What to do if food moths start up in the kitchen? How to quickly get rid of moths with food and household folk remedies forever: ways to fight and preventive measures How to get moths out of cereals.

Moth in the kitchen is often not as easy to remove as it might seem at first glance, especially inexperienced owners in the fight against this pest. The reason for this is that the main habitat is dry food, and they can only be removed by getting rid of all the affected stocks, and then without fail having exterminated adult butterflies.

Thus, in order to remove moths in the kitchen, it is necessary to approach this task in a complex manner. It will not be possible to destroy the kitchen moth with quick one-time measures, but with a competent approach, it can be removed quickly and efficiently.

On a note

Often people, seeing the characteristic grayish-yellow butterflies in the kitchen, begin to puzzle over where this moth comes from. The reason for its appearance does not depend on the owner of the apartment in any way - it simply enters the house with purchased contaminated food. As a rule, these are cereals, flour, sugar, dried fruits, nuts, and sometimes even pasta. Moth almost never appears in the kitchen, flying in from the street - only larvae spread in products. As a rule - in expired and untreated from pests.

Moth control is not only and not so much the direct destruction of insects as competent prevention and compliance with storage rules food products. But first things first.

Food status monitoring

As a rule, moth larvae enter the house in food, and already here they pupate, turn into butterflies and make themselves felt. That is why, in order to be effective in the kitchen, you must:

At the same time, it is especially important to check all the bins and pantries: usually it is in a long-forgotten package, for example, with buckwheat or dried bird cherry, that the main kitchen moth incubator is present.

In the photo - a moth chrysalis in semolina in the kitchen:

It is interesting

Generally speaking, the kitchen moth is the collective name for several species of butterflies in the moth family. Most often, barn and flour moths are found in the house, but other species can sometimes come across. Distinctive feature barn moth - a light transverse stripe on dark brown wings. Its caterpillars differ little from the caterpillars of the codling moth.

Processing of kitchen furniture

This set of measures is aimed at the destruction of larvae crawling out to pupate. As a rule, caterpillars of all moths leave food and crawl around the room in search of convenient places to create a cocoon. At these moments, they come across in the kitchen on its walls, ceiling, at the junctions of furniture with walls.

Good for processing insecticidal aerosols used in the fight against ants and cockroaches, as well as insecticidal pencils (for example, the well-known Mashenka chalk). At the same time, strong-smelling repellents will not give practically any effect here, but simply scare the butterflies away from the locations of odorous substances.

There are also special ones - for example, Armol, Raptor from moths - but their effectiveness against moths in the kitchen is much lower than against clothes moths.

“Where could the mole come from in the kitchen if we didn’t have it from birth? Butterflies under the ceiling, caterpillars crawl along the walls. In a bag with buckwheat their cocoons. Threw them out of the house, only it did not help. Now I’m going to buy anti-moth products.”

Irina, Odessa

It is important to understand that even after poisoning moth larvae once with a reliable aerosol, sometimes you can achieve only a temporary effect: the exit of caterpillars from food is not coordinated, and already two or three days after processing the kitchen, new caterpillars may appear in it.

There are preparations made according to the principle of microencapsulation, they provide a prolonged action. The most famous of these preparations is Get, which allows but also cockroaches, ants, and even bugs resistant to the removal of various insecticides. Of course, this remedy should only be used against larvae in kitchen furniture, as the drug should not come into contact with food.

It should also be borne in mind that fighting kitchen moths only with the help of special preparations is not effective. Still, the main part of pests is found in food products, and it is with this part that it is necessary first of all to conduct a targeted fight.

Butterfly destruction

Now let's imagine another, also common situation: you have a moth in the kitchen, but all the products were checked and sorted out, the larvae were destroyed and thrown away with the infected products. However, moth butterflies survived and continue to fly around the kitchen, and in large numbers.

