Vegan Forum

Today I had to throw away half of my cereals because it was infested by moth worms.

Is killing moth that "attacks" my food ok from vegan point of view?

How do I keep all kind of moth away from my appartment, clothes and food without actually killing it?

Thank you.

Air your kitchen and cabinets and put some of the following items in them (moths don't like them):
- laurel leaves,
- cloves,
- caraway,
- orange peels,
- black pepper,
so that you can feel their smell when you open a cabinet (if moths do, they won't go in).
They also hate lavender, but it's not a suitable smell for kitchen IMO, use it if you have problems with clothes moths, though.

Killing in self-defense is probably vegan, but I'm not sure about killing in fight for the food... decide it for yourself. I currently have two moths in a jar with dried vegetables, standing on the window, and I'm not sure what to do with them... I'll probably let them die of old age in there.

And oh, eating what you buy instead of storing it for a long time is probably the best strategy in moth-prevention.

Thank you Bojster!


I will try it and anounce the results here!
Are you sure about orange peels?

Pretty sure, yeah. But laurel leaves probably work best (more smelly ).

I've tried it with laurel leaves.
And it worked quite nicely.
But I had to use an entire pack of dry laurel leaves to get the effect.
I also had to crush them in small bits to make the smell stronger, only then the moth left the dresser with cereals.
But it still stayed in my appartment so I had to catch each one of them...

Tansy can also be used as an insect repellant.
It's a medicinal herb that can be found in pharmacies.
This herb can also be called Common Tansy (Tanacetum vulgare).

Here is an illustration of the Tansy herb:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/c ... lgare0.jpg

Here you can learn more about this herb:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tansy

With the aid of an air conditioner, bring the relative humidity down to 50% or lower. This will create an environment unfriendly to moths, hordes of other insect pests, and sweat stains.