How to Get Rid of Pantry Moths in Flour

Pantry moths in flour often spread to other foods and shelves nearby. Getting rid of them means throwing out contaminated food, cleaning the shelf and setting traps to stop the moths from reproducing. Here is how.

Why pantry moths end up in your flour

Pantry moths, most commonly the Indian meal moth, are in your flour because their larvae feed on stored dry foods such as grain products, seeds, nuts, dried fruit and spices. They most likely arrived as eggs inside that very bag, or inside another dry good nearby. Once the eggs hatched, the larvae had flour to feed on. (Related read: Pantry moth life cycle: Eggs, larvae, pupae and adults)

How to get rid of pantry moths in flour

Pantry moth larvae leave their food to pupate and can crawl to other shelves, other products and the walls. Take the flour and every other dry food stored near it out of the pantry or cupboard: baking mixes, cereal, rice, pasta, nuts, seeds, dried fruit and spices. Check each package for fine webbing, flour that clumps into strands, or moths that fly out when you open it. Tie anything contaminated in a plastic bag and take it to your outdoor trash. If a clean-looking bag sat next to an infested one, consider freezing it for a week to kill any eggs you cannot see before you use it. Vacuum the empty shelf, including the corners and the seam along the wall, then wipe it with a vinegar-and-water solution and spray it with Six Feet Under, made with plant-derived ingredients, which kills any remaining moths or larvae on contact. Before the food goes back, move the flour into glass jars or canisters with tight lids.

Trapping the males is how you break the mating cycle. Pantry Moth Traps use a pheromone that draws in male moths only, so set up three in a triangle: one on an open shelf in the pantry near the flour, a second on a kitchen counter and a third positioned to complete the triangle, mixing high and low locations. Keep each trap in the open, not behind packages. A trap that catches little after a few days can be repositioned, whether from the top of the cupboard to the inside or from a low shelf to a high one. Any moths you see flying around can be misted with Six Feet Under.

Clear flour of pantry moths, step by step

• Empty the shelf: the flour and every dry food beside it.
• Check the food: packages with webbing or clumps go in the outdoor trash.
• Consider freezing: bags that sat next to an infested one.
• Clean and spray: vacuum the seams, vinegar-and-water wipe, then Six Feet Under.
• Switch containers: airtight jars or canisters.
• Trap the males: Pantry Moth Traps in a triangle across the kitchen.

Related: How to get rid of pantry moths in rice and How to get rid of pantry moths in cereal.

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