In this case, it is imperative to bring the matter to the end and take up the extermination of butterflies. After all, it is they who are able to lay eggs invisible to the eye on food, making it possible for a new generation of pests to appear.

Breeding moth butterflies is quite simple. Usually you don't even have to use chemicals. A fly swatter and a simple slipper are quite enough to slap even a few dozen adults.

“I don’t know where the moth came from in the kitchen, but this infection hurt a lot. Still okay, while the butterflies were flying, but when the worms climbed, I could not stand it at all. But the main thing, no matter how much you push them, they all appear and appear. It turned out they were climbing out of last year's nuts on the balcony. They threw out the nuts, a kilogram of infected cell, passed all the butterflies - and peace and grace became. I really didn’t expect that I would cope with the adversity so quickly. ”

Antonina, Eremeyskoe

In warehouses or kitchens of public catering establishments, insecticidal aerosols are used to kill moth butterflies - professional Tetrix, Diazinon or general use Kombat, Raptor, Raid. The grain moth in the kitchen is usually destroyed on a specially designated day off, and after processing the room, it is thoroughly cleaned.

Prevention measures

After all contaminated products are thrown out of the house, and the larvae and butterflies are exterminated special means, you should not relax: the mole may appear in the kitchen again. To avoid this, you must:

• check all products brought into the house
• maintain cleanliness and remove all spilled products on the floor or at the table (bedside table)
• throw away or use old stocks of food
• use special repellents in food storage areas. For this, special anti-moth sections and some folk remedies are suitable, which should be placed in bedside tables and cabinets.

If in the kitchen you opened the cabinet door where cereals and other groceries are stored, and a small gray moth fluttered out towards you, it means that you have got food moth. There is little pleasant, but if you have the necessary knowledge, you can easily get rid of this household pest.

Name "food moth" combines several species of butterflies of the moth family, whose caterpillars feed on cereals, nuts, dried fruits and other groceries.

adults different types food moth enough differ considerably:

• wings flour moth have a characteristic pattern in bright brown tones, lighter at the base and darker towards the corners;
• color mill moth less flashy, grey-brown, upper wings darker, lower wings lighter;
• wings southern barn moth decorated beautiful pattern, color is bright, orange;
• cocoa moth has an inconspicuous pale yellow color of the wings.

But, despite all the differences, any food moth looks quite inconspicuous, since they all have relatively small sizes - 8-10 mm. And sitting on the surface with folded wings, they become almost invisible. It is not surprising that a simple layman will not be able to notice the difference between different representatives of this pest.

Food moth. A photo

Stages of food moth development

In the process of becoming an adult, the food moth passes four stages:

• eggs;
• larvae;
• pupae;
• butterflies.

butterflies

adults individuals won't harm food products, since they do not have a mouth apparatus, and they live no more than a week. Soon after they appear, they mate.

Females attract males with pheromones, which are secreted from special glands. The mating process usually takes place in habitats and eggs are laid there. Even in those rare cases when fertilization takes place away from the food supply, the female always returns to her food environment.

food moth has a fairly short breeding cycle. With sufficient humidity and suitable temperature, it does not exceed two months. Optimal for the development of insects is a humidity of 50% and a temperature of 25 degrees. When the temperature drops, the development of the larvae slows down and may be delayed for several months.

Food moth is able to endure brief heat and cold. However, for breeding, it chooses warm, humid and, most importantly, food-rich places.

Fertilized females lead a sedentary lifestyle. Moths flying around the kitchen are predominantly males.

Eggs

Through 5-6 hours after mating, the females lay from 50 to 100 tiny eggs. It is impossible to notice them with the naked eye. The length of the eggs does not exceed 0.5 mm. Usually they white color and oval. So that the offspring do not suffer from crowding and lack of nutrition, the female makes several clutches in different places.

Through 6-7 days emerge from eggs worm larvae, no larger than 1 mm.

caterpillars

Harm our food stocks brings precisely insect larvae. In order to turn into an adult, she needs to actively eat. In the process of gaining weight, the larvae move little, crawling from place to place only in search of new food.

