Is your kitchen infested with tiny little brown pantry moths? Ever tried to kill them?  Kill one and two take its place. Kill two more, and then there are three.  It is an endless cycle and, sadly, could start to feel like the moths are winning! So, what are these little creatures and why are they living in your kitchen?

Pantry moths got that name for the obvious reason that they live in pantries and kitchen cupboards. I can think of a few more choice names for them…including “The Pests from the Pit of You-Know-Where.” Weren’t they one of the plagues of Egypt? They had to be!

Having had way too much familiarity with them, I decided to learn more about them. Pantry moths most often feed off of grains and cereals, though I’ve found them in the most peculiar places including tea bags. (Maybe they were running out of ideas?) Another name for these moths, by the way,  is “Indian Meal Moths.”

One of the reasons that they are so hard to get rid of permanently is their life cycle. The first time that you notice them is likely to be when they are flying around your kitchen. Unfortunately, they’d already set up shop a while ago in your kitchen cupboards and drawers, planning on a long stay.

Pantry moths lay eggs…lots of them. Each moth may lay up to 300 eggs at a given time. That will soon be 300 moths, if they have their way! Yikes! From a few days to two weeks later, larvae emerge from those eggs. Larvae have no social graces and will show up where and when you least expect it. Can I tell you that, horrifyingly,  one fell from the ceiling onto my kitchen table?

Cleanliness is a great start. We can all be in a hurry and, sometimes, leave a counter with crumbs– but that isn’t the best practice. Clean up counters and table-tops after meals and snacks. Sweep the kitchen floor, as well. Don’t give them things to feed on.

 

The cupboards tend to be the breeding ground. Cleaning cupboards is a long, tedious job and we all lead busy lives. That may explain why more people are complaining about moth infestation than ever. We just don’t have the time. But, once you’ve got moths, your time is going to be taken up by trying to get rid of them and, trust me, you’ll hate every minute of it.

As you are swatting at them, you’ll see the wisdom in spring and fall cleaning! Yes, every spring and every fall our moms [and grandmas] would empty the cupboards and this is what they would do:

• They threw out expired food.
• Checked the current food for freshness. Stale? It went in the trash, too.
• Washed the cupboards: shelves, sides, ceilings. Yes. ALL of it.
• Put down shelf paper.   What’s that? Shelf paper is literally paper that lays on the shelf and looks pretty. But it’s functional, too. It can be thrown away with the next cleaning or if there is a spill.
• And, finally, replaced the old food with new food, in air-tight containers.

Another tip: your kitchen cupboards, themselves, may be making it all-too-easy for the moths to stay. If the cupboards are not flush to the wall, or do not go up to the ceiling, then there are a lot of hiding places that you’ll never get at no matter how well you clean.

First: get busy and do the “spring or fall cleaning” routine. Forget waiting for the right time of year. Do it now. Empty the cupboards and toss all the infested food out. Play it safe. Don’t try to hang onto anything questionable. You can get more food.

 

Unless it’s canned soup or tuna, most things will probably have to go. Cereal, mashed potatoes, pancake mix, rice, pasta, packaged mixes like cake mix, tea bags.  Say “goodbye” to it all.

 

Now, scrub! Use lots of soapy hot water to clean those cupboards. Look out…you’ll run into live moths and larvae. This is combat! Be brave. If you find little webs in corners, know that that is where eggs are. Clean it out thoroughly.

Dry: using lots of paper towel, dry the cupboards out.

The only thing that I have found to work, and work FABULOUSLY, is a moth trap.

Desperate, having been under siege for well over a month, I stopped trying home remedies and began to search the internet. The chats and forums all were saying that moth traps were the only thing that actually works.

So, I found a highly recommended brand — Catchmaster –– and called the local home improvement store. They did not have any in stock. I knew that Amazon shipped quickly, so found them online and I placed my order for two packs immediately.  Till then, I kept on squirting the little varmints out of the air with glass cleaner until, to my relief,  the order arrived.

 

The traps are easy to assemble and non-toxic. They are small little tents. I was skeptical that just one trap could do much but I was utterly amazed to watch it work. Literally 30 seconds after I had the trap assembled, the first moth flew into it and got stuck. Then two more arrived. Whoosh. They were gone, caught in its proverbial jaws.