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Make sure your clothes are completely clean before putting them away for the summer. Moths, beetles and silverfish are attracted to food particles, stains, body oils and perspiration left to sit in the cloth or fabric.
Don’t wash your clothes with fabric-softeners, or put them away with starch in them if silverfish are a threat, because these elements will lure them.
Cedar blocks, cedar oil, and lavender sachets may repel moths. Sew some lavender into cotton envelopes or fill burlap pouches with it, and set them in your closets or drawers. Add a few drops of lavender oil to the inside when your sachets need freshening. Cedar chips may be bought in little fabric bags, and you can amplify their efficacy by sprinkling them with cedar oil. Cedar and lavender are pleasing to humans, and not-so-attractive to wool-hungry insects, which will also eat silk.
No one likes the scent of old-fashioned moth balls. They only belong on moths!
To kill any larvae present in your wool clothes and sweaters, put the clothing in plastic bags and freeze them for twenty-four hours before storage. Remove, drying off the bag with a towel. You may choose to keep the clothing in these plastic bags. Then, put the items in your cedar closet or in an airtight storage bin. Now, say “Toodles” to moths and other clothing-munchers for the season, as they find oodles of good eating elsewhere.
Copyright M-J de Mesterton ©2010