At this stage of the breeding cycle, insects of different species are no different. By the appearance of the larva, it is impossible to determine what type of moth it belongs to. These are small white caterpillars with a yellowish or pinkish tint, with a brown head.

moth larvae they look like small worms, but this is only a superficial resemblance. Real worms have no limbs, but moth caterpillars has six pairs tiny paws. oral apparatus larvae equipped powerful jaws, thanks to which the larvae can gnaw through the dense shell of cereals.

Caterpillar goes through several stages molting, before turning into a chrysalis. Somewhere in a week and a half, the larvae grow up to 1.5 cm in length and gain enough further development the weight.

pupae

Developed caterpillars weave cocoons, in which they will pupate. As a rule, this thread cases cobweb-like, glued excrement or food debris. For pupation, the larvae choose dark and hard-to-reach places, only some types of caterpillars get out of the cabinets into the light.

The outer covers of the larvae become more dark and hard. Under the protection of this shell, the insect spends 1-2 weeks, during this time in her body there are tremendous changes, turning a larva into a butterfly. The adult individual that emerged from the pupa is completely ready to fulfill its duty to nature - to continue its kind.

Harm and benefit

Despite the small size, food moth can bring enough big damage, especially if the population of these insects is large enough. As noted earlier, the main harm is caused by food moth larvae.

Here approximate list of products, which a domestic pest can choose to feed offspring:

• flour;
• cereals;
• nuts;
• seeds;
• dried fruits;
• pasta;
• cookie;
• candies.

The presence of larvae can be detected by the following characteristic features:

• grains glued together with a web;
• lumps in small cereals or flour;
• worn tunnels filled with excrement of larvae;
• skins of eaten grains.

Groats spoiled by pests, it is impossible to eat or sell, since it is absolutely impossible to clean it from the larvae and their excrement. Flour can be sifted, but in the conditions of food processing plants, this is very problematic and costly.

As strange as it sounds, food moth can also be beneficial:

1. Wax moth caterpillars they feed on honey and wax, which undoubtedly harm beekeeping. However, ethnoscience ascribes a medicinal effect to the larvae of this insect. This is justified by the presence in their digestive tract of the cerrase enzyme, which successfully breaks down not only honey and wax, but also the phospholipid shells of Koch's bacillus, the main causative agent of tuberculosis. Getting into the body of these insects, bee products, combining with the enzyme, form a unique substance that destroys pathogenic bacteria. Over time, wax moth larvae tincture was considered almost a panacea. It is recommended to be used for the treatment of diseases of the lungs, cardiovascular and urinary systems, diseases of the gastrointestinal tract, allergies and even oncological diseases. However, official medicine medicine do not recognize. Certified doctors do not prescribe a tincture of wax moth larvae to anyone.
2. Moth caterpillars - excellent bait for winter fishing.
3. Larvae can be used as live food for those kept in terrariums, exotic frogs.

Important. In nature, moths are a necessary participant in many biocenoses. Therefore, it is necessary to destroy it only if it poses a danger to our property, stocks and the sanitary condition of the home.

How to get rid of food moths in the kitchen

Buying contaminated cereals is a fairly common occurrence. This is due to improper storage of groceries in warehouses and stores.

You need to start the fight in the apartment with the pest without delay, immediately after the discovery of the moth. This process is better carry out in stages.

Stage 1. Spend inspection all food stocks. Carefully inspect all packages, jars and containers where foodstuffs attractive to food moths are stored. If you find a package in which you noticed moths, larvae, cobweb-like threads, the most the best solution- throw it away.

Stage 2. Remove all food from the cabinet and carefully treat the shelves and walls with an insecticide.

Stage 3. Adults are also subject to elimination. It can be done mechanically, using baits - traps or adhesive tape.

