Reasons and what to do if a moth starts up in walnuts
What to do if a moth starts up in walnuts? Every person faces such a problem in his life. Moth settles not only in them. It often affects cereals, flour, dried fruits, clothing, furs, and carpets. I want to save the product and get rid of the pest. If the walnuts were stored in the shell, then they can be saved.
Description of the pest
The butterfly is about 2 cm long. Belongs to the order Lepidoptera. The wings are brownish gray. There is a pair of antennae on the head. Has 2 pairs of legs. The insect lays eggs in cereals, dried fruits, flour and other places. The eggs are small, up to 0.5 mm in diameter, it is almost impossible to notice them. From them, larvae appear, which cause the main damage to products. After the larval stage, the moth transforms into a pupa and then into a butterfly.
Important! The main damage to products is caused by butterfly larvae.
Moth damage
The butterfly itself does not harm the walnut. She lays eggs in the bag, but does not feed on them. When the larvae hatch to the surface, they contaminate the surface of the shell with feces, chitinous particles. If the fruit is in the shell, then you can save it.
If kept clean, they will most likely have to be disposed of. The insect infects food at any time of the year.
Foods spoiled by moths can harm the human body:
- intoxication;
- poisoning;
- decreased immunity.
Causes and signs of appearance
Moths start in the kitchen for several reasons:
- bringing insect-infected food into the house;
- storing nuts in a room with high humidity;
- rare airing of the room;
- finding an open container next to the window, bringing in from neighbors.
To determine if there is a moth in the house, you need to pay attention to certain signs:
- a small butterfly flies in the apartment mainly in the evening;
- stirring is observed in cereals or nuts;
- detection of larvae in nuts;
- the larvae crawl onto the walls.
Important! Moles appear in places where old cereals, nuts or dried fruits are stored for a long time.
What to do if a mole starts up in walnuts
Don't wait for the moth to hit all the food in the house. As soon as the first signs appear, you need to immediately start fighting the insect. To completely exterminate the moth population, all affected products are initially thrown away, then containers and furniture are processed.
Chemicals
Chemicals are used to combat the butterfly not only in products, but also in carpets, clothing, and fur things. The most effective drugs are:
- Raptor.Apply to the surface of wooden furniture. The smell scares off butterflies;
- Armol. Spray used to treat furniture surfaces;
- Combat. They are used in hard-to-reach places where moths and their larvae are hidden;
- Antimol. Spray on fabrics and clothing that are near the insect's habitat.
The nuts themselves are not processed. You can save them only if the moth was discovered quickly and the nuts were in the shell. For this, the walnuts are washed in warm water, drained, and calcined in an oven at 100 ° C for 2 - 3 minutes.
Important! Chemicals are absorbed even through the dense shell of the fruit, they cannot be processed with them, this will lead to poisoning.
The use of folk methods
Folk remedies are suitable for those who do not want to resort to the use of chemicals. They are prepared on the basis of herbs, the smell of which is hard for the moth. The best recipes are:
- Bay leaf. This method serves not only to fight, but also to prevent moth infestation. Leaves are laid out in cabinets and containers where the insect has started.
- Traps are prepared from flour and boric acid. The ingredients are mixed in a ratio of 1: 3, then poured into a container and placed in a cabinet, where the larvae and adults fall.
- The walls of the cabinet and furniture, where the insect has wound up, are smeared with lavender or fir oil. In addition, dry branches of these plants can be placed in the shelves.
- The tobacco smell effectively repels moths. To do this, crumble a few cigarettes on a plate and put them in the room where the pest lives.
- Orange peel. After peeling the orange, it is laid out inside the furniture.
- To kill the eggs, they wipe the shelves with ammonia.
Important! Folk remedies not only relieve moths, but are also means of prevention.
Features of prevention
To prevent the appearance of moths in the apartment, preventive measures must be followed. This insect appears indoors at any time of the year. As soon as the conditions are optimal for her in the room, she immediately settles in cereals, dried fruits or nuts. To prevent infection you need:
- 2 times a year wipe the walls of kitchen furniture with food vinegar. The strong smell of the solution will be partially absorbed into the furniture and scare away the pest.
- Do not create clutter in the room. Clean up and sort out periodic old things. Throw away and remove old clothes, spoiled dried fruits, old cereals.
- Go through the nut, throw away the damaged ones.
- For storage of cereals, dried fruits and other products, you need to use containers with tight lids. This will create an additional vacuum and keep insects out. If they appeared in such a jar, then the fruits were already infected.
- Wipe the walls of the cabinet with ammonia.
- Dry food is calcined once a year in an oven at 100 ° C.
- Plant leaves are placed in cabinets and on shelves, which scare away butterflies.
