Saturday, August 02, 2008

Disaster.

Moths. I think I has them. Help.

Okay, now that I've made Lesley dizzy, I should clarify. They're in the basement, in the closet, mostly in House Man's winter sweaters, since he isn't wearing them much right now, for obvious reasons. The stash is upstairs, and well stored for the most part. But I still think we need to do some "moth control" downstairs, and some stash investigation as well.

Steph, I don't really want to call an exterminator, because most of what gets used for moths is either toxic to cats or possibly carcinogenic, and then there's that whole pregnant thing, and this is all going down in my bedroom closet. Although someone out there on the innerwebs somewhere suggested using neem oil and soap in water--apparently it's not toxic to any mammals, just all kinds of bugs! I might look into that.

Deb, I've made sachets, based on an innerweb recipe, using lavender, peppermint and rosemary. Will be placing them liberally in the stash when I start going through it bag by bag. But the freezer, well, it's pretty darn tiny, and just isn't going to happen. Apparently, again from the innerwebs, you can heat to 120 for at least half an hour to kill larvae and eggs, so I might try the dryer for the sweaters--dry wool sweaters won't felt in the dryer will they? Felting needs water as well as heat, right?

6 comments:

lulubelle said...

Oh god.

I just got dizzy.

Steph said...

Step one: Remove all food from Freezer.

Step two: put all sweaters in bags and then into freezer.

Step three: Pray.

Step four: Call exterminator!

The Ninja Knitter said...

Oh no!

Yeah, you're in for a fun time of things. :( Freezing, followed by microwaving, then freezing again will take care of any live ones and the larvae. Also, once you're done with the treatments, consider investing in lavender sachets.

Anonymous said...

Oh, god.

I don't have any suggestions. Just sympathy.

fifisaurus said...

Oh dear! I know nothing about these things, but it sounds bad. I hope you manage to sort something out without turning the place into a chemical factory... *hugs*

Helen Wright said...

I didn't think this could happen anymore...there goes my bubble!

Most exterminators now have organic 'recipes'. We only use organic stuff for our house. There is no way on earth I am living here without an exterminator! To date...3 scorpions in the house! Not counting me!