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It is also possible for you to bring them into your home unknowingly. Sometimes, weevils may already be hiding in the foods or packaging you bought from the grocery store. However they get in, once they're in, they can start mating and multiplying and quickly take over several other items in your pantry.
Meal Planning 101: Why You Should and How to Start
Open the doors to your pantry or cabinets to let the space dry, and give everything a close look over. If unsure if the weevils have been eliminated, clean the surfaces again with soapy water. Root weevils differ from granary weevils and are often found outside on a plant or in the soil. These garden weevils, such as the black vine weevil or the strawberry root weevil, are not a threat to your pantry.
How to Kill Weevils with White Vinegar
Assume that, if the container is not airtight, your smaller weevil species will be able to slip in the gaps. Also, don’t forget that you have to dump the contents of your vacuum canister or bag well away from your house, otherwise surviving creatures and their eggs might persist. I like to take it outside and empty it into a separate bag before tying it off and then putting that in the trash can. Once that is done, clean all of the surfaces with a strong antibacterial and antiseptic wash. Any food that is unsecured or, especially, sitting around in flimsy paper factory packaging or coarse cloth bags might as well be rolling out the red carpet for weevils. Yes, you always want to be prepared for tough times, or at the very least, you don’t want to lose or waste the food you work so hard for.
Clean the Area
Weevils make their way into your home from the yard, or more commonly, inside packaged foods or other bulk products. Weevil eggs are practically invisible so you won’t realize the foods are infested. Typically – as in our case – they infest grains and starches such as pasta, cereals, flour, rice, and, of course, wheat. A weevil is part of the beetle family and they are tiny bugs that are practically invisible to the naked eye until fully grown. There are various types of weevils, and the kind that invades your pantry feed on dry goods such as grains, rice, beans, cereals, seeds, nuts and more.
Freeze Your Flour
Keep them in the freezer for a minimum of four days to kill weevil eggs that are not visible to the naked eye. Place a few pheromone traps in areas around your pantry and near your food. The traps lure the weevils where they get trapped in a sticky substance. Check the traps periodically for insects to determine if there is weevil activity, and replace them once they are full. Like many other creatures, weevils are attracted to a specific pheromone scent. Using a trap laced with this smell is a great way to get rid of these insects.
Empty the vacuum debris into the garbage and take it to the outside trash can. Weevils are slender oval insects that range in size depending on species. Some are only three millimeters long, while others grow up to 10 millimeters. They are brown to black and have an elongated head with a snout. In addition, there are several natural insecticides that are non-toxic that you can purchase online.
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How Weevils Get In Your Food
This is because weevils, like most living things, have body odor! You cannot smell one just walking around in the open, but put a bunch of them in a confined space and you’ll soon have a nasty smell building up. It’s good to go for the kill when you spot them in these places, but they will otherwise wander back out on their own.
‘Look, buy, store, cook’
Always thoroughly read and carefully follow all label directions, even for products labeled as "organic" or "non-toxic." Lisa Jo Lupo is a pest control expert with over 25 years of experience in the pest control industry, writing about pest identification and management. In the winter, the living space of a home is warmer than the attic or the crawl space. When they get into the warm environment of the home, the weevils start to act as if it is springtime. Many of the weevils that invade a home spend the winter behind the insulation inside the walls. The attic, the garage and the crawl space are also common winter hiding places for weevils.
Household insects
Weevils are not harmful to humans, pets, houses, furniture, or clothing and don’t carry any diseases. They are temporary nuisance pests that damage stored food products. If weevils infest a garden or field, they can damage plants and reduce crop yields. Remove all your food from the pantry and dispose of grain with weevils outside. Place infested food items you’d like to save in a sealed bag and freeze them to destroy the bugs.
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Take care to vacuum on top and underneath each shelf, along the floors and walls, and inside any cracks or crevices in the pantry. Weevils can be good hiders, and you don't want to leave any behind. When freezing infested food, it is important to ensure your freezer is set to 0 degrees or colder. The affected items should be promptly placed in the freezer.
Many insects hate the smell, and some work better than others to keep weevils out of your pantry. Get a cleaning cloth wet with warm water and a couple of drops of dish soap. Clean the top and bottom of each shelf with the soapy water, along with the back and sides of the cabinet.
Put a few bay leaves in your dried food containers, and place several cloves of garlic around your pantry to deter these bugs from your kitchen and food storage. These methods should ward off weevils from making homes in your dried goods and pantry. There are dozens of thousands of species of weevils found worldwide, but all of them will destroy plants and, especially, stored grains and other foods. A major infestation can ruin all of the food in your house, but you don’t have to let it go that far.
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