Food moths in foods: how to get rid of them? Do food moths eat clothes? Grain or food moth: how to remove it using special aerosols and traditional methods, general recommendations for controlling parasites Food moth and its control.

"Mosquitall"

This manufacturer offers two types of sections. Some are simple paper ones, like the previous brand, the other are in the form of small plastic containers with powder inside, which are attached to the wall of the cabinet.

Nowadays, remedies for food moths are very common, both folk and store-bought. You can choose any one, depending on your preferences.

Preventing the appearance of food moths in the kitchen

In the future, to prevent the incident with the appearance of moths from happening again, add a clove of garlic or Bay leaf. Lavender wrapped in gauze will also work. The repellent effect can be enhanced with essential oils. For example: mint, lavender, fir oil, tansy oil. The smell of these products repels the larvae, and they are unlikely to settle in such places.

Also always remember:

• When buying dry foods in a store, be careful. The packaging must not be damaged and there must be no insects inside.
• Store food in airtight containers.
• Use basic prophylactic agents: folk or purchased.
• Keep the room clean.
• Close during warm seasons ventilation ducts and windows with gauze to prevent moths from entering from the street.

The first thought that comes to the housewife when she discovers moths in the kitchen is the lack of order in the house. It is too common for people to think that any insects in the home are caused, first of all, by dirt, and only then are other causes considered. In fact, for food moths it makes no difference where to live, in a barracks or in a villa, the main thing is that there is enough food. In this article we will look at the question of how to get rid of food moths in the kitchen.

Oddly enough, the most common way for food moths to enter a home is by bringing it with food purchased in a store.

Leaky packaging of cereals, nuts, flour, dried fruits, etc., plus improper storage of products in warehouses or directly in the store - that’s great opportunity for moths to get inside the package, and in it into the apartment. In fact, man with my own hands brings a problem into your home.

There is also a possibility that moths will come from neighbors with whom they already “live”, but this happens less frequently: moths fly well, but not over long distances. An insect can get from one apartment to another through ventilation holes or the same in a simple way- through open window or a door.

If there is a grocery store on the ground floor of a residential apartment building, it can also become a source of moths getting into people’s homes.

Causes of infection

As has already become clear, absolutely no one is safe from food moths getting into their homes. Just one fertilized individual flying into an apartment is enough for a whole colony of pests to develop here after a while. And it won’t take much time to reproduce them if certain conditions are met:

• access to food and water (food is spoiled by larvae, but adults do not feed at all, they simply do not have a mouth);
• rarely ventilated room (moths cannot tolerate fresh air);
• tight and long closed cabinets, boxes with food (there, in the dark, in the secluded corners of the moth, it is very comfortable, since she does not like light either);
• absence of repellent aromas;
• open packages of dry products, where it multiplies and dies.

This comfortable home the pest will like it and will be happy to start and live in it.

Some types of moths eat the keratin found in the horns of African antelopes.

Damage caused

A flying adult does not pose much harm to humans; it does not bite or eat food. But it is capable of laying eggs in food products to which there is open access, and if this is not noticed in a timely manner, larvae will quickly appear there.

Food moth larvae contaminate the food in which they live with their excrement. Also everywhere you can find the corpses of these insects and the chitinous shell that is shed during rebirth.

Of course, this should not be allowed and food moths must be fought.

Struggle

Removing food moths is not an easy task. It is necessary to fight the entire colony at once, for which there are both popular and chemical methods. However, not all of them are good enough, since moths easily adapt and get used to even aggressive chemicals. Therefore, it makes sense to either change the remedy, or use several (at least 2) methods of struggle in parallel at once. But the first thing to do before starting the fight is to throw away all damaged products.

To save money, many try to save cereals and nuts by roasting them in the oven. Yes, in this way it is possible to carry out thermal disinfection of products, and thereby destroy the eggs or moth larvae that were there before processing. But not everyone will then be able to purely psychologically eat foods on which moth larvae had recently crawled.

