Why and what to do, if mole started up in cereals

Special features

The cereal moth is a nondescript small-sized butterfly (up to 10 mm) gray or black. On the wings of insects of gray tint you can see black blotches in the form of a pattern. The pest belongs to the same family as the ward, flour or fruit moth. A distinctive feature of cereal moth is nutrition with dry bulk products: rice or buckwheat, flour, and grain. The insect can even live in nuts and dried fruits. Adults do not use them for food, but only lay eggs there. It is hatched larvae that pose a threat to groceries.

Life expectancy of moths is 5-6 days, some individuals live up to 3 weeks. The insect reproduces very quickly, managing to leave behind enough offspring. The pest is hidden in secluded, hard-to-reach places.The cereal mole exhibits activity at night, so it is not immediately detectable.

Cereal moth

Ways of penetration

The question of why the mole starts up in the cereals, many mistresses are puzzled. A mole can enter a house in several ways.:

• With contaminated products from the market or store;
• Through the window in the absence of mosquito nets;
• Through the vent.

In order to minimize the risk of pests entering the apartment of butterflies, it is preferable to purchase groceries in large stores rather than in street markets. It is the wrong storage conditions that contribute to the spread of the pest.

Harm from cereal moth

Unlike other household pests, the cereal mole is not a carrier of infectious diseases, since it does not feed on spoiled food. However, to say that the insect is harmless is impossible. Larvae moth not only eat cereals, but also clog them up with their excrement and skins left after reincarnation into adult individuals. As a result, products become unsuitable for food.

On a note!

Many hostesses are puzzled and do not know whether it is possible to eat cereal, if a mole is made up in it.Infected products are dangerous to human health, so you can not eat them. With an insignificant degree of contamination, it is possible to “reanimate” the cereal, if you sort out and dry it in the oven.

How to bring cereal mole

To answer the question what to do if a mole started up in the cereals, you need to know how to store the cereals. The winged pest prefers to get divorced in wet and poorly ventilated places. If the mole started up in the croup, the following measures should be taken.

Cereal moth

1. Make an audit in the kitchen cabinets. It is necessary to carefully sort out and revise the packages and containers in which flour, sugar, dried fruits and other bulk products are stored. Finding in them the presence of insects, you should immediately get rid of the packaging. To avoid the spread of the food moth, it is necessary to revise the long-stored cereals periodically.
2. To carry out sanitary processing. All surfaces of kitchen furniture should be washed with a solution of household soap or other detergent. After which they must be thoroughly dried in the open air.
3. A more radical way to combat insects is the use of aerosols.They are used to treat the inner surface of kitchen furniture to prevent the spread of pests. Before being treated with a chemical agent, all products and utensils are removed from the premises, since such agents are toxic. With regards to infected croup, it is better to get rid of them altogether.
4. Warming up the surviving products in the oven is the next stage of getting rid of moths. It is enough to place them on a baking sheet and dry in an oven at 60 degrees for 20 minutes. For these purposes, you can use a microwave.
5. Moth freeze - Another way to disinfect products. The surviving larvae or moth eggs can be destroyed by putting them in the freezer for several days. Products will not suffer from this procedure if they are dry and packed in paper bags.
6. Decontaminated products should be stored in dry glass or plastic containers with a tight-fitting lid.

Folk remedies for dealing with cereal moth

Insecticidal drugs against moths in this case, it cannot be used, since the products in which the pest is infested are used for food.Therefore, the best way to fight is the use of folk remedies.

Garlic

It is enough to put a few cloves of garlic in the cereal containers, and not a single insect will settle there. The fact is that the pest does not tolerate garlic odor. It will not affect the taste quality of products.

Folk remedies for moth cereal

Lavender and Citrus Peel

Get rid of the moth will help lavender. Several inflorescences the plants will scare away the moth if you place them in the kitchen cupboard. Orange or lemon peel have a similar effect.

Vinegar

Another means of dealing with moths is vinegar. After processing the surface of the furniture with soapy water, it should be wiped with vinegar, and the mole will not fly into such a cabinet.

Essential oils

Prevent the appearance of the parasite with the help of essential oil of clove, mint, tansy, wormwood, basil or wild rosemary. Their smell does not like the pest. You can also use parts of the plants themselves, laying them in gauze bags on the shelves of the cabinets.

Geranium

A moth won't fly through an open window if there is a geranium on the windowsill. This indoor plant was used by our grandmothers not only for the sake of beauty.The peculiar smell of geranium is not to the liking of many pests. And the mole is no exception.

Bay leaf

It is enough to place a bay leaf in a container with cereal or another bulk product, and the mole will not start there. And you can simply decompose it in the corners of the shelf where food is stored.

Walnut leaves

No less effective in the fight against pest walnut, or rather its leaves. A moth will forget for a long time the way to stored on the shelf grains and other bulk products, if you lay fresh nut leaves on top of them.

Folk remedies for moth cereal

Tobacco and camphor

The smell of camphor will not let the insects settle in the kitchen cupboard. Tobacco has a similar effect. Simply put it on the shelves.

Observing the rules of storage of bulk products and taking advantage of folk remedies for moth as a preventive measure, the question of what to do if a mole started up in the cereal will not arise.

Reviews

A month ago, she opened a bag of rice and was horrified - the sea of ​​worms and a few butterflies flew out. After looking into the buckwheat and millet, they were also infected. I threw out all the cereals in the house and treated the cabinets with vinegar. So far, the mole no longer appeared.

Olga, St. Petersburg

Rarely, but it happens that we bring infected products from the store. If I see pests in cereals or flour, I throw everything away at once. It's no wonder they say that the greedy pays twice. And for prevention, garlic helps in cereals: the smell does not absorb its products, and the neighborhood does not like the mole.

Anna, Kiev

When the mole appeared in the kitchen, I immediately took up the audit in the cabinets. However, neither in the grains, nor in the flour did not find the pest. I didn’t even understand what was the matter then, until I opened a separate bag of walnuts. It was there that was a hotbed of moths. After I made everything in the trash, the pests were no longer observed. Cabinets and shelves in the kitchen are treated with soap and insect repeaters.

Miroslava, Omsk

And I, before putting in the kitchen table, bought groats at the market, disinfect it in the microwave. Then pour it into a glass jar and cover with a tight lid. But if the mole still appeared, it helps freezing the cereal in the freezer for a couple of days.

Natalia, Kirov