also use cotton swabs soaked in these essential oils.

Kitchen

Even in a completely clean and tidy kitchen, moths may appear. Often it is brought into the house with purchased food, especially with bulk products such as flour or cereals. So, if a mole is wound up in the kitchen, how to get rid of it?

You can disinfect kitchen cabinets using the following solution: pour a teaspoon of vodka or alcohol into two cups of water and two tablespoons of tea tree oil.

Another way to get rid of kitchen moth: you can wormwood wrap gauze and put packages in cabinets with products that “interest” this insect. Both moths and moth larvae do not tolerate this smell.

Varieties of Kitchen Moth. Unlike the moth that lives in the closet, in the kitchen there are different types of it. For example, those butterflies that eat cereals, and those that prefer fruits, are, in fact, almost different insects. And, accordingly, it is necessary to deal with them in different ways.

If a grain of moth is wound up in the kitchen, plants like geranium and coleus (nettle) can suggest how to get rid of it. Their fresh leaves can be put in cabinets where containers with cereals are stored.

No less strongly moth is afraid of the smell of pepper, dry orange and tangerine peels and tobacco.

If you notice butterflies in old dried fruits, then this is a fruit moth; how to get rid of her? Folk remedies will also help here. Of course, spoiled dried fruits will have to be thrown away, and a few laurel leaves should be put in a package along with new ones.

A particularly dangerous type of moth is potato. It affects vegetables even when planting, and in areas where this pest settles, it can spoil up to 60 percent of the crop. Therefore, it is necessary to deal with it, suppressing the problem at the root - that is, spray with appropriate insecticides.

The question arises, how to get rid of potato moths if it struck an already harvested crop? All spoiled vegetables must be discarded, and survivors must be moved to a cool place where the temperature is below 5 degrees. In a similar microclimate, this species of moth does not survive.

If there is a moth in the house, and it doesn’t matter, in the cupboard or this moth - food, how to get rid of it is a more than urgent question. The sooner barriers to combat this insect are taken, the more likely it is to completely get rid of it.

If folk remedies do not help, and the moth appears again some time after the adoption of the above measures, it is necessary to take more radical ones and use insecticides.

How can you permanently get rid of moths in the house

There is no way that would guarantee that the moth does not enter the house with things or products bought in the store, but you can create intolerable conditions for it to stay.

There is even a potato moth - paradoxically, but it happens not only on potato tubers, but also on tobacco roots, although the same clothes moth does not tolerate the smell of tobacco leaves. Together with products from the supermarket, she may well be in a city apartment.

How to destroy food moth

The complexity of destroying food moths depends on several factors, including the extent to which the insect has multiplied. So for starters, you need to sort through all the stocks of groceries available in the house to check how neglected the situation is.

If there are sticky grains of cereals at the bottom of packages or cans with cereal and there is a grayish coating on them, or there are other gray pellets, then this indicates that the pest has already wound up.

Some believe that by physically destroying butterflies flying around the apartment, they save food from infection. This is actually not the case. Those individuals that manage to catch are males who managed to mate, so it's too late to catch them.

It is possible to use insecticidal aerosols against them, but only if they do not get on the products, or if the hostess is still going to throw these products away. Adhesive tapes can be used instead of insecticides - they work as traps. They are left in pantries or other places of accumulation of insects.

How to destroy a parasite in cabinets

To completely get rid of pests in the kitchen, you should disinfect all surfaces on which their eggs could remain, from which larvae subsequently grow. For this, special insecticidal aerosols and sprays are used, which must be sprayed directly onto the shelves of the cabinet (but not on the products).

Such tools are released by all the leading manufacturers of household chemicals. The most famous brands:

Different brands differ from each other in the degree of aerosol concentration. However, all these are household preparations.

If the infection was strong, then most likely, one treatment will not be enough, and it will have to be repeated about 1 week after the first use of the aerosol. If the insect is very fruitful, it makes sense to contact a specialized company that can cope with pests.

Even if household insecticides are used, treatment should still be done very carefully. In order to avoid poisoning or allergic reactions, personal protective equipment should be used. These are gloves, special glasses and a medical mask. Before processing the apartment, it is better to wear clothes with long sleeves.