Traditional methods

While there are not many moths, you can try to lime them at home using several traditional methods:

• Vinegar. It has been used against food moths since ancient times. First, the cabinets are emptied and washed with soapy water. After this, you need to arrange a draft in the kitchen for half an hour. Then everything is treated with vinegar internal corners, walls and shelves of cabinets, drawers, etc. kitchen furniture, and the windows close for an hour. After this time, the room must be ventilated.
• After getting rid of contaminated products, dead wood (or fresh plants) of lavender, mint, and wormwood are placed in the cabinets. Close the doors tightly. You can also apply them essential oils.
• Garlic. Open cloves are placed on shelves inside the kitchen furniture, but this method should not be abused: the moth, having gotten used to the smell of garlic, begins to eat it too.
• To prevent moths from entering the house through a window, it is useful to grow geraniums on the windowsills, the smell of which the pest does not like so much.

If cereals (or flour products, nuts, etc.) were in the cupboard in open form, and moth larvae have managed to breed there, the placement of repellent plants (for example, lavender) inside such a cabinet can play a cruel joke. The fact is that the larvae from the package with the product will still not be able to escape until they have turned into adult flying individuals. Therefore, they have no choice but to inevitably get used to the unpleasant, but not fatal, smell that envelops them. As a result, you can raise a generation of moths with your own hands, which in this case are no longer afraid of lavender, etc.

Application of chemistry

To beat the enemy for sure, you can use chemicals together with folk remedies:

• Insecticides. Among aerosols, you can look for those specifically designed to combat moths. But you shouldn’t use them many times in a row: the moth quickly adapts to them and stops reacting. However, these products can give excellent results if everything is done correctly right away (by following the steps preceding spraying and following the instructions for using aerosols).
• Purchased traps (Raptor, Argus, Delta-250, etc.) work to attract adults with their scent. Having flown into the trap, the insect sticks to a special Velcro and dies. The whole benefit of a trap is that an individual caught there will no longer produce offspring. This poses no threat to the larvae.

Prevention

To prevent kitchen moths from appearing at home, you just need to fulfill certain conditions that will destroy the slightest desire of the pest to settle in the apartment or eliminate this possibility altogether:

• inspecting purchases while still in the store for the integrity of the packaging and the presence of larvae;
• periodic “audit” of products at home;
• store bulk and dry products in plastic or glass tightly closed jars;
• at least occasionally place repellent herbs in the kitchen furniture (or use essential oils with these aromas);
• to prevent moths from entering through the ventilation, cover its grille with a dense mesh with small cells;
• frequently ventilate the room;
• wipe shelves and drawers with vinegar solution from time to time;
• do not stock up on food for a long time;
• place dry orange peels on the shelves (moths, any moth, are afraid of them).

Thus, control over products and careful attention to your choice in the store are, perhaps, the main conditions, the fulfillment of which will save your apartment from the invasion of food moths.

There are several types of food moth, the most common is the cocoa moth, who likes to wander around “her” places only at night. It looks like a small butterfly, no more than 1 cm in size. Her color is inconspicuous, from brown to gray with small dots.

The insect lives for several weeks, but during these days it produces large offspring. Reproduction occurs only when there is free access to water. The kitchen moth does not eat food, because it does not have a developed digestive system. Its larvae eat food.

Development goes through three stages: laying eggs, intensive development, and birth.

What does a food moth look like, photo below:

Harm to humans

The main harm caused by kitchen moths is damage food products . If she “visits” the product, it can no longer be eaten. It is also not recommended to put up contaminated groceries for sale.

Insect-infested products sometimes end up on the secondary market. After such a purchase, a person runs the risk of bringing food moths to his home.

Kitchen damage occurs at all stages of its development. Eggs contaminate food, after which it can no longer be used. Larvae leave their waste in food, eating them along the way. Adult females, despite the need for food, produce their offspring on cereal delicacies.

Among other things, they skillfully jump on tables and spread infection. If moths appear, then the dishes that are used for food must be rinsed before each meal. This applies not only to plates and forks, but also to all cutlery that is frequently used.

An adult for his short life leaves behind offspring, the number of which can be about 400 pieces. Each mask changes its skin repeatedly. For this reason, hundreds of feces and larval residues are observed on contaminated products.

If you consume such food, intoxication of the body, allergies, and food poisoning are quite possible.

What do larvae like?

Larvae harmful insect eat all types of grains. They do not disdain pasta and legumes. They can also be found in protected, portioned cereal bags.

It turns out that the offspring easily penetrates hard-to-reach places.

