Clothes Moth Control

Conduct a thorough inspection. If you find yourself in the throes of a clothes moth infestation, it’s critical to locate the site of the main infestation. These are often located in areas like under rugs and in storage areas. Finding the main infestation site, unfortunately, doesn’t give you license to discontinue searching. The probability of finding areas of lesser infestations prohibit this. You’ll need to go over your entire home with a fine-tooth comb. Search every box and every tote in every closet and storage area. When searching basements, attics, and crawlspaces, be on the lookout for rodent/bird nests, as these, too, can house clothes moth infestations. If mounted deer heads, ducks, and/or other dead animals adorn your house, look those over, too.

Trash or treat infested items. Throw badly infested items away. It’s a quick way to get rid of clothes moths, larvae, and eggs. If you can’t bring yourself to toss them, and if it’s appropriate to do so, take them to be cleaned. Dry cleaning will kill clothes moths in any stage of life. If items can’t be dry cleaned, a vigorous shaking and brushing followed by a simple airing will kill moths and larvae and destroy eggs and cocoons. After shaking, brush everywhere, especially under cuffs, collars and other protected areas. After brushing, hang items in the sun. If larvae can’t find shelter from it, they’ll drop out. For killing clothes moths with heat and cold, see the Natural Clothes Moth Control section to the right.

Change your storage habits. The moment treatment for infested items has been completed, get those items properly stored. Keep items at risk of reinfestation in large zipper bags, plastic bags that you can tie closed and tape shut, cardboard boxes from non-infested areas that have had ALL seems sealed with packing tape, tightly closing chests, or plastic totes. To increase the efficiency of totes, affix strips of adhesive foam around the edges of the opening to create a tighter seal. Once the foam is on, attach the lids and tape them on so there are no gaps between the lids and the totes. Do the same for all at-risk stored items. Remove them from their current containers and get them stored properly.

Clean house. Once the items that clothes moths find most desirable have been made inaccessible, remove secondary food sources and laying grounds. This is done with simple, albeit time consumptive, cleaning. Because clothes moth larvae will eat animal and pet hair, dander, lint, and other organics, the vacuum cleaner is an indispensable tool for getting rid of clothes moths. Vacuum all floors, paying special attention to places where those things collect, like under furniture and furniture cushions, under baseboard heaters, cracks between floorboards, closet shelves, closet floors, drawers where fabrics are kept, vents, and air ducts. Because all animal products are fair game, make certain to find and remove any bird, rodent, bee, and wasp nests and carcasses and vacuum where they were.

Scatter diatomaceous earth. Diatomaceous earth (DE) is a very effective and natural clothes moth treatment product that can be picked up from most garden stores, many hardware stores, and many online retailers. This stuff is the powdered, fossilized remains of aquatic diatoms. While it’s relatively harmless to humans and pets (just wear a dust mask when applying), the sharp edges of the diatoms inflict minute lacerations on the bodies of numerous pests, including clothes moth larvae, that cause them to dry out and die. Use a hand duster to dust everywhere you cleaned and vacuumed. And when I say everywhere, I do mean everywhere: closets, drawers, shelves, under rugs, attics, crawlspaces . . . everywhere.

Purchase moth traps. Moth traps attract adult clothes moths with pheromones. Moths detect the pheromones, think they’re gonna get some booty, fly into the trap, get stuck in sticky goo, and die horribly. It’s fantastic. Moth traps aren’t usually enough to completely control clothes moth infestations, but they certainly help and they’re useful for monitoring the progress of your clothes moth extermination regimen. Place clothes moth traps in areas where infestations are worst. When purchasing traps, make sure you get the right trap for the right species of clothes moth (see left for identification). Look for NoSurvivor Traps or moth traps made by Safer, Pro-Pest, or BioCare.

Use moth repellents and fumigants. Most of us are familiar with moth balls. If you’re not, think back to the last time you gave your grandma a hug and concentrate on how she smells/used to smell. Got it? That’s mothballs. When used correctly, moth balls, be they made from the now less common napthalene or the recently more common PDB (p-Dichlorobenzene) actually work quite well both as moth repellents and moth fumigants. The thing is, you can’t expect them to be effective in large, open areas. Use moth balls in small enclosed areas like the tight-sealing totes you use to store items you want protected.