We have taken the organic approach to pest control over the last few years only spraying the yard with cedar oil a couple of years ago when the chiggers were eating us up. I almost changed my tune recently and have no shame in it. We have been invaded by pantry moths and I am beside myself. I have 2 pantries in the house and the originally invaded one held cereal and snack foods. I went through everything and threw out a bunch of stuff that appeared contaminated. I then scrubbed the shelves and decided not to buy any more stuff until what was left was consumed. I only had a couple of moths after that and thought we were past it....until yesterday. I opened up the pantry where I keep my staples and canned goods and there were about 10 moths on the roof of the cabinet. I went crazy smashing them all and pulling out everything. The only thing I could find them in was some risotto that I received in trade and I hope that is not what brought them in the house. The container they were in was also a sealed canister so not sure how they started. The 2 moths that were in there could not get back out. I left them in the canister until Phillip made it back home with pheromone traps as this is what the pest control guy at my work recommended. As of this morning the traps were still empty. The pheromone disc is supposed to last for 1 month and I am tempted to leave them in the cabinets that long to make sure I catch every last one of them. In the mean time I have cleaned out all the pantries and washed the shelves. I also washed the shelf liner and have not put it back in yet.
This drama has also led me to do another pantry challenge as I was getting a bit overstocked anyway. I took pictures of the staples and canned goods all over the counter yesterday, it is amazing how much I had in there.
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