Sometimes called Pantry Moths or Meal Moths, the Indian Moth loves meal, grains and other foods that you store in your pantry or cabinets. What they hate is a clean cabinet or pantry where they cannot reach food and lay their eggs. So to get rid of the moths, clean out your pantry area. Here are three steps to getting rid of these unwanted visitors.
Step 1:
Check for infestation. Carefully examine all food containers signs of moth infestation:
Webbing in corners of food packages
grains clumped together with sticky webbing or secretions
small holes in food containers
If you see moths in your kitchen, chances are you have an infestation.
Step 2:
Clean up the infested areas.
Pull all items out of the cabinets and off shelves.
Vacuum all cabinets and shelves.
Thoroughly scrub all shelves and cabinets with soapy water, paying close attention to cracks and corners. Dry the cleaned area thoroughly.
Step 3
Discard infested food.
Step 4:
Store all foods properly.
If you have glass or plastic containers to store food in, wash them with soapy hot water and dry thoroughly before refilling.
Plastic bags are inadequate for keeping out pantry moths! Use only sealed metal, glass or hard plastic containers.
Store infrequently used foods in the freezer
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Hi Sylvia!
I really appreciate this article! I had an infestation of these last summer. After cleaning out all the cupboards, pantry, etc…even with a shop-vac! I scrubbed and tossed out half-empty boxes and anything not in a plastic container. I still was seeing a few of the moths around the kitchen. I was about to snap! Then one morning, one of my sons pulled out one of our plastic cereal containers (one we hadn’t apparently used for awhile!) and as he poured the cereal into his bowl, all came all these moths! I was grateful to have finally found the source, but shocked that it came from inside a plastic cereal storage container! Those cereal containers had been on sale at Walmart and I bought five. Once I got them home, washed, and filled with cereals, I didn’t really like how they sealed. However I figured they were better than the cardboard boxes, and much less expensive that the Tupperware brand ones I had used for years and finally wore out. I’ll be watching for better sealing lids next time around! ; )