Due to the insect problem people have started storing their all foods in glass or plastic zip top bags. But grain weevils also called granary weevils or wheat weevils can chew through paper and plastic packaging. That’s how they got out of the wheatberries other thing and go into the rest of the kitchen. On the other hand, a female weevil lays eggs inside a grain kernel and she can do this up to 254 times. The eggs hatch and for one to five months depends on the season, the larvae live inside and feed the kernel as it grows. Upon reaching the adulthood the weevil emerges form kernel to mate and look for new grains to invade. You can take these steps to get rid of weevils.
Ways to Get Rid of Weevils:
1.) Remove Contaminated Food Product
This sounds like no brainer but this could be the single most important step to get rid of weevils. Look through your entire pantry and every single cupboard for any food products that can be contaminated. If you find something that you are not sure about, throw it because there is no point of risking reinfestation. As it could be very well cost you more money in the long run. Once you have gathered all the contaminated material, take it outside to trash immediately and move the can as far away from your house as possible.
2.) Put a Cinderella to Get Rid of Weevils
Do the most thorough cleaning of your cupboards and pantry that you have ever done. Start it by taking absolutely everything off the shelves and vacuum them. Make sure to get all the cracks where flour or other foods might be hiding. If you have contact paper lining the shelves then remove it. Use a rag and some hot sudsy water to do the rest of the cleaning.
3.) Cold to Kill Weevils
To avoid the future problem with weevils, it is advisable to freeze your food. You can do this to oats, flour, cookies, grits, corn meal etc. if you have space in your freezer, then you should keep the stuff in there for a full time. if you have a small freezer and you cant afford the space, so set the freezer as cold as it can and leave the food in there for at least four days. This will kill any larvae, eggs or weevil present there.
4.) Heat to Get Rid of Weevils
If you don’t feel like to freeze everything, then a little heat exposure can accomplish the same thing. You need to spread your foods or seeds thinly on the baking sheet, preheat the oven on 120 degrees F, and leave it there for about one hour. If you are impatient so you can keep it at 130 degrees F for half hour. If you want to use the microwave, so spread the stuff on a glass dish or plate and run it for about 5 minutes. keep in mind that if you are heating the seeds for gardening, the heat might destroy the seeds chances for germination. Keep in mind, don’t heat the fine grained things like flour, in the case of combustion.
5.) Bay or Neem leaves
Bay is considered as one of the best remedies to get rid of weevils. You can put neem or bay leaves inside loose flour in a container that are more prone to contamination.
6.) Cloves to Prevent Weevils
Using cloves is a great idea if you are living alone and facing weevil problem for the first time. cloves are widely available and will help to fight off the weevil and also avoid their infestation. You can also sprinkle some cloves around pantry area and cupboard shelves.
7.) Matchbox to Get Rid of Weevils
This sound weird but it is a great way to repel the weevils as matchbox contain sulfur and it is not liked by the weevils. Keep the matchbox open near the grains and weevils will not be seen there. You can also keep small bags of black pepper in your pantry.
8.) Keep the Infested Grains in Sunlight
If you find out that a large quantity of flour has been attacked by weevils, you just simply need to keep it in the sunlight. This will shoo them away as these bugs do not like the sunlight and will look for a moist and dark place to hide. Keep the contaminated flour in the sunlight for a day and you will get rid of weevils easily.
9.) Use flour Regularly
Leaving the flour in the pantry for too long will encourage the pest infestation. The faster it will be used the fresher it is, and there will be less chances for the infestation.
- Buy only the amount of flour that you will use within a month or two. Any more than this you buy and you will get the risk weevil infestation.
- Rotate older products to the front and newer ones to the back in which you are always using up older products first.
10.) Clean shelves and Containers
- Remove the shelf paper if necessary.
- Wipe out all areas clean with soap water and get into all corners and crevices.
- Rinse it with water. Bleach, if preferred.
- Wipe the area with tea tree oil or eucalyptus oil to discourage weevils from resurfacing.
Tips
- Don’t throw contaminated food away in the kitchen. Keep in mind to throw them outside otherwise your problem may come back.
- Return flour if you find out weevils in it only a few weeks after purchase, that means it was milled at least half a year ago and it was old stock.
- You can spray pyrethrin on the shelves but all the food and container need to be removed first. make sure to follow the waiting period specified on the pyrethrin product label before returning food the treated shelves.
- You can use a flour shifter to remove the obvious weevils.
- It is possible to eat flour that has obvious weevils in it because it is simply an insect problem. you have already eaten non-obvious weevils without knowing it, as they present in the most flour in the form of exoskeletons and eggs.
- don’t microwave the flour, as weevils will survive and just simply run everywhere. If you want to use heat so you can use the oven. Place the flour in the oven at 130-degree for half an hour