Also mole can live inside nut shells, more often they are found under the “shell” walnut. Strangely, an inconspicuous butterfly eats the seasoning and lives in garlic.

It turns out that kitchen moths hide in the most unexpected places, so at the slightest sign of its presence in the kitchen, it’s worth checking every nook and cranny.

grain moth prefers grain and flour products. Fruit moths eat sweets and dried fruits. The result is a general list that includes such types of products as:

• flour;
• pasta;
• cereals;
• all types of nuts;
• cookie;
• dried fruits;
• chocolate;
• bread products;
• bakery.

How and where to store cereals?

For storing bulk products not recommended for use plastic bags . Cereals should be stored in clean glass or ceramics. Before closing the filled vessel, you need to check the condition of the cereals; to do this, you can throw a bay leaf at the bottom of the jar.

Two pieces will be enough for a cylinder. It is better to replace the lids with linen rags or double-layer gauze.. You can secure them with a rubber band. Any product needs air.

How to store cereals to prevent moths? Rice should be stored in a ceramic jar with salt in a bag. It will remove all moisture and excess odors. In addition, the bulk product will retain its properties longer.

Flour is sifted before sealing. It should be stored in a linen bag. In order for flour to be stored for a long time and carefully, it is recommended to wash the bag for storing it in a salty solution.

Glass and ceramics can be replaced with a plastic bottle.

If bulk products are exposed to light, they oxidize. Ideal place A dry, dark shelf with cool air is suitable for storing them.

The can of cereal should be on the bottom shelf, and not at the top, as everyone thinks. At the top there is humidity and evaporation, which prevent bulk products from remaining in a suitable condition longer. Cold prevents the appearance of insects, so you can store cereals in the refrigerator, but to do this you need to adjust the temperature on the lower shelves.

According to standards, cereal products should be stored at a temperature of about 6 degrees. At 10 and above, pests will make themselves known. Flour, cereals and pasta will retain their properties if stored in the pantry. Some people have special rooms at home to store food.

Watch a video on how to properly store cereals to prevent moths and mold:

Do food moths eat clothes?

When a grain moth appears in the kitchen, you don’t have to worry that it has managed to eat the fur coats and sweaters in the closet.

You have food moths in your kitchen and you are already desperate to get them out? There is no need to be upset about this. So that you can get rid of it without contacting special services, let's figure out how to get rid of food moths in the kitchen.

In order to effectively deal with this pest, it is extremely important to know what a moth looks like and how to understand that it is in your home. Adults of this species are small butterflies of a dark red or grayish color that accumulate near light bulbs and also live on cabinets in which cereals and other dry foods are stored. As for the larvae of this species, they are small pink caterpillars, which can also most often be found on kitchen cabinets. If you notice the appearance of similar insects in your home that were not there before, you can be sure that you have a real food moth.

If you don’t see the insects themselves in the house, but think that there are them in your apartment, you should take a closer look at the products that they most often damage. Traces of such pests in food can be:

• Cereals stuck together into lumps. Only kitchen moths make such lumps.
• Shallow, winding passages that can appear both on the surface of fruits and on the skin of vegetables.
• Grayish coating on food products.
• The appearance of small pellets at the bottom of the jars in which you store food.

If you find any such signs of pests in your home, you need to start controlling them immediately. First, you should disassemble all the products, find out which of them are normal and in which the pest has already appeared, throw away everything that is spoiled, wash the cabinets, and then treat it with compounds against butterflies and larvae. Fortunately, this is not difficult, because today there are quite a lot of ways to get rid of moths in the kitchen. Let's look at them in more detail.

Method 1 - anti-moth sections

If your apartment is heavily infested with such pests, you can use special remedy from food moths. Now on sale there are many effective and safe substances for humans that allow you to fight this insect, in the form of sections. These are:

• Raptor. This is an insect repellent section that will need to be placed in areas where pests are most concentrated. This drug allows you to get rid of not only adults, but even larvae. The presented product has a long-lasting effect: it protects the apartment from moths for several months.
• Mosquitall. Another type of anti-moth sections. They are quite effective against adults, but they do not protect the house well from larvae. It is for this reason that they are recommended to be used mainly as a prophylactic agent.
• Globol. These are longer-acting sections that remain effective for 6 months. They are the most effective in pest control.