Insecticides are needed to destroy insects and their larvae. But there are repellents. These are the so-called deterrents that are used after the treatment of the premises with insecticides to prevent the emergence of new pests.

Repellents are also often released in the form of aerosols. They do not contain toxic substances and are often made on a plant basis.

They are issued by the same brands that produce insecticides, so you need to carefully study the instructions for the tool, which is applied to the cylinders (as well as its composition). Most aerosols are universal and help from both food and body moths.

Repellents come not only in the form of aerosols. It can be tablets, and special plate sections that prevent the reproduction of butterflies, since the annoying smell prevents them from laying eggs. Some repellents contain naphthalene, camphor and various vegetable oils.

True, at present, naphthalene is used extremely rarely, since it was proved that it is a carcinogen, and it is not suitable for residential premises. As for repellents containing lavender or cedar essential oils, they are relatively safe. However, they should not be kept in the same food cabinet, unless in the pantry.

There is another option. You need to look for those repellents that contain real essential oils, and not aromatic additives, and this should be fir or lavender oil.

To get rid of food and other moths forever, it is very important to carry out preventive measures. It is better not to store large stocks of cereals and other groceries at home.

But, if the situation forces this to happen, supplies are constantly being reviewed, and at the slightest suspicion, the cereals are ignited. It should not be stored in plastic bags, but exclusively in glass or ceramic containers. The lid should be tightly closed, and ideally be airtight.

It should also be remembered that grocery is not the only place the insect resides. Potato tubers constantly need to be sorted if there is a lot to buy this product, because there is always a risk of bringing a pest directly from the market or from a supermarket.

In general, products need to be checked very carefully in the store. Even large retailers are not immune from such troubles, so you should not relax.

Folk methods

Naphthalene was one of the first chemicals to be used in everyday life. But centuries before it, folk remedies were used, and today people are ready to try them again to avoid contact with dangerous poisons. The choice of folk methods is quite large.

These are fresh newspapers (more precisely, printing ink), which repels pests with their smell, and citrus zest, properly prepared and traditionally used in France, lavender, and many others. Their main advantage is accessibility and relative safety for humans (in the end, allergic reactions are always possible).

For example, it is recommended to rinse some products with salt water, and with a little infection it will really help get rid of larvae and adults.

Some probably saw that the mistresses of the older generation sift the flour and put several cloves of garlic in a bowl with it. This does not help get rid of the larvae, but will scare them away. The cloves of garlic should be changed regularly, as this product deteriorates, and an unpleasant odor can come from flour.

Orange Peels and Laundry Soap. Basically, the same methods are used to get rid of kitchen parasites as in the fight against clothes. The only difference is that potions, especially poisons, cannot be left in the kitchen cabinet. But folk remedies can be used in a variety of ways.One of them is orange peel.

Both tangerine and lemon ones help - any citrus fruits with a pungent and strong odor. Their important advantage is that they can be near food and will not harm them at all.

About 30 years ago, housewives used laundry soap against moths. Its pieces could be put on the shelves of a wardrobe or kitchen cabinet, in the pockets of woolen and fur things. It was believed that soap scares off the insect, and this is indeed true due to the pungent odor.

Modern laundry soap, which contains no less fragrances than the toilet, is not suitable for such purposes: only the classic 72% option.

Laundry soap has certain advantages. It is affordable, inexpensive, very easy to use, and you can safely put it in any pantries and cabinets, since it is absolutely safe for humans.

Lavender and wormwood. One of the most famous traditional anti-moth products is lavender. Its oil is even used in industry for impregnating moth plates. But you can use the plant itself in the form of leaves or whole branches.

Lavender oil is no less effective. This tool will not destroy the larvae, but if you eliminate those already in another way, then lavender will scare away adults forever. This tool has its own application features. In particular, they cannot handle the clothes themselves.

The fact is that you can never be completely sure about the quality of the essential oil that is sold in stores. Perhaps it contains synthetic components or (albeit in small quantities) vegetable oil, such as olive.