Prevention

An effective remedy prevention of pest entry into the apartment is thorough check of purchased food. The amount of groceries also needs to be controlled. It is advisable to keep only a week's supply of food. Even these simple measures will already be enough to protect your home from harmful butterflies and caterpillars.

Like food, clothes moth- It is the most widespread apartment pest.

Clothes moth by size less food by 2-3 mm. Unlike its food relative, it has wings without pattern, yellow-brown.

If you consider this insect carefully, you can see that everything is as if sprinkled with pearl pollen. Clothes moth is afraid of daylight and hides in wardrobes and in dark nooks and crannies.

Larvae both types look like Twins. They differ in gastronomic preferences. caterpillars wardrobe moths spoil cotton and woolen clothes, carpets and rugs, furs, upholstery upholstered furniture and even felt pads in musical instruments.

In clothes, they are especially attracted to sweaty, stained places, folds, gathers, folds under the collar, cuffs. In addition, being at this stage of development, clothes moth always spins a thin silky cobweb as it feeds. In consequence, she uses it for weaving cocoon.

Excrement of clothes moth larvae can be colorful, as they are dyed with dyes from the fibers of the tissue that the insects absorb. So if you notice colored grains of sand in the places where clothes are stored, you can no longer wear something similar in color.

Both types and clothes, and food usually fly near the site of infection. They are characterized by a peculiar flight model - flutter and a spiral trajectory of movement.

Useful video

How to get rid of food moths in the video below:

Ecology of life: The kitchen moth multiplies very quickly, and it is not very easy to get rid of it, but, with the right approach, it is quite possible.

The kitchen moth multiplies very quickly, and it is not very easy to get rid of it, but, with the right approach, it is quite possible.

The moth lays its eggs in almost any dry food (tea, nuts, cereals, dried fruits, and many others) that it can penetrate. Soon, larvae of food moths appear that spoil food, not only gnawing holes in them, but also with their excrement, as well as the skins left after rebirth into adult insects. It is clear that it is no longer possible to eat foods spoiled by moths.

Kitchen moth easily tolerates lack of air and lack of ventilation. It can live well and reproduce well in a hermetically sealed jar if the purchased dried fruits or cereals contained eggs or insect larvae.

HOW TO REMOVE A MOLE IN THE KITCHEN

If a mole or traces of its larvae in cereals are noticed in the kitchen, it is necessary to remove it as soon as possible. Considering that the butterflies themselves do not eat anything, and the eggs and larvae are in the products, it is rather difficult to breed this insect. But, knowing the features of his life, you can understand how to get rid of food moths at home and secure food stocks from its appearance in the future.

First of all, all stocks of bulk products should be reviewed. If moths are found in cereals, legumes, nuts or flour, these products must be thrown away immediately - no one will use them for food anyway. If there are foods that are not badly spoiled by the larvae, then you can try to save them - sort through and heat in the microwave or oven for 15 minutes at a temperature of 60-70 degrees, after cooling, put them in an airtight container for storage. This method will not harm the products, but it will destroy the remaining eggs and insect larvae. In the same way, it is possible to process all dry bulk products in which moths can settle, both stored at home and brought from stores.

Shelves of cabinets and tables, as well as food storage containers, must be thoroughly washed inside and out. All grooves and crevices where insects can hide should be smeared with table vinegar, then rinsed clean water. The doors of tables and cabinets should be left open until completely dry.
In case insects are preserved somewhere, a food moth trap will help get rid of them, which must be placed right in the cabinet between the containers. The remaining butterflies, attracted by the scent, will stick to the duct tape and die. In any case, this measure will not be superfluous: firstly, by the presence of adherent insects, it can be concluded that the pest could not be completely removed and re-treatment is required, and secondly, the adherent insects will no longer be able to give offspring. The Aeroxon food moth trap has proven itself well, and the well-known trap, the Raptor, is also suitable.

