Have you ever had the nightmarish experience when you go to your pantry and pull out food or supplies only to find that it’s full of bugs? Whether it’s dry oatmeal, flour, or a packet of crackers, and you see too many little bugs than you want to see! You could even have them on the ceiling hovering near lurking food sources.
That nightmare has a name: Grain Beetles. Also known as pantry bugs, these tiny insects fall into two main groups: the flightless sawtooth grain beetle and the flightable merchant grain beetle. But it doesn’t really matter what kind of treatment is used to control them and the destruction they cause is the same for both.
Grain beetles have a self explanatory name as they are small beetles that love grains. These small brown or reddish pests often enter the home through other food packaging. You could be the most tedious housekeeper ever and these aggravating pests show up one day. And it doesn’t take long for them to really get established and then the population explodes.
These miniature marauders are known to be difficult to control for a number of reasons. Mainly because they settle on food, and you can’t ‘spray’ food with pesticides directly, can you? The other reason is that they lay eggs with abandon and even if you get rid of the bugs, the eggs are left behind to hatch and continue the nightmare.
But you CAN control them by following these steps:
• Once you identify grain beetles in your food, first and foremost, throw out all affected food. They are not salvageable. They are full of eggs. It’s frustrating to throw away all that food, but you must – or you’ll always have to deal with these pests!
• Completely clean the pantry. That means vacuuming the shelves, cleaning them, and making sure you’ve removed all possible signs of these pests.
• Using liberal applications, spray pantry, cabinet, storage area, etc. with your favorite all-natural pest control product designed specifically for use around food. Apply the all-natural pest control product for three consecutive days. Make sure it is completely dry between applications.
• If evidence of an infestation remains, continue to apply for an additional 3 days.
• Continue at three day intervals until no evidence is seen.
• To prevent future infestations, place/store all grains and carbohydrate-rich foods in storage containers, sealable plastic bags, or other impenetrable storage containers. The benefit of storing everything in separate bins is that if you do get grain beetles again (or if they’re not fully controlled), you’ve now isolated the problem within one bin instead of the entire pantry being exposed.
• Continue to regularly spray your all-natural pest control product inside the pantry, perhaps once a week to maintain an inhospitable environment for the grain beetle to set up shop.