Help! Bugs & worms in clothes!!

[prm]

Dear forumites,

My husband has found a pile of his jumpers covered in tiny worms & moths! arghhh!!!

Some time ago he also found one of his jumpers had holes in it..thought maybe it had been caught on something sharp and didn't think much of it but I wonder if it was the same.

Does anyone know how to deal with this / treat the affected clothes / prevent it from happening again?

Many thanks in advance,

x P

[peterstorm1985]

Old fashioned mothballs (for what sounds like old fashioned moths). Buy from A J Farmers. Nothing much you can do with holes other than darning.

[cuppa tea]

Though i wouldn't use old fashioned moth balls if you have children. They are pretty toxic. You can also buy the cedar wood balls from AJ Farmers, which are not toxic, though they deter the moths rather than kill them. I would wash all your woolens or anything next to the affected clothes. I put all our clothes in the freezer for 4 days, which kills the larvae and then packed the wool stuff and clothes I cared more about in plastic. They are very difficult to get rid of entirely.

[jollyrogers]

You can also buy a moth spray from Lakeland and you should check your carpets and curtains!

[Otto]

Yes - Put the clothes in the freezer. Go to farmers and buy the sticky glue pheromone cages - they catch the males very efficiently.

[candj]

The best way I have found to keeps moths away is to wash/dry clean your clothes and store seasonal things (winter cashmere coats, heavy jumpers, wool/cashmere trousers) away in plastic bags when not in use. Touch wood I haven't had moths, but I am absolutely manic about storage and cleaning. I also do this for my husband's clothing since he's the one who occasionally will get a hole or two in his jumper. I have also used those pheromone sticky traps on the inside of wardrobes as well as 'natural' lavender or sandlewoood scented sachets (found at Peter Jones). Moths like dark, undisturbed places so someone rightfully said check curtains and under the bed and hoover them up. Good luck!

[prm]

Thanks for all the advice! Obviously it's time to give our dressing room / closet a good cleanout and put all that pest control stuff around. How about the clothes that have been affected (not all have holes)...can't give them too hot of a wash as they are wool so I guess throwing them away is the only solution?!

[sj]

If you put them in your freezer for the day and then give them a good hoover, the affected clothes might stand a fair chance!

[candj]

Does your washing machine have a 'wool' setting? I think it washes at 30 degrees and should be fine with a bit of nonbio detergent. You can put all your unaffected jumpers in this cycle then lay flat on a towel to try and then iron and the lowest setting or 'wool' setting if your iron has one. Good luck.

[candj]

This makes for good reading if you have a week!

[goldielab]

I have the same problem with moths and have tried the ceder balls, the moth paper, mothballs (all from Farmers).

The mothballs do smell terrible and although they say "air-well" before use for clothes, I found that they continued to smell even after washing.

I still have moths but fewer (I think). I am going to try the carpet/rug cleaning route suggested in the thread candj pointed out (Thanks candj!).

[prm]

Thank you all...it's really strange, we don't have any carpets or curtains in our dressing room...it's a bright aired room and I thought we were pretty good at cleaning & storing our winter clothes! Will have to tackle the pest & be a lot more careful from now on.