PROVEN FOLK WAYS TO FIGHT AGAINST MOTH.

Kitchen moth does not tolerate Fresh air, so regular airing of the kitchen, as well as kitchen cabinets and tables, can be used as a remedy for food moths. In order to prevent larvae from appearing, it is important to keep adult moths out of the room.

Garlic is often used as a repellent, a clove of which is laid out in cabinets and tables, as well as in containers with flour and cereals, although there are claims that the cereal moth can adapt to its smell. To get rid of a harmful insect, it is better to put bags of pepper, oregano, bay leaf or cloves on the shelves. The smell of spices will not spoil the food, but it will scare away the butterflies. In addition to spices, peppermint, lavender and sweet clover repel this insect well. Bags with dried herbs are laid out in cabinets. Food moths can't stand the smell of citrus, so orange and lemon peels will also help get rid of them.
It will be useful to put a pot of geraniums on the windowsill in the kitchen - a well-known prophylactic against many insects.
But how to deal with food moth if it constantly flies into the apartment from somewhere? Only mechanical methods of struggle can help here: ventilation holes and vents must be closed with a dense mosquito net, cover or glue all the cracks through which insects can enter the apartment.
Strong-smelling substances and insecticides are not recommended for use in the kitchen for obvious reasons. But if, in order to get rid of moths, it is nevertheless decided to resort to chemicals, it is necessary to strictly follow the instructions for use and use personal protective equipment.

Knowing how to get rid of food moths will not be so difficult to do. After all measures have been taken to get rid of butterflies and larvae, it is necessary to check the products for their presence for several weeks before use. In addition, acquiring the habit of constantly taking preventive measures against kitchen moths, such as airing, packets of aromatic herbs in cabinets and geraniums on the windowsill, will not require high costs labor and time, but will help prevent the appearance of this enemy in the house.published

In the kitchen - a dangerous pest of various food products. It multiplies very quickly, spoils various cereals, flour, and can even eat dried fruits, nuts and bread. After infection with it, the products become unfit for consumption, and their complete deterioration occurs quickly enough. About how to get rid of food moth and some of its other species, as well as about important nuances this pest control let's talk further.

Urgent measures to get rid of moths in the kitchen

There are many signs of the appearance of moths in the kitchen: these are small brown butterflies under the ceiling and on the walls, cocoons in flour and cereals, and even pinkish caterpillars crawling along the walls of kitchen cabinets. All these signs quite clearly indicate that a food moth has appeared in the house.

In order to quickly and effectively get rid of this pest, it is useful to have an idea about the biology of the food moth and about modern highly effective anti-moth agents. It is important to understand that occasionally running around the kitchen with a slipper and destroying moth butterflies is a very ineffective struggle option that simply creates the appearance of destroying food moths. The main mass of pests (larvae) continues to actively develop in contaminated food products.

On a note

Moth is a generalized name for small butterflies from the Lepidoptera order. They can be divided into insects that spoil food and property in the house, and agricultural pests. Domestic moth, in turn, is divided into species that spoil clothes, and a group of species that affect food. Of course, all these insects are also found in nature, but there they feed on other foods.

In its development, food moth goes through several stages, and in order to get rid of moths in the kitchen, you need to destroy butterflies, larvae, and moth eggs. It should be remembered that there is no seasonality in the reproduction and distribution of moths: it can appear at any time of the year, so you need to get rid of the food moth as soon as possible after its discovery.

It is necessary to start getting rid of the kitchen moth with the larvae. It is they who spoil the products, gluing cereals into small characteristic appearance lumps and leaving winding passages under the surface of fruits and vegetables.

It is interesting

Moth larvae are fairly easy to destroy. In order to get rid of food moths, the first step is to go through all the food supplies in the kitchen, clean the pantry, checking the condition of the most stale stocks.