Advice:

you can use moth and larvae sections at the same time as other moth killers in the kitchen. This way you can achieve better results in a short time.

Method 2 - tablets and cassettes

One more effective means A repellent that allows you to get rid of moths forever is a repellent. These types of substances repel moths and prevent the pest from laying larvae in your home. It is for this reason that they can be used both to combat an existing colony of pests and to prevent their occurrence.

• Antimol. These are special anti-moth tablets that need to be placed in places where larvae and adults accumulate, as shown in the photo. In just a few weeks they will get rid of them.
• Prayer service. These are special anti-moth plates. It is recommended to use them in the kitchen next to cabinets in which cereals, sugar and other similar products are stored.
• Phytocide. These are anti-moth cassettes that have the same principle of action as tablets. They are considered the easiest to use.

Important:

When choosing such means to combat a food pest, it is very important to carefully study its composition. The most important thing is to avoid drugs that contain naphthalene. It is carcinogenic and should not be placed near food.

Method 3 - aerosols

This is the most simple remedies, allowing you to quickly get rid of adult pests at home. To get rid of insects, simply spray them on surfaces. The product will instantly kill the butterflies and then rid your home of larvae in a few days. Long-acting aerosols correct use will allow you to protect your home from pest invasion for several months.

There are currently a considerable number of such drugs on the market. The most famous and effective of them are currently considered to be Armol, Raid, and Combat.

Method 4 - essential oils

Lavender and fir oil are more accessible folk remedies against moths. Using them is very simple: you just need to take ordinary cotton pads, soak them in these oils and place them in those places where pests are usually most numerous. Such discs will need to be changed from time to time so that the product does not lose its effectiveness.

Advice:

You should not use these folk remedies if there are people with allergies in the house. Be aware that essential oils can cause acute attacks in such people.

Method 5 - treating furniture with vinegar

How to deal with food moths without using special insecticides? This can be done using ordinary table vinegar. In this case, you need to act like this:

1. First, you will need to empty all the cabinets in which you store dry foods and thoroughly treat them with a soapy solution, paying attention Special attention hard to reach places. The cereals themselves and other products need to be sorted thoroughly so that no pests remain in them.
2. Then you will need to clean up the leftovers. soap solution from the cabinet walls and treat the surfaces with vinegar.
3. After this, all you have to do is wait until the vinegar is completely dry, and you can return the food back to the cabinet.

Video: how to get rid of moths using vinegar:

Important:

This remedy will only work if there are no other moth infestations in your apartment. If you suspect that you still have them, it is recommended to find them and be sure to carry out appropriate treatment there too.

Method 6 - garlic

If you are concerned about food moth larvae in your food, use garlic to repel them. Using it is quite simple: you will need to take a few cloves of this product and place it in the places where you store groceries. Garlic heads will be very effective at repelling insects. You will only need to ensure that they do not deteriorate and change them if necessary.

Important:

There is no need to be afraid that the smell of garlic will transfer to other foods. This method of fighting moths will not affect your products in any way.

Method 7 - wormwood

How to remove pests without organizing cleaning? This can be done using ordinary wormwood. You need to take its bushes and place them in those cabinets where you store food. The bitter smell of this herb will prevent pests from entering these cabinets and laying larvae there.

Important:

This remedy is best used if you brought food from the store into your home and found moths in it. It is the easiest to use and gives instant results.

Method 8 - walnut leaves

You can also fight these pests using ordinary walnut leaves. This is not difficult to do: you just need to place them in the corners of those cabinets where butterflies and larvae can live. If their colony was not numerous, you will be able to get rid of them in just a few days using this remedy.

Advice:

If you have a large enough pest colony, this step will not help you. In such cases, it is recommended to use special preparations, and only after that apply similar folk remedy already for the purpose of prevention.

Method 9 - tobacco

Like wormwood, this smell is extremely unpleasant for pests. How to quickly get rid of insects using it? It's very simple: you just need to put the tobacco in the cabinets and leave it there for several months. Even if the kitchen moth has already laid eggs in these cabinets, the hatched larvae will leave them very quickly and will not return to such places in the future.

Video: how to get rid of moths using tobacco and other means?

