Natural wool moth control

I have an issue with wool moths in my house.  I have heard of this:

1.6 oz borax, .8 oz boric acid, and 1 quart water, mist both sides with this.  Some of the weavers in our area swear by this.

Aside from dragging my rugs outside in the winter when it is going to freeze for a couple nights in  a row (yes that is my winter chore every year lol) does anyone else have any experiences to share?

Sandy

I do not have enough of my own wool clothing to have to deal with issues, like protecting them from moths, but some other people appear to have success using lavender, cedar, and other natural moth repellents. Some other remedies appear to include cinnamon, bay leaves, and indian lilac.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tAeegX-VM0k

 

The easiest way to get rid of moths is prevention and isolation.  Probably the best prevention is to use the woollens as frequently as possible and expose them to sunlight for a few hours at least once a week.  

As for isolation, this time of year, I give my woollens a wash (or time outside in the sun if they are too large to wash like a rug) and dry them in the sun.  Cloth moths hate the sun!  When completely dry, I package them up in small batches in insect-proof packaging (like a vacuum pack) until the winter.  If I'm storing them for more than a few months, I use a mixture of 1 part borax, 9 parts diatomaceous earth and sprinkle liberally on the cloth before putting them in a moth-proof bag.  Borax is a biocide and some sources suggest it is toxic if enough of it comes in contact with humans over time, so I make sure to wash the wool cloth when it comes out of storage before it is used.

Borax will discourage moths, but in my experiments, it only kills 80% of the bugs, leaving the next generation resistant to borax.  

In my experiments, diatomaceous earth killed 100% of the bugs that it came in contact with, but it needed to come in contact with them and moth 'worms' are tricky buggers as they create a cocoon house they live in while eating.  

I made a bunch of lavender wands this year.



the idea behind this trick is that the clean wool won't give off much smell, so putting a stronger smell that moths don't like with the wool will discourage the moths from hanging out in the clothing.  

I don't know if it actually works, but it seems worth a try.  

r ranson wrote:I made a bunch of lavender wands this year.  

Oh, those are absolutely gorgeous! I saw tutorials for them in Faerie Magazine/Enchanted Living a year or two ago. Beautifully done!
Let us know if they're effective?

Trichogramma wasps are very effective. You can buy their eggs online and let them hatch in your house. They’re very tiny and you won’t even know that they’re there. Around half a millimeter long. They lay their eggs on the moth eggs which the newly hatched wasps will feast on. When the moths are all gone the wasps will move on.

I used to have some cedar pellets or disc in a mesh bag to hang in the closet.

I have always had family member who had cedar closets or cedar chests.

When I was growing up my mom would have blocks of incense cedar to put in our woolen drawers. Blankets were stored in cedar chests.  

I grew a bunch of mugwort and used it dried in bundles for long term woolen storage.

When I shear my sheep, I put diatomaceous earth in the bag with the raw fleece.  Sometimes I don’t get around to processing the fleece for a couple years and this seems to work really well.

Samantha Lewis wrote:When I was growing up my mom would have blocks of incense cedar to put in our woolen drawers. Blankets were stored in cedar chests.  

I grew a bunch of mugwort and used it dried in bundles for long term woolen storage.

When I shear my sheep, I put diatomaceous earth in the bag with the raw fleece.  Sometimes I don’t get around to processing the fleece for a couple years and this seems to work really well.

That sounds like a really practical system. It’s great how you’ve used natural methods over the years, and it’s impressive that your fleece stays well preserved even after a couple of years.

Hello There,

My mother swore by camphor chests, not an easy wood to find.
I have been able to find camphor tablets in the UK, in Indian and Pakistani corner shops. They do look like naphtalene, which grannies used, but the smell is very differenti.
The santoloina plant could be useful, not sure and very recently, I heard that horse chestnut is miraculous at keeping food and cloths moths away.
Make an opening with a corkscrew in the chestnuts and chuck them in bags, cupboards, wherever.
I haven`t tested this method yet, have to wait till the autumn to harvest said nuts in mate`s garden.

Thanks for reminder of the methods above.
Blessings
M-H