Small gray pellets at the bottom of packages and cans, glued grains of cereals, covered with a grayish coating, are evidence of a moth infestation of the product. You can get rid of moths in cereals by heating it in the oven or in a pan, or by freezing it for several days in the freezer. To get rid of the cereal moth, it is enough to place the infected product in the cold below minus 10 ° C for 2-3 days, or in heat above + 60 ° C - for 1-1.5 hours. However, if more than 20% of the product is contaminated, it is best to discard it altogether.

It is most expedient to get rid of food moth butterflies in an apartment mechanically. You can simply swat flying pests, or you can hang adhesive tapes or special sticky traps in places where they spread. It is irrational to use insecticidal aerosols in these cases, but with parallel persecution of cockroaches or domestic ants, they will give a good result against moths.

Thus, getting rid of a small amount of moths in products is quite realistic by making an audit of food supplies, calcining infected cereals at a high temperature, or freezing them.

Destruction of moths in cabinets and furniture

It must be understood that complete disposal of moths in the kitchen is impossible without disinfection and disinfection of the entire pest habitat. Moth eggs can be found in the smallest furniture cavities, and without destroying them, it will be problematic to clean the kitchen from the pest.

To get rid of food moths, you need to know the enemy in person. Below in the photo are varieties of food moths:

• barn moth
• flour moth
• potato moth
• grain moth
• mill moth
• dried fruit flame.

You can get rid of kitchen moths using a wide range of special chemicals. In general, they can be divided into liquidation - insecticides containing toxic substances and destroying existing insects, and repellents - created on a plant basis and repelling new pests. The most common form of release of insecticides are aerosols.

There are many different sprays you can use to get rid of moths in the kitchen. Among the most popular are Raptor from moths, Armol, Antimol and.

Raptor "Moth Protection" is used against moth butterflies and their larvae. Sprayable on furniture, including wood, clothes, carpets, effective for 12 months or until the first wash.

Moth spray Armol has an instant effect against butterflies and a prolonged action against moth larvae. Used to clean and protect furniture and carpets from insects. Valid for 6 months.

Antimol Raid is used on clothes, furs and fabrics of any type, it remains effective for a year or until the first wash.

Aerosol "Combat SuperSpray" has a universal action against most flying and crawling pests. It is sprayed in the corners of rooms, at the junction of furniture and in places where insects spread, it is safe for animals.

“Recently, I was horrified to find moths in groats in my kitchen. Where - it is not clear, but the larvae crawl in huge quantities. I decided to get rid of it radically - I washed everything, threw out the spoiled products and sprayed the Raptor with a spray. It turned out that even after my cleaning, insects still remained in some places. Removed and sprayed again. Now I enjoy cleanliness.

Diana, Rostov-on-Don

When using insecticidal agents, it is important not to allow the drugs to come into contact with food!

How to protect things and products from moths and their larvae

The mechanism of action of repellents is that they repel insects and prevent them from laying eggs. Most often, repellents are in the form of tablets, plates and briquettes, some of them may contain naphthalene and camphor.

It should be remembered that naphthalene has pronounced carcinogenic properties, therefore it cannot be used in residential premises, and when choosing a repellent, its composition should be checked. Because of this, their use in the kitchen as a whole is limited and it is undesirable to use them near food.

To get rid of food moths, you can use lavender and fir oils. Cotton pads impregnated with these oils should be laid out in places where the pest appears. And to get rid of cereal moths in the kitchen as a whole, it is worth spreading a few tablets over cabinets or under furniture. The most famous repellents are Antimol and Dezmol tablets, Moleboy plates, Arsenal, Phytocid, Zitol, Gela cassettes.

“My grandmother always laid out bunches of dried lavender in the kitchen from the cereal moth. You can get rid of it, she said, but it's better if it doesn't exist at all. When we moved to new apartment, after a general cleaning, I laid out lavender tablets in different secluded corners and periodically change them. For a year and a half there was not a single moth butterfly in the house.