Important:

remember that only chewing tobacco can be used for this purpose High Quality. The same material that is used in regular cigarettes may not be suitable for this purpose, so you should not experiment with it.

Method 10 - strong odors

If you don’t have anything on hand that could help get rid of moths, you can use ordinary perfume. The thing is that strong smells can scare away butterflies, and they will not breed in your closet. To use this product, you will need to go through your food, remove all contaminated grains and other types of food that may contain eggs or larvae, and then wash the cabinet and spray it with perfume.

Advice:

For this purpose, it is preferable to use spicy scents. Food moths absolutely cannot tolerate them.

How to prevent moths

So, you have figured out how to get rid of food moths in the kitchen forever. Now you need to make sure that she never appears in your house again. To do this you should:

• Store all bulk foods in glass containers with tight-fitting lids.
• Avoid large food supplies. Store only the amount of dry food you will need for the week.
• Regularly sort through the potatoes you store in the kitchen. This measure will prevent the appearance of tuberous moths.
• Do not store long time open fruits. If possible, store them in the refrigerator.
• Carefully check all the products you purchase in the store. You need to remember that you can bring pests into your home by choosing fruits or cereals infected with them.

It is also recommended to use traditional methods to repel pests in the apartment. This way you can protect your home from the appearance of a colony of harmful butterflies and larvae, even if you accidentally introduce them there.

The name “food moth” is popularly understood to mean several types of moths - small butterflies whose caterpillars feed on cereals, nuts and groceries. Each of these species has its own characteristics, however, despite the fact that outwardly different types of food moths differ well from each other, no one particularly wants to understand them and is simply looking for ways to get rid of these pests as quickly as possible.

At the same easy time And universal instructions, how, no - due to the specific feeding habits of these butterflies, conventional methods such as aerosol insecticides are not suitable (after all, the poison can get into food). Therefore, the fight against food moths is always quite a troublesome and resource-intensive undertaking.

This is interesting

Before the development of human civilization, all types of moths were fairly inconspicuous participants in natural biocenoses, and their caterpillars fed on the seeds of grasses and trees. But with the advent of granaries, barns and warehouses, and especially with the beginning of active transportation of goods between countries and continents, food moths quickly spread throughout the world and became a real cosmopolitan, equally effectively infecting grain in Argentina, China and Chad. And today, even industrial methods of combating food moths do not always cope with their destructive activities.

Types of food moths and features of their morphology

If you look at the photo different types food moths, one may be surprised how they are generally confused and combined under one name. For example, in the photo below there is a flour moth, one of the most common types of food moths in an apartment:

And here is the southern barn moth, which has a beautiful pattern on its wings. Getting it out is often the hardest thing to do:

And in the photo below you can see what the cocoa moth looks like - a common food moth, which can easily be confused with a clothes moth due to the inconspicuous light yellow color of the wings:

But in general, any food moth looks inconspicuous, even despite the pattern on the wings of some of its species. All of them are butterflies of discreet colors and small sizes.

Usually the length of their wings does not exceed 7-8 mm, and when sitting on the surface, the insect folds them and becomes like a small protrusion on the surface. It is not surprising that the simple glance of a city apartment resident is usually not able to discern the difference in the color of these butterflies.

On a note

For an unprepared resident big city food and clothing moths are very similar. The easiest way to distinguish them is by their meeting places - clothing moths rarely catch your eye in the kitchen, while food moths, on the contrary, do not favor wardrobes and bedrooms with their attention.

But the larvae of food moths all look the same. These are small (up to one and a half centimeters) white-yellow or white-pink caterpillars without any hair or outgrowths on the body. Usually by appearance It is impossible to determine whether a caterpillar belongs to one or another moth. Fortunately, they can all be hatched using the same methods, and it is not necessary to determine the species of the larvae for this.

For example, in the photo below is a larva of the meal moth:

And in the next picture is a cocoa moth larva. Even despite the obvious differences in the color of adult butterflies, their larvae are very similar:

On a note

Food moth larvae lead a secretive and sedentary lifestyle. They are usually encountered either in contaminated products or when crawling out of cabinets to pupate. In this case, they move along the walls and greatly attract attention. The photo shows an adult food moth larva ready to pupate.

