The principle of getting rid of clothes moths involve sorting out the clothes but also carrying out a round of moth treatment in the house. Think that clothes moths are flying insects and they basically eat animal fibres. So to them, your suit, or the wooden carpet below your bed may be as suitable as any other alternative.
The clothes moth infestation
The main issue with a clothes moths infestation is the fact that we often overlook it for a large period of time during which the moth larvae have time to cause extensive damage to our clothes. It is only once we wash our garments that we see the holes appear as a result of the loose wool fibres having been washed away.
One would argue that in most cases it is not a critical issue, but when the tiniest hole appears on the chest area of a suit, it deters greatly from the original purpose of a suit to give a sleep appearance to the wearer. So suddenly your favourite, possibly expensive suit becomes tacky and unsuitable.
There is that , and there is the fact that clothes moths can damage garments you mostly keep for sentimental value as well, or as ornaments. I recall that particular client in North London that had a large collection of hats, it would possibly only wear a few of them ever. They asked for a full moth heat treatment of their home in NW3, and they had the two most insane walking wardrobes.
It is only as I was halfway through the job that I started heat treating the hats and it was very clear that the hats that were high up were heavily damaged and had possibly been the caused of it all.
The second drawback of a clothes moth infestation is that they fly and soon infest other areas, and eventually find areas of the carpet that are suitable to them. Even though they would not actually cause significant damage to the carpet, the carpet would eventually serve as a reservoir of moth population and feed into a re-infestation process.
Use of moth killer and moth fumigation
There is a distinction that needs to be made when it comes to carrying out a moth treatment. There is the adult clothes moth that is readily exposed and flying about, and then there is the larvae and eggs that are more sheltered.
Use of fumigation only would allow to knock out the adult population of clothes moths mostly, possibly of the larvae as well, but it would pretty much leave the pupae and eggs unaffected. So to reach an acceptable level of control you would need multiple rounds of fumigations to deplete the stock of clothes moths and break the life cycle.
So It is critical to use residual moth killer in conjunction. Where fumigation is a more powerful technique, it has a very limited span of action, let’s say 15 minutes for argument’s sake. So once it dissipates, the next pupae or egg to hatch will survive and get on with it.
The residual moth killer is then essential to cover the time-lapse between visits. As it is sprayed on surfaces, as the moth larvae will crawl on it they will die, and as the adults will rest on it, they will die too.
Use of natural moth killer
The use of organic pest control products is widely available. We use organic products in our moth fumigation process all the time with great advantages and no downsides. Organic products normally have no residual activity, once they are dry, it’s out. So it is perfect to use as a gas formulation that would last for less than 15 minutes and much safer as the gas would go into your clothes and stuff as well.
However organic products are not the most indicated to use for spraying. It works beautifully as whatever the products touch will get destroyed, but past that initial knockdown effect, the remaining clothes moths and clothes moth larvae yet to hatch will be allowed to get on with what they do. So the chance of still having residual activity after 2 rounds of treatment is high.
Use of synthetic residual pesticides
Whenever given the opportunity, this will be my product of choice. The best tool for the best results. However there are concerns about its safe use, and I myself would not spray a toddler’s room with it.
Instead, I would advise my clients to use synthetic moth killer where appropriate, and use organic moth killer in the children’s room, or moth heat treatment.
Since a moth heat treatment is a very powerful technique, then it can be backed up with natural pest remedies and you would still achieve the best results.
How to get rid of moths in house
To get rid of moths house it will require for the client to go through their stuff to identify any areas that may be affected and ensure that no bit of infested rolled carpet is being overlooked.