Anna Melnik, Krasnodar

Sections from the moth

Sections from moths are considered the most rational and effective tool preventive moth control. They may come in lavender, tangerine, or chamomile scents, or they may not be scented at all.

Generally speaking, sections are designed to protect things in wardrobes, but they can also help get rid of food moths in the kitchen. Being, in fact, a fumigation agent, they release active substances that prevent the reproduction of moths and, in addition, repel adults (butterflies).

Among famous brands moth sections - Raptor, Mosquitall, Globol.

The Raptor moth section is designed to protect woolen and fur products. Helps to get rid of both adult butterflies and moth larvae in the kitchen. Sections should be changed every 4 months.

Mosquitall sections provide comprehensive moth protection. They work poorly against larvae and eggs of the pest, it is advisable to use them as a means of prevention. Valid for 6 months.

“I always use Mosquitall sections to protect my clothes. Recently I decided to apply them in the kitchen - there was a case of the appearance of grain moths. It was possible to get rid of it by throwing out all the grits, now I would like to avoid its reappearance. The Mosquitall section has a very convenient shape and a hook with which you can hang it even on the eaves. In addition, the section has a special slider to mark the start of the use time. I hope the kitchen is now as secure as the closet.”

Natalia Korotkova, Novgorod

Globol sections have an original design and protect the space from both moth butterflies and caterpillars. Contains natural lavender oil. One section is enough for 6 months.

Folk remedies for moths

In addition to chemicals to combat moths, folk remedies also have a certain effectiveness. These include tobacco leaves, pepper, fresh geranium and nettle, wormwood, mint, orange peel, fresh and dried lavender flowers, laundry soap, and others.

To repel moths a large number of natural repellent is usually laid out in the back of kitchen cabinets. The smell emanating from these products will scare away the adult moth and prevent it from laying eggs. But folk remedies practically do not work on the larvae of food moths - this must be remembered.

To get rid of flour moths, folk wisdom recommends sifting the flour, then drying it in the oven, and then storing it with a few cloves of garlic. In the fight against moths, you can also use salt.

A folk recipe for getting rid of fruit moths is to rinse the product in salt water. Practice shows that this method works only with a slight degree of contamination of the product.

Moth prevention methods

It is much more effective to prevent the very appearance of moths in the kitchen and in the house than to deal with the results of its vital activity later.

First of all, this concerns food stocks. There is no need to massively store cereals, flour and pasta in the kitchen - food should be bought for no more than a week. At the same time, give preference to better known, well-established trademarks. Bulk products should be stored in tightly closed containers.

If possible, it is not recommended to leave fruits and vegetables on outdoors. You can get rid of the found fruit moth by placing the fruit in the refrigerator. If you suspect tubers, you should sort out and get rid of the infected as soon as possible. And of course, the best moth prevention is a careful check of all purchased products.

In conclusion, we note that a moth can equally successfully live both in a rural house and in a fashionable apartment, so simply keeping the house clean does not guarantee that the pest will not come to visit you. Proper use of preventive measures and measures will save your home from the invasion of food moths with a greater probability.

Useful tips for getting rid of clothes moths in the closet and food moths in the kitchen

Food moth repellents are used to keep food safe. Small butterflies seem harmless, only in practice it turns out that this is quite dangerous insects. If you do not get rid of the food moth in time, it will undermine the available reserves. Eventually they will have to be thrown away. You can save products that are affected to a lesser extent.

If a mole is wound up, it is probably a representative of one of the species:

Such insects are more common in private housing within the kitchen. Wingspan - up to 8 mm. The color is pale: from beige to brown. The upper wings are darker than the lower ones.

In length, the pest reaches 1 cm. When the wings are folded, representatives of different insect species are similar to each other, since the color is difficult to see.

Larvae in length reach 1.5 cm, are characterized by a light color. If adults differ in appearance, then young offspring are sometimes difficult to distinguish.

