I pulled out a sweater with moth holes in it. Well, I guess they’re moth holes because everybody says that moth larvae eat holes in wool.
So how come I’ve never seen an actual, you know, moth in my house?
And is cedar effective against moths or does it just smell nice?
Well, the moths are out laying eggs on the rest of your clothes…
The moths themselves are pretty small and non-descript. You may well have seen one and not recognized it. Also, crickets eat clothes, too - do you have them?
It is possible that what you have are not moths, but carpet beetles. Which are tiny, well-camouflaged, and surprisingly good at hiding, both as larvae and as adults.
We used to get crickets in the house in August, before we had the basement finished and hired a pest control company. Haven’t seen one in years.
Adult moths are small brown flies. When you see them flying around, you already have too much around :(. The eggs are almost invisble to see, and the larvae, little worms, are the ones eating the holes. Once they’ve found a nice little supply of wool like a sweater, they can stay inside for generations, and you won’t see them flying around. It’s the adults flying around to mate, once they are finished, the female starts laying eggs.
As for cedar and lavendel: they work by masking the characteristic smell of wool (sweat) which attracts the moths in the first place. Moderatly successful if your clothes don’t smell strongly and you are lucky not getting adult moths inside.
Once the moths have found the sweater, cedar is helpless.
To save the sweater, use the freeze-thaw-freeze cycle (in a plastic bag in the deep freezer) for several times, and use vinegar water to clean the cupboard.
The next step is a pheromen trap, which catches the female adults on a sticky strip. It’s primarily for counting and confirming what infestation you have, to then use harsher chemicals.