You can use lavender "the old fashioned way" by simply placing bouquets of dried flowers on the shelves of the cabinet (in ordinary plastic cups). Moth just does not want to settle in such a closet. There is another option - you can use the leaves of lavender. They are poured into special porous bags that are laid out between stacks of things.

You can make bags of loose fabric, so that the smell spreads easily throughout the space. You can put an open bottle of essential oil. But you need to be careful that the bottle or container does not turn over, and the oil does not leave spots.

Bitter wormwood, one of the most common plants in the Russian flora, will also help cope with the pest. It is believed that wormwood repels fleas and ants, but in fact it is effective against any insects that do not like pungent odors. The bitter taste of wormwood is provided by the glycosides that make up its composition.

Wormwood leaves contain about 0.5% oil, bitter and thick (in its natural form it has a blue or green color). This is the same oil that gives taste and aroma to absinthe or vermouth. The aroma of this oil gives the chamazulene hydrocarbon. It not only repels insects, but also has antibacterial properties.

In addition to lavender and wormwood, there are many other herbs that are used in exactly the same way.It can be rosemary, a pharmacy chamomile (by the way, the powder from it is a fairly strong insecticide that is safe for humans).

Like all other insects, the moth does not like the smell of spices, and not only garlic (although this is an excellent folk remedy), but also turmeric, red pepper with capsaicin and other smelling spices.

There are funds based on horse chestnut and even ginseng, that is, there is a choice, the main thing is to carefully clean the cabinet beforehand so that there are no traces of eggs or larvae.

In addition, the moth does not like drafts. Therefore, you need to regularly change aromatic herbs, and in the interval between their replacement, wash all the cabinets thoroughly and ventilate them by opening the doors.

At least one such airing is carried out in the spring, when the insect just begins the breeding season. Then they prepare fresh repellent repellents, both home-made and factory-made.

Houseplants

Not all folk remedies that offer to get rid of moths forever require active intervention, that is, the independent preparation of any solutions and their further processing of surfaces. Sometimes it’s enough just to pick the right indoor plants that will prevent the appearance of a pest in the house.

Strong aroma to the plant is provided by geranium oil. Its chemical composition is very complex: it contains more than 100 components, most of which are characterized by high biological activity. These are mainly alcohols and compounds of the terpene series. The proportions may vary depending on the plant variety. But, in any case, all these substances not only repel insects, but also have antibacterial properties.

Among the green defenders is fragrant tobacco. Many people know that regular smoking tobacco repels moths. We are talking about such a tool as dry chopped leaves - you can just break a few cigarettes to get the right amount of tobacco.

You can store this product in the pantry with cereals, but it is not recommended to keep it in wardrobes. The fact is that clothes, especially woolen and fur, quickly absorb the smell of tobacco, and getting rid of it will not be easy at all.

Together with the listed means, essential oils are widely used. This is peppermint, cloves (the latter can also be used in the form of cloves themselves, packed in bags of thin, loose fabric). Replacing oils with perfumes is not recommended, since they are much less effective.

To get rid of moths forever, some housewives advise combining several methods at once: for example, combine surface treatment with various means with mechanical cleaning.

The fact is that this insect is afraid of both low and high temperatures. And if freezing things remains a dubious method, then washing in an automatic machine at a temperature above + 50 ° C is guaranteed to save both butterflies and larvae.

As you know, the larvae are rather weakly attached to clothes. Therefore, even regular mechanical shaking of things hung in the closet gives excellent results. Experts say that the insect rarely chooses worn clothing.

Therefore, you should not store such things as a kind of untouchable stock - you need to carry them regularly and ventilate, and if they have gone out of fashion or become out of size, you can donate them to a charity fund or other similar organization.

How to get rid of a moth?

The main harm to things is done by females, who, as a rule, do not fly, but sit “in a nest”. Males usually fly around the apartment, for whom it makes no sense to hunt, since they do not pose a threat to your things.

To date, about 35-40 species of moths are known. The most common are food (grain), wool and carpet.

The main task is to find the habitat of the moth and destroy the caterpillars located there, or rather, the eggs. That is, the female lays eggs with a silver-white color and an elongated shape. Caterpillars emerge from these larvae, which later become moths, that is, moths.

