Unfortunately, they are sometimes found in muesli and trail mix - we will show you how to successfully combat and prevent the dried fruit moth.
The storage pest is widespread and many of us have already encountered the dried fruit moth (Plodia interpunctella). Especially in the kitchen, you can always find traces of the pest in the supplies, which is why you should always be careful when storing food.
The dried fruit moth is also known as the house moth or storage moth and is one of the moths among the butterflies (Pyralidae). Originally, the dried fruit moth probably comes from the Middle East or the Mediterranean. It was brought to Europe by trade as early as the 19th century and has since spread to households and the food industry.
Dried Fruit Moth: Wanted Poster
The adult dried fruit moth has a wingspan of 13 to 20 millimeters and its body is 4 to 10 millimeters in size. The wings of the dried fruit moth are colored light gray to yellow-grey at the base, the remaining, rear part of the wings is darker copper-red in color.
Adult dried fruit moths stop feeding during their two-week lifespan. During this time, the females lay up to 300 eggs, which are approximately 0.5 millimeters in diameter. The females prefer quiet and sheltered places where their children are well supplied with food. So the choice often falls on our food, especially of course on easily accessible packaging that stands around undisturbed and forgotten in the back of the cupboard. After three to four days, caterpillars hatch from the eggs, which can be very differently colored. These larvae molt up to five times and reach a length of up to 17 millimeters by the end of their development.
The larvae like to hide in webs and then pupate after some time outside of their food supply. During their development, the caterpillars eat, form webs and contaminate the food with their droppingswhich they develop. Food such as nuts, cereals, pasta, tea, dried fruit, legumes and much more are often attacked by the dried fruit moths. Due to their wide food spectrum, they colonize many of our stocks and are a serious pest of stored products due to their high cold tolerance and robustness.
Dehydrated fruit moths take about a month to develop at a temperature of 30 °C. When the temperature drops to 20 °C, the entire development of dried fruit moths takes more than 70 days. In Central Europe, the small pests manage to train two generations a year. Even more can develop in warmer regions.
The dried robin moth particularly likes to use these foods as a nursery: Nuts, cocoa, chocolate, dried fruit, grain products such as flour, semolina, pasta or oatmeal, tea and coffee, spices, m alt and legumes. In rare cases, even fresh fruit is affected.
Recognizing dried fruit moths
Since the larvae of the dried fruit moth produce webs, solid clumps of webs and silvery, shiny webs are an important indicator of a dried fruit moth infestation. When food becomes heavily infested, the entire product is streaked with larval webs, clumped together and contaminated by larval droppings.
The larvae of the dried fruit moth are whitish in color and may have a reddish and greenish tint. The head of the larvae is also brown and the entire body has a greasy shine.
Pheromone traps help with early and reliable infestation detection. Our Plantura food moth traps are provided with an attractant that only attracts male food moths. Pheromones are sex attractants that are naturally secreted by females to attract male moths to mate. With our traps, however, instead of a female willing to mate, the males expect a glue-coated board to which they stick. Pheromone traps therefore help to detect an infestation with food moths at an early stage. The moth traps can also be used for monitoring during the fight and show how many moths are still on the move.
Important: Since some males always escape the traps and mate with flying females, moth traps are not a control method - they can only reduce the number of male moths. For infestation detection and monitoring, ourHowever, food moth traps are the best option. You can find out how to reliably get a moth infestation under control further down in the article.
Prevention of dried fruit moths
Infestation with dried fruit moths is most often caused by already infested and damaged food in your household. However, in rare cases it is also possible for the dried fruit moths to fly in through open windows. Therefore, when buying groceries, check the packaging for small holes and damage, regardless of whether the packaging is made of paper or plastic.
At home, you should make sure that your pantry is clean and regularly check your cupboards and shelves for dried fruit moth infestations. To safely store your groceries at home, it's a good idea to use thick plastic, glass, or ceramic storage containers that seal tightly. Because even through screw caps - without a seal - young larvae can get into the vessels.
When it comes to storage, follow the tried-and-tested advice and always store your food in a cool place, because dried fruit moths don't particularly like the cold.
Certain essential oils have a deterrent effect on dried fruit moths and you can set up essential oil scented lamps to repel the pests. Peppermint, lavender, aniseed, geranium, lemon, cedar, orange or eucalyptus have such a repellent effect. These also spread a pleasant scent in your storage rooms.
Summary Prevention of dried fruit moths:
- Check food packaging for holes and damage when you buy it
- Cleanliness in pantries
- Use airtight glass or thick plastic storage containers
- Cool Storage
- Use Essential Oils
Fighting dried fruit moths
If the dried fruit moth has found its way into your kitchen or pantry, you should declare war on the moth as soon as possible.
If you find heavily infested food in your kitchen, put it in a garbage bag immediately, seal it tightly and dispose of it outside your home immediately. You should then check all of your stored food for an infestation and thoroughly clean your pantry. It is best to clean all cracks and corners with a vacuum cleanerthoroughly and clean all surfaces conscientiously with vinegar-based cleaner. If you are not sure whether some foods are infested, you can freeze them for two to three days or heat them up in the oven at 60 to 70 °C for an hour.
Chemical control of dried fruit moths
Chemical control agents such as moth sprays almost always contain substances that are also toxic or irritating to humans and animals. For example, even small amounts of the common ingredient permithrin can be fatal to cats. Nobody really wants to have these kinds of ingredients in their kitchen. Luckily, it can also be controlled using biological methods with beneficial insects, because the use of these shows great success and the pests are combated in a natural way.
Biological control of dried fruit moths with beneficial insects and household remedies
Dried fruit moths can also be successfully combated with the help of beneficial insects. Our Plantura parasitic wasps against food moths are particularly suitable for this. Parasitic wasps have long ovipositors with which they lay their eggs in the eggs of the dried fruit moth and thus parasitize them. After hatching, the larva of the parasitic wasp feeds on the egg of the dried fruit moth and develops into an adult parasitic wasp. This starts the cycle of parasitization again. But don't worry - parasitic wasps can neither sting nor fly and are harmless to humans and pets.
The braconid wasp (Habrobracon hebetor) or the chalcid wasp (Trichogramma evanescens) ) used. These beneficial insects are also used against other moths, such as the flour moth (Ephestia kuehniella) or the store moth (Ephestia elutella).
Tip: Even if moth traps are not suitable for complete control, we recommend installing additional moth traps such as our Plantura food moth traps during the control period. Thanks to this, the infestation numbers can be monitored and the final control success can be recognized.
Control of dried fruit moths:
- Remove infested food as soon as possible, check all your supplies for an infestation and clean your pantry thoroughly.
- Chemicals are effective, but often also contain substances that are toxic to humans and animalsFabrics.
- For a successful fight against dried fruit moths, it is worth using beneficial scaly or braconid wasps, for example our Plantura parasitic wasps against food moths.
- Pheromone traps such as our food moth traps are used to monitor infestation and show whether control is working and when the infestation has been averted.
For more information on controlling moths with parasitic wasps, see our special article.