It warmed up beautifully yesterday and I decided to swap my duvet coat for a lovely wool coat in my wardrobe. I haven’t worn it for about 2 winters. It was like new and cost me £265! I could have cried when I saw a big moth hole on the shoulder and got it out and there were about 16 holes all over it.
. I checked everything else and nothing else was damaged even the next coat to it, an old black wool mixture coat that my husband hates me in, completely untouched!
It is now in a bin liner waiting to be thrown out. The whole wardrobe has been emptied, sprayed with moth repellant and vacuumed completely.
What a shame…they love wool…
They also love a certain type of carpet and chomp their way through that, if it’s not regularly hoovered or checked…you would not believe the damage they have done, on some of the carpets ,on my elderly ladies that I cleaned for in the past.
Like you, had to spray a lot of repellent spray…
Then also infested a home that I cleaned in London.
1 Like
How upsetting fot you . I honestly hate moths having seen a carpet in a house for sale , it was in a bad way . My friend was horrified when moths had eaten her beautiful clothes .
What spray have you used please ?
Oh that really is upsetting. Clothes moths are a curse. I had my mother’s piano when she died, always promising myself I’d learn. It badly needed tuning, so I got a local fellow in. He took off the lid and front to expose the keys and hammers, and told me there was evidence of moth damage. Then he started to dismantle the key bed and I was horrified to see that virtually all the felt had gone, and there were moth casings everywhere.
As it was going to cost more to have it repaired than I could sell it for, I ended up cutting my losses and letting him buy it from me.
The ancients knew a thing or two when they made clothes storage from camphor wood. That wood repels many kinds of insects and camphor pellets can still be found if you trawl in the right places (not to be confused with naphthalene). We have camphor bags in the bottom of our wardrobes and also in the cloakroom, so we do not have any moth problems.
It’s called Acana and was the only one the shop had in stock but there are loads of other brands.
Today I went to another shop and bought a moth trap which is like a sticky pad which is impregnated with a smell that attracts male moths.
I also bought some things you hang up in wardrobes but don’t smell like old mothballs used to.
I can’t do any more really!
1 Like
What a shame! A few years ago a friend of mine bought an old rug in a junk shop. She left it rolled up in a corner of her little craft room while she decided where to put it. Some months later she decided to sort out her huge yarn collection which was all in bags in same room. All her beautiful cashmere, mohair, angora, alpaca and pure wools were infested with moth eggs and larvae. The acrylic and cotton yarns were untouched. She was heartbroken and they obviously came in on the old rug she thought was a bargain!!
1 Like
There is a big lesson for us all to learn in that story, isn’t there? Anything old and beloved by moths that you introduce to your home, put it in an airtight plastic bag and put it in a freezer for at least two weeks, to kill off any eggs and larvae. Of course, not everyone has space in a freezer, but it’s the best thing you can do to protect things from moths.
By the way, I’ve tried lots of moth killer products, and the one that has always been the most successful is Acana. I buy the spray, the wardrobe hangers, and the little sachets that you can put in among your clothes in drawers. I also keep some of the sachets in with my fabric stash, because I buy a lot of 100% cotton fabric, and it’s the natural fibres they go for.
It’s something I’ve never even had trouble with … lavender repels them and I always pop little lavender bags in my wardrobes and drawers. (not the ones that I wear.)
2 Likes
Awww flower, I sense how upset you are. So sorry.
Luckily I’ve never had a problem like this but I can imagine I’d be pretty upset too if I discovered a fave item had been ruined.
Making me think I should try the lavender trick in my wardrobe. Be gutted if they ruined a piece of my favour clothing
1 Like
My Mum always grew lavender in her garden and made little lavender sachets which she put in with clothes. I have been reading that other natural products like bay leaves, thyme etc have the same effect.
I think the answer is just NEVER bring anything secondhand into your house. Whether it’s a rug, bag, clothing, anything that could harbour eggs and they are often not visible.
It’s just cost me over £16 on products to deter or kill moths plus the cost of that lovely coat (£265) plus time hoovering every crevice, emptying the wardrobe and throwing out a huge bin liner full of clothes which had been close to the coat and made me feel sick thinking about things crawling about.
I looked online to see if I could do anything about the moth holes but there were just so many and you needed to get to the back of the hole and that was impossible as the coat was fully lined.
I still don’t know how the moth got into my wardrobe!
1 Like
I am so sorry about the loss of your coat, Flowerpower, and the time, effort, and loss of other items next to it.
I agree with not buying second hand items and bringing them into your home…it applies to books and wood too. You just never know whats in them. 
This has become an obsession with me now 
Interesting article below
Our lounge carpet really needs replacing and I am now seriously thinking of not having a wool one!
