Pantry moths prefer to live in flour, cereals, nuts, spices, tea, chocolate, dried fruit, or pet food. The moths and larvae quickly take over the entire pantry and destroy your kitchen supplies. But how do you get rid of these annoying pests? One effective remedy, for example, is trichogramma wasps. These micro-insects are a chemical-free and natural method of getting rid of the pests. They infest the eggs of the pantry moths and ensure that a brood does not even grow in the first place.
Where do pantry moths come from?
An infestation of pantry moths is annoying, but it does not indicate unhygienic conditions. In most cases, the insects enter the kitchen through purchased food. To lay their eggs, they even bite through paper and plastic. A fertilized female can lay up to 400 eggs.
Pantry moths are very small and nocturnal. Although they have wings, they rarely fly, but usually crawl or jump. As a rule, the insects are silvery-gray to brownish, and the larvae are tiny and white. An infestation can be recognized by thread-like webs that stick the food together. You should act as quickly as possible here.
Which initial measures are sensible?
– Remove animals and nests
If pantry moths have nested, all animals and nests with eggs, larvae, and cocoons should be removed. Kitchen cabinets, pantries, and other places such as cracks, ledges, crevices, and dark corners should be thoroughly inspected with a flashlight. The insects can then be destroyed with hot air from a hair dryer, a brush, a vacuum cleaner, and hot vinegar water.
– Throw away food
Pantry moths get into packaging through even the smallest openings – they can even bite through thin plastic. Infested food must be sorted out immediately and ideally disposed of outside the house. To prevent a renewed infestation, it is also advisable to freeze the infested food for a few days before disposal or to heat it in the oven at 80 degrees for two hours. This effectively kills larvae, eggs, and moths.
– Clean cabinets
Once all animals, nests, and infested food have been disposed of, cabinets, handle fittings, and screw heads should be thoroughly cleaned with soapy water or vinegar water about every two weeks.
Why are moth traps usually useless?
A moth trap is usually a folded cardboard construction that contains a glued piece of cardboard to which the moths stick. The pantry moths are attracted by female sex hormones (pheromones). But as a rule, this type of moth trap is not very effective – because only male moths are caught with it. Female moths are no longer fertilized and stop laying eggs – but females that have already been fertilized can continue to lay their eggs.
Pheromone traps are therefore a slow and ineffective solution for getting rid of pantry moths effectively. Eliminating the male moths can take up to three months. However, the sticky traps can be used in conjunction with other measures.
As a supplementary measure, pheromone traps can prevent the fertilization of further eggs. However, the use of trichogramma wasps must also prevent further pantry moths from developing. Pheromone traps can be used to determine whether the plague is receding. The combination of both measures is highly effective and also completely harmless to the residents.
What are trichogramma wasps and how do they help against moths?
The most effective solution against pantry moths is trichogramma wasps. These egg parasites lay their eggs in the eggs of the pantry moths. The harmful moths die off and trichogramma wasps develop. This cycle continues as long as moth eggs are present. If there are no more moth eggs, the trichogramma wasps die off.
Trichogramma wasps help to combat pantry moths in a natural way. The 0.3 – 0.4 mm small trichogramma wasps are barely visible to the naked eye and are not dangerous to humans. They are not interested in food and are a natural alternative to chemical insecticides.Read on motten-alarm.de, how the correct application works and how long such an application takes.
