There’s always a down side

I like to look after the environment and eat healthily. That’s why I try to as much as possible buy organic or biodynamic food and collect it in my own containers. The downside to this is that I often have large quantities of goods that have not been treated with commercial pesticides and my containers of foodstuffs can and do get critters living in them.

The great escape

The latest zoo I have created sits in a container of walnuts. Early in the year the walnuts were festooned with what looked like webs. Rather than wash