It happened all of a sudden it seemed – these little moths flittering and wobbling around mainly in the evening and settling and resting mainly on the ceiling during the day. I had never seen them before, but they were here now. And where did they come from I knew not then, but I now know. I have learned much on how they live and what they do and what everyone must do to avoid these moth infestations and food losses.
Insects Are Prolific and Highly-Successful Animals and Indian Meal-Pantry Moths Are Just That
In case you did not know, insects are the most prolific and successful of all the known animals on this planet. No need to say anything else about numbers. Some insects such as butterflies are nice, beautiful, helpful and non-threatening. Other insects are very unwelcome guests inside and outside the house. Many insects, both commonly- and uncommonly-known, can cause tremendous damage and financial loss to all sorts of crops such as trees, vegetables and flowering plants.
Insect damage is not exclusively visited upon live vegetation alone – it also involves stored foods including grains, cereals, dried fruits and nuts, birdseed and dried pet foods and this brings us to the story of Indian Meal Moths and meal moths in general. These are small, prolific reproducers, highly-successful and destructive food insects.
Food Preferences & Diets of Meal-Pantry Moths Help Us Find and Manage Home Infestations
Yes, insects like to eat too and they can get inside of packages and boxes of stored and dried foods, even those that most people think are well-sealed. For example, some pancake and flour mixes are not sealed in plastic wrapping – the product is in a sealed box which may have an imperfection that allows these thin moths to travel inside and lay eggs in the food which will produce small worm-like larvae that eat the dry food. Yes, these larvae have sufficient food moisture there in that dry box or container to keep them alive, well and prospering. One can only marvel at meal moths larvae for their broad and good appetites. There is such a large and diverse assortment of potential food resources for them to taste and consume voraciously: grains of oat, wheat, barley, rice, dry cereals and meals, dried fruits and nuts, granola, chocolate, coca and dry soup mixes.
Check the photos below to see if you have some of these very small nighttime moths which flitter about your house, especially in the kitchen and pantry areas.
Meal-Pantry Moths Need to Be Found and Identified Before You Can Control and Manage Them
Meal moths may gain entrance into any package that is not properly sealed. In the author's household the moths invaded several boxes of dry cereal, some flour and pancake mixes and some dry soup mixes. Where was the original source of infestation? The moths had come inside a bag of birdseed purchased from a Wal-Mart store. In fact, upon a later visit to the store, these grain moths were flying around and were inside some of the merchant's birdseed bags.
Control and Management of Meal Moth Infestations Is Fairly Easy
Control is accomplished in part by removing all contaminated food from pantries and shelves and thoroughly inspecting the pantry and shelves and the outside of all boxes for any free larvae or resting pupae (see photo below). Opened boxes may reveal food that,, when gently shaken from the container, is connected and linked by silky, tangled webs of moth fibers – a strong tell-tale sign of an infestation. Moths that escape from an opened package are another important sign. Cereal flakes or grains often are seen linked or sticking together by means of small, whitish or gray, glue-like threads.
Larvae are very small and difficult to detect. Remember again that some moths may be present and escape and take off in search of more food sources, so be careful when inspecting the opened food containers and packages. If possible do inspections outside the house on a porch or patio where adults cannot reinvade the food. There is no need to throw out all the food, just the obviously-contaminated food. When all the packages have been inspected, the bad ones can be sorted out and then bagged and wrapped tightly for immediate disposal outside or, if you have a garden, the spoiled food may dumped into a large hole at least several inches deep, followed by covering the hole with dirt. This method can serve as a good underground mulch for nearby plant roots.
Remember to swab and wipe clean all the shelves of any webs and any free larvae, pupae or adult moths which may easily hide in crevices or cracks or behind shelves. Yes, this is all tedious and a big chore, but a single fertilized female may lay up to 200 eggs in one sitting so beware. And one contaminated package may lead to infestation of many others.
Sticky pheromone traps are available for purchase that attract the male moths only and help collect them. During the day the very small moths usually rest on the ceiling and may be captured with a hose extension and vacuum. After cleanup and a month's passage there should be no more moths.
If the adult meal moths are still around beyond a month, then there may well be some other infested food that has to be found. Sometimes several attempts are needed before all the sources of these moths are discovered and removed.
Sources
Lyon, W.F. "Indianmeal Moth." Accessed at Ohio State University, Entomology. Accessed 24 November, 2011 @ ohioline.osu.edu
Penn State University, Entomology. "Angoumois Meal Moth." Accessed 24 November, 2011 @ ento.psu.edu
Donald Reinhardt - Think, read, write & live well always. DJR has a PhD in Biology/Microbiology & is a Fellow & Diplomate, ASM Amer Acad Micro.
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