Cereal moth - an insect with a silver-white color and a brown pattern on the wings - can be an unpleasant find in your kitchen. Unfortunately, the likelihood of its occurrence is quite high, since it often lives in grain products coming from warehouses and granaries to stores, and from there to consumer packages. You can get rid of these insects, most importantly, not to miss the moment, while they are still few and they have not "eaten" all your supplies.
You will need
- - table vinegar;
- - leaves of eucalyptus or lavender;
- - wormwood branches;
- - Bay leaf;
- - garlic;
- - lemon peels.
Instruction manual
1
The best storage place for your bulk products (cereals, flour, mushrooms, dried fruits, and seeds) is glass jars or tin and ceramic containers that are tightly closed with lids. You can get by with dense canvas bags, but usually they are not very convenient, because take up more shelf space. Soak the bags with saline. But never store supplies in plastic bags - this is not an obstacle for moths. And remember that cereals and flour in large quantities are better not to buy.
2
If you find that your products are heavily affected by moths, it’s better not to be greedy and throw them away at all, because you don’t want to eat insect eggs and their excrement? Affected not very much - sort it out, and then place in the oven or microwave for drying and disinfection. Do not close the oven tightly during the cleaning procedure; it should warm the grain or cereals at a temperature of 60 degrees. For the microwave, the time is minimal, and for the oven, calculate depending on the need: insect eggs die in 5 minutes, and caterpillars in 60-90.
3
If your fight against moths occurs in the summer, you can do it even easier - just place the freshly bought cereals in a thin layer on fabric or paper in the open sun.
4
Wash all cabinets and shelves in the kitchen, inside and out, with a warm solution of detergent and then clean water. Wipe and dry the cabinets without closing. All grooves and crevices are well lubricated with table vinegar. So that the moth does not start in them in the future, put there the leaves of eucalyptus, lavender or laurel.
5
Remember that the caterpillars of the grain moth die after freezing twice (at least minus 10 degrees Celsius) for 5-10 hours, and then warming up to plus ten. Therefore, you can hold the cereals in the freezer. For this reason, many housewives store beans, peas, etc. in the refrigerator.
6
On the kitchen window, put a pot of geraniums: this plant, as well as coleus (popular name "nettle"), especially does not like moths. These flowers do not require careful care and any difficult conditions, but pests will always scare away.
7
To prevent moth from opening in the cabinet, you can also place wormwood sprigs or sachets of pepper on the shelves. And directly in jars with your stocks, put peeled garlic cloves, lemon peels or bay leaves.
8
Periodically check your kitchen supplies. In this case, you will always be on the alert if the mole somehow gets there.