Food moth: a little biology

Food moth is a pest with enough short cycle reproduction. At suitable temperature and humidity, it takes about two months, and sometimes six weeks, from egg to egg.

The optimal conditions for the development of food moth butterflies are a temperature of about 25°C and a humidity of about 50%. At these air parameters, they develop most quickly, and it turns out to be very difficult to remove them.

Adult food moth butterflies do not feed at all: they have no developed oral apparatus and the digestive system does not function. And they don’t live very long - about a week, mating literally on the first or second day after emerging from the pupa. The females devote the remaining few days to laying a hundred to one and a half eggs where future offspring will find enough food, and the males look for other females or die.

In general, taking into account the larval stage, the food moth lives for about a month and a half. Of these, a week or two is spent on metamorphosis in the pupal stage.

Almost always, food moths reproduce in the same place where their larvae live. Only in some cases do adult insects mate away from the grocery store, and the females then return to the feeding environment.

Pest in an apartment: how does it get here, where does it live and what does it eat?

Food moth larvae feed on groceries. Moreover, food moths eat almost everything indiscriminately: cereals, flour, sugar, cocoa, nuts, dried fruits, bread, crackers, cookies, not very hot spices, unground grains, etc.

Food moth larvae are especially numerous in grain warehouses, which can cause significant damage. Each species has its own food preferences, but in general the range of food products for each moth is wide. In an apartment, any type of food moth feeds on almost any grocery product.

Thus, wherever there is dry food, food moths can appear.

The photo shows dry apricots, among which the larvae of food moths are visible. In case of mass infestation of large volumes, it can be extremely difficult to remove moths from such a product:

Each food moth larva not only eats the product in which it lives, but also constantly weaves itself into a cocoon of silk. This is how “incomprehensible” lumps and pellets appear in cereals or flour, and neat nests with a worm inside appear in nuts.

It is important to understand that food moths are very poor fliers. Spread between houses, and even more so between food warehouses And she can’t live in apartments herself, and in the apartment food moths are taken only with purchases and products from the supermarket. Food moths also breed in industrial warehouses: their larvae are transported in grain from one warehouse to another, and their descendants already master the abundant food sources.

Harm from food moths

The main harm of food moths is food spoilage. Moth-infested groceries are no longer edible, and in industrial warehouses, contaminated food is unsuitable for sale.

If there is a serious infestation in a warehouse, food moths are dangerous due to large losses of the product and a strong decrease in its quality.

On a note

It is moth-infested and secondary purified products that enter the market at bargain prices - after all, they need to be sold somehow. And by buying them, an ordinary city resident risks bringing a pest into his home with them.

Food moths do not eat clothes and are not dangerous to the wardrobe. This, however, does not mean that if there are food moths in the room, you should not worry about things: clothes moths and food moths do not interfere with each other and can easily coexist in the same apartment, while mainly food moths will be seen. In any case, you need to remove the moth from the first signs of its detection in the house.

Fighting food moths: measures and means

It is necessary at all stages of its development. It is incorrect to say that if only the larvae are harmful, then only them need to be destroyed: each flying female moth lays up to 160 eggs in different places, from which new caterpillars will hatch within a week.

Therefore, it is necessary to destroy food moths in a comprehensive manner:

A good tool for catching butterflies is the Aeroxon food moth trap. It attracts butterflies with its smell, and its adhesive surface does not dry out for a long time. You can buy such a food moth trap online or at some hardware stores. Its cost is about 200 rubles:

More simple methods control of food moths has not yet been developed. On industrial enterprises against moths, phosphine-based fumigators and grain spraying with contact insecticides are used. This type of food processing cannot be carried out indoors.

Measures to protect your home from food moth infestation

Knowing how to kill food moths is useful, but not enough to protect the premises from the pest. It is much wiser not to let him into the house at all, taking several steps to prevent infestation of the apartment with food moths. Among these measures:

• thorough check of all products upon purchase
• avoidance of grocery products with obviously low prices
• purchasing food that will be eaten within one week
• use of moth repellents.

To comply with the last point, it is useful to know. Among the substances that repel it are strong-smelling herbs (wormwood, tansy, lavender, rosemary), essential oils, fresh orange peels, laundry and strawberry soap, vinegar, horse chestnut cones.