Mole in walnuts: what to do, causes and ways to fight, prevention

What to do if moths start up in walnuts? Every person faces this problem in their life. Moth settles not only in them. Often it affects cereals, flour, dried fruits, clothes, furs, carpets. I want to save the product and get rid of the pest. If the walnuts were stored in their shells, then you can save them.

Description of the pest

Butterfly is about 2 cm long. Belongs to the order Lepidoptera. Wings brown-grey. 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 develops into a chrysalis and then into a butterfly.

Important! Butterfly larvae cause the main damage to products.

Moth damage

The butterfly itself does not harm the walnut. She lays eggs in a 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 they are kept cleaned, then most likely they will have to be disposed of. The insect infects food at any time of the year.

Products spoiled by moths can harm the human body:

• intoxication;
• poisoning;
• lowered immunity.

Causes and signs of appearance

Moth in the kitchen starts up for several reasons:

• bringing food contaminated with insects into the home;
• storing nuts indoors with high humidity;
• rare airing of the room;
• finding an open container next to the window, entering from neighbors.

To determine if there is a mole in the house, you need to pay attention to certain signs:

• a small butterfly flies in the apartment mainly in the evening;
• there is movement in cereals or nuts;
• detection of larvae in nuts;
• larvae crawl onto walls.

Important! Moth appears in places where old cereals, nuts or dried fruits are stored for a long time.

What to do if moths start up in walnuts

Don't wait until the moth hits all the products in the house. As soon as the first signs appear, you must immediately begin the fight against the insect. To completely exterminate the moth population, all affected products are initially thrown away, then containers and furniture are processed.

Chemicals

Chemical agents are used to fight the butterfly not only in products, but also in carpets, clothes, furs. The most effective drugs are:

• Raptor. Apply to the surface of wooden furniture. The smell repels butterflies;
• Armol. Spray on furniture surfaces;
• Combat. Used in hard-to-reach places where moths and their larvae are hidden;
• Antimol. Spray fabrics and clothing that are near the habitat of the insect.

The nuts themselves are not treated with means. You can save them only if the moth was found quickly and the nuts were in the shell. To do this, walnuts are washed in warm water, drained, and calcined in the oven at 100 ° C for 2 - 3 minutes.

Important! Chemicals are absorbed even through the dense shell of the fruit, it is impossible to process food with them, this will lead to poisoning.

Using folk methods

Folk remedies, 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 moths to tolerate. The best recipes are:

• Bay leaf. This method serves not only as a fight, but also as a prevention of moth infection. Leaves are laid out in cabinets and containers where the insect has started.
• Prepare traps 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 larvae and adults get.
• The walls of the cabinet and furniture, where the insect started, are smeared with lavender or fir oil. In addition, dry branches of these plants can be laid out on the shelves.
• Tobacco smell effectively repels moths. To do this, they crush several 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 eggs, wipe the shelves with ammonia.

Important! Folk remedies not only get rid of moths, but are also means of prevention.

Peculiarities of prevention

To prevent the appearance of moths in the apartment, you need to follow preventive measures. This insect appears indoors at any time of the year. As soon as optimal conditions for her are created indoors, 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 pungent smell of the solution will partially be 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 dispose of old clothes, spoiled dried fruits, old cereals.
• To sort a nut, throw away damaged ones.
• To store cereals, dried fruits and other products, 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 cabinet walls with ammonia.
• Dry foods are calcined once a year in the oven at 100°C.
• The leaves of plants are laid out in cabinets and on shelves, which repel butterflies.

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