A Note To Those Losing Their Minds, Hearts and Homes to Pantry Moths

There is so much activity in the Pantry Moth post that I wanted to call out to everyone to see how they are doing. My heart goes out to any of you who feel as if you are losing your minds, hearts, and homes over these critters, and I just want to encourage all of you, that you can win this battle. And more importantly, with fall and the holidays arriving, I want to remind you all to BAKE YOUR NATURE COLLECTIONS BEFORE YOU INADVERTENTLY CREATE YOUR OWN INFESTATION!  Once you have an infestation, you must be persistent with the Diatomaceous Earth.

Yes — You may need to leave the Diatomaceous Earth. powder in your pantry, or infected area, indefinitely.  The lifecycle of the pantry moth can stretch out over months and years.  You have to decide, what’s worse, worms crawling around your pantry or DE? You will have to make that decision for yourself.

I know how heartbreaking it is that once you think you have completely eradicated the moths, they can come back several months later… they are very sneaky like that. I brought in the Birch Log last fall and thought it was the end of the world… but somehow, someway, sprinkling DE around the house, removing the logs, baking them in the oven, has worked. Even though I did find the moths fluttering around in the bedrooms, they have not returned, and the population has not grown.

Part of your battle plan must include being a detective. Everyone has a different source of their infestation, and you must be diligent to find your source, and eradicate the source. Once you have finally found the real source, not the overspill source, it is much easier to mitigate the problem. If you’re stumped and think you can’t figure it out — say a prayer and ask for all things invisible to be made visible. Part of winning this battle will require using your intuition as well as your common sense – and a little help from heaven.

I have had friends with this problem who hired professional exterminators who were unable to get rid of the infestation. After the moths came back, the owners sprinkled the DE, and the problem was gone — after they found the source.

Potential pantry moth sources to investigate:

• Whole grains from the health food store
• Nuts
• Wicker
• Pinecones, tree logs or other woody decorative things you, or your kids, have collected and brought into the home
• Pet food
• Do you have an infestation of bats? Bats leave behind a residue that is very attractive to these pests. Have your chimney professionally cleaned. Check your attic.

Let’s recap what we’ve learned so far:

• Pantry Moths can eat through plastic containers — it’s best to use glass (never wicker, wicker can be a food source to the pests), or the very hard plastic.
• Any food that comes from the pet store, must be frozen, or baked, if possible. Some have said that the larvae can live in freezing temperatures. If that’s the case -we might be doomed.
• Treat whole grains and nuts the same as pet food.
• Bake your pinecones, buckeyes, acorns etc, that you collect to use in fall decorations.  Kill any and all larvae.
• It’s OK, and probably the best idea, to mix Diatomaceous Earth directly into the animal feed. Farmers do this… DE can kill insects because it dries out their exoskeleton — our pets do not have these. (Unless you are feeding a pet cockroach, and then, I can’t help you with that one.
• I love the idea of using a large makeup brush to dust the DE around the corners and crevices.
• Leave the DE in place.  That is your only line of defense.

I encourage you to check out the growing list of comments (it’s almost a support group) from my original pantry moth post from people who are currently battling and have succeeded at battling their pantry moth infestation.  And let me know how things are going.

Be persistent, and you need to let your house know WHO IS BOSS… Take control, arm yourself with intuition and some DE powder, and you will win.