Stomp, smash, swat, scrub

A few years ago someone brought a bag of flour to my house. It was infested with pantry moths, plodia interpunctella—also called Indianmeal moth, North American High Flyer, and Weevil Moth.

If you’ve ever had an infestation, you know how persistent this moth–and its larvae and webbing–can be.

After months of smashing and swatting moths, then finding a nasty weave of webbing in bags of flour and other grains, I rolled up my sleeves and got serious.

I threw away everything in my pantry cupboards that wasn’t tightly sealed in glass jars or tins. I tossed all of the old shelf lining and scrubbed thoroughly. This pretty much worked. Weeks passed and I only saw one moth. It turns out, that’s all you need to see to still have a problem.

Sure enough, as the weeks passed, more moths.

A friend gave me several moth traps–basically a sticky surface infused with a substance that attracts the moths. This was effective–combined with a second round of cleaning.

So, now, five years later, why am I writing about pantry moths? Well, they’re back. I’m about to go at it again. The beginning of Spring cleaning.

If you have a pantry moth problem, here’s a handy Wikipedia guide to what needs to be done.

Good luck. They’re persistent little buggers.