Saturday 2 June 2012

The War On Pantry Moths





    I am going to share with you a very dirty secret... before I do, I would ask that you don't judge me.  It's not my fault that there are at least a million things that I would rather do than clean (o.k. it's totally my fault, but I like to pretend).  Here is my dirty secret, I have pantry moths, also known as the Indian Meal Moth.  I hate them, I hate them with the heat of a thousand suns (that is a lot of hate).  They gross me out.  I nearly barf when I see their creepy babies, also known as larvae.  They are lurking everywhere.  Oh I hate them!
   At first the little grey moths seemed benign.  One day I opened my baking cupboard and one nearly flew into my mouth, it brushed past my lips.  As soon as I stopped retching I vowed vengeance.  O.k. lazy vengeance.  I really swore vengeance when I saw their super gross larvae on my counter top, the place that I prepare food... Oh it was war!  I threw everything out.  When everything was cleared from my cupboard I had another gagging fit.  It was like a moth grave yard.  There had to be a dozen dead moths, and just as many casings, or whatever those sickening things are called that hatch their little demons, I mean larvae.  Once I stopped retching I took scalding soap and hot water and washed the cupboard.  I then Lysoled the cupboard.  I then purchased replacement foods.  I have read that moths hate lavender (further sign of demonic possession, I mean who doesn't like the smell of lavender, am I right?), so I bought a little lavender sachet.  I put said sachet in the back of the cupboard, take that moths!




This is my before picture.  DON'T JUDGE ME!

    I felt pretty smug.  I felt smug that is until I went to make my family dinner.  I made a nice roast, and was making a lovely gravy.  I poured the cornstarch into my cup.  Mixed it with my water.  I was about to pour it into the drippings when I saw it move.  PANTRY MOTH!@#@@@  Those sneaky little rhymes with dastards.  They struck again!  After I finished gagging, I hit the internet, oh they had crossed the line this time.  If it was war before, this was Armageddon!

    According to pretty much everyone on the internet, except for those selling "pantry moth traps", the only way to get rid of those blasted things is to trash everything, and put it into glass jars, end of story.  They broke me.  I can't live with all of this retching.  I went to my handy dandy Dollorama!  I bought coordinating jars, and I was ready to rock.



    I even bought plastic bins to organize the small things.  It turns out I have a lot of sprinkles, who knew?  I am o-r-g-a-n-i-z-e-d!  I think that Oprah should give me my own show.

The after shot, ain't it perdy.


    I have decided to starve them out!  Take that pantry moths.  The upside is that my cupboard looks great.  I keep opening my cupboard just to admire how nice it looks.  I'll let you know if I have gotten rid of them.  So far so good, keep your fingers crossed.

4 comments:

  1. Nice job! I remember living in an old house that had them as well, and like you they creep me out!

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  2. Have you won the battle?! I'm currently in the middle of an all our war in our house and even though we've thrown out EVERYTHING and placed all the new food in containers, I keep finding moths flying about....@$@#*%!!!!! Ugh, WORST THING I'VE EVER HAD TO DEAL WITH!

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  3. I have not won, but I have gained ground. Instead of dozens, we have one or two. I really have to keep on top of it. GOOD LUCK!

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  4. Wiping all the corners and crevices with diatomaceous earth every 11-12 days is what ultimately helped me win the battle. I find lavendar sachets effective with clothing moths but not so much cupboard ones. If you want to go the aromatherapy route which is always nice and works, I find adding a good strong helping of lemon tea tree oil to your dish detergent and cleaning everything down with that is best for just about any gross kitchen critter.

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