Food / grain (light) moths are usually planted in a variety of cereals, flour and dried fruits. If you find moth in such products, it is recommended to get rid of such food, and all cabinets where cereals were stored should be washed and ventilated properly.

In addition, it is advisable to put garlic clove in jars of cereal. Garlic does not tolerate this insect.

And it is worth remembering that cereals can not be stored in the "native" packaging from the store and plastic. The best way to protect bulk products from moths is to use well-closed glass jars with a clove of garlic under the lid.

The best prophylaxis for cereals is to “dry” the package (both open and closed) in the microwave after buying, 30 seconds at maximum power. The main thing is that there are no metal elements on the bag.

Woolen / clothes (dark) moth - likes to settle in fur coats and furs. Especially moths are attracted to dirty and sweaty clothes, it is from dirty spots that it begins to regale.

Fresh leaves of geranium, as well as ordinary (non-laundry) soap (the best strawberry) can help protect clothes from moths - just put one of the above on each shelf in the closet.

Also, before you put winter clothes in the closet in the spring, it is recommended to put small pieces of soap in the pockets of a fur coat or sheepskin coat. Natural 100% lavender essential oil helps very well - it is applied to a cotton pad and placed in places where the mole can live.

Carpet moth starts, respectively, in carpets. If it is a pity to throw out the carpet, then the moth can be removed from there by washing the carpet with household soap or taking it out for several hours in the cold. The moth is afraid of sunlight and frost, so in the summer you can take clothes and pillows out to dry in the sun, and in the winter you can hang it out on the balcony to freeze it.

We expel the villain from the apartment

Moth can be different: wool, furniture, carpet, grain ... There are more than thirty species of these harmful insects. Moreover, not only butterflies are moths, but also eggs with caterpillars.

There are many ways to get moths into the apartment. It can be brought on clothes from another crowded place, brought with things or furniture. She can get into the house during ventilation, through an open door or window. If no one has noticed her (and this happens almost always), she finds herself a cozy place and tries to have offspring.

Therefore, when you open the closet, and small butterflies fly out, it is too late to ask questions about their appearance. Now the owners of the apartment should consider: how to save things that have not been touched by the pest, how to get rid of this evil adversity in the most effective way?

But before that, it is necessary to figure out which part of the living space the pest attacked? After all, it is necessary to fight, for example, with clothes and food moths by different methods.

Food moth: where did it come from and what to do?

Even an absolutely clean kitchen can suffer from this unpleasant misfortune. Most often, moth gets into the house with food purchased, mainly with bulk products. From such a moth, not only flour or cereals are poor, but also dried fruits.

This kind of moth simply adores a warm atmosphere, humidity and lack of ventilation. In order to prevent the breeding of this living creature in the kitchen, it is necessary to store groceries in jars or bags in which air does not penetrate.

Then you will at least somehow protect your products from eating and breeding these pests. If a moth in the kitchen still wound up, then you must immediately:

• wash with soapy water all cabinets and shelves where food is stored;
• sanitize them with a solution of water, vodka, as well as tea tree oil;
• cracks in kitchen cabinets are preferably treated with table vinegar;
• use wormwood to eliminate moth larvae, because they do not tolerate it.

But it happens that a mole of some different species starts - cereal, fruit or potato. How to get rid of them?

Folk remedies

Previously, naphthalene lay in the closet of almost every grandmother. He really scared away the moth, but, unfortunately, he could not kill the caterpillars or eggs. Today, of course, they do not recommend using this tool, because it negatively affects the human body.

For the greatest effect, you can even soak in bouquets of dry lavender oil and, wrapping them in gauze, store in a glove box. Dry orange peels, peppers, tobacco, strawberry soap and, of course, geraniums - this is not a complete list of the substances that the moth is afraid of.

But, using them, remember: all these folk remedies only scare away moth butterflies and, thus, protect your things from the invasion of insects.

But if the moth has already managed to occupy your wardrobe or a shelf with food products, then putting geranium leaves, an orange peel or a lavender bunch there is absolutely useless. Then chemistry will be used.