Damage

It is imperative to remove the moth in the kitchen, otherwise it will destroy most of the products. Insects feed on cereals and flour, nuts, dried fruits, as well as seasonings, tea, chocolate products and seeds. They spread through the air (fly through windows, through ventilation), enter the apartment with products brought from the store. Accordingly, it is impossible to completely protect yourself.

Eating insect-tainted foods can lead to a severe allergic reaction.

It is recommended to start insect control immediately after the appearance of signs of infection: dust at the bottom of containers with bulk products; change in the structure of flour and cereals (they become lumpy). On the nuts appear moves that caterpillars make. Appearance the product deteriorates, cocoons and cobwebs are visible, larvae are found. Especially unpleasant when they are inside chocolates, because in this case it is difficult to notice the caterpillars.

A butterfly can start suddenly, even if the house is kept clean and a large amount of stock is not stored. You can get rid of food moths in the apartment different ways, but first you need to find the source of infection. To completely exterminate all individuals and offspring, it is necessary to clean the kitchen.

To destroy the larvae and eggs, certain means are used, since not all drugs have an effect on the young offspring of butterflies. In addition, it is necessary to decide what to do with moth-infested products.

We find the source of infection

Before getting rid of the moth itself, you should find the source of its appearance. Butterflies leave offspring in different places, where after a week the larvae will appear and begin to destroy the product. In habitats, a cobweb is noticeable, caterpillars with a large black head. Moth eggs are difficult to spot, as they small size(no more than a grain of semolina) and white.

Close-up photo of a food moth larva

First you need to inspect the ceiling and cabinets for the presence of butterfly cocoons. They are usually found on ceiling plinths, wallpaper joints, at the base of lamps, in crevices and in corners. Pest cocoons are also found in the upper part of the cabinets.

The first step is to inspect the products. You should look for sticky grains, larvae.

Room cleaning

Pest control involves cleaning the entire kitchen. It is necessary to get rid of traces of insects. First, heavily contaminated products are thrown away. Having got rid of the source of pests, they move on to cleaning the furniture from the inside. To do this, the contents are pulled out, the shelves are also taken out of the cabinets if possible.

Using a vacuum cleaner, you need to go through the nozzle in all corners, crevices and surfaces. The air flow will suck in the insects. The dust bag is best thrown away, but you can leave it in the freezer for a few days. This will kill the insects.

Surfaces inside cabinets should be treated with a solution of vinegar or insecticides (Antimol, etc.). Containers for storing bulk products must also be washed with vinegar solution or laundry soap.

Chemical preparations and folk methods

An aerosol is suitable for treating cabinets and other surfaces, but only if there is no food stored inside. This remedy for food moths is not used for spraying products. Popular options: Raptor, Raid, Armol, Combat Super Spray.

Of these drugs, only Armol destroys exclusively adults. If the task is to bring out the young (larvae and caterpillars), then Raptor, Kombat, Raid should be used.

Special sections allow you to get rid of butterflies: Globol, Raptor, Moskitol. They are located in the corners of the room, not far from the source of infection. Do not store this product near products.

If the moth is wound up in cereals, then glue traps should be considered. They use a pheromone to attract males. Butterflies will not reproduce without males.

You can fight the pest folk remedies:

• Dried lavender or essential oil
• Laundry soap. It is cut into pieces and laid out around the room.
• Zest of lemon, orange
• Strong-smelling herbs: tansy, wormwood, cloves, rosemary, thyme, or mint.

Home methods repel pests, but do not lead to death. For this reason, they are considered only as an auxiliary moth control measure.

Video tips: We fight food moth with home remedies

How to handle contaminated products?

Disastrous temperature for the butterfly and offspring: more than -10 and above +30 degrees. For reliability, the products are processed in the oven at a mode of +60 degrees and above, or by putting them outside if it is hot outside.

Freezing is an effective way to control pests.