Community Chat

[judy0330]

We have been getting them too -- for the first time ever.  Tiny moths.  For us it has been one of two every few days which is making me crazy enough.  They almost always show up later at night -- often when I am reading in bed on my iPad and they are attracted by the light.  We had a professional exterminator here twice.  I haven't seen any for a few days.  Question:  Has anybody had any damage from them?  As far as I know we have not.  No holes in clothing -- etc.  I have all of my sweaters moved into sweater bags for now but have seen no evidence of them attacking clothing.

[ROMARY]

From what I've heard, moths dislike lavender.

For closets and drawers, make sachets from bulk lavender seeds (or whatever they're called).

Don't put directly on fine clothing, just in case. 

Worked for me years ago.

No more moths in closets, so far.

[Seashell girl]

I work at a hardware store.  We have moths in our store due to the bird seed we sell.  They hatch in the seed and invade our store.  Just a tip...do not store bird seed in the house.  Just a thought

[SeaMaiden]

---

@Seashell girl wrote:

I work at a hardware store.  We have moths in our store due to the bird seed we sell.  They hatch in the seed and invade our store.  Just a tip...do not store bird seed in the house.  Just a thought

---

I order millet on the stalk  in 5 pound bags for  my  inside birds.  I learned  after going through a moth invasion, to always freeze in my big freezer the 5 pound bag of millet for 24 hours to kill any eggs and or moths in the millet.  I also freeze any bird seed I buy for 24 hours.  

I have not had a moth problem since  freezing te millet and seed. 

[shoekitty]

Peppermint oil on a cotton ball .  Or stick whole sticks of spearmint gum around area.  The peppermint oil works fast.  I bought a bottle online.  Make sure it is pure 100%   I used it inside and out.  I actually sprayed it in areas I wanted to detour racoons.   

[Tinkrbl44]

Thanks for the tips .....  haven't been able to figure out where they are coming from!   

[Imaoldhippie]

IMO you need to repot your plant with all new potting soil and get an aphid/bug killer for plants and spray that plant on both sides of the leaves.  I think when you put the plant ouside for the summer moths lay their eggs in the soil and on the underside of the leaves.  Or you might consider getting rid of the plant.

[CelticCrafter]

---

@Imaoldhippie wrote:

IMO you need to repot your plant with all new potting soil and get an aphid/bug killer for plants and spray that plant on both sides of the leaves.  I think when you put the plant ouside for the summer moths lay their eggs in the soil and on the underside of the leaves.  Or you might consider getting rid of the plant.

---

This is what I thought.  I would also try to rinse off  as much soil as you can from the roots.

Maybe they or their eggs were dormant all winter.

[Kalli]

A relative had emergency surgery so I’m just getting back here now. Thank you for all your responses! At least I have strategies now to try and no longer feel totally helpless!

With regard to this plant, I don’t want to get rid of it unless there’s no other choice. We’ve had it for so many years, it started out pretty small and now has a trunk that’s 6” in circumference.  It’s probably 15’ high and heavy so not that easy to dig out the soil.  The only reason I put it outside last summer (took both of us to carry it) was because the moths seemed to center on the plant. It had never been outside before that and clearly didn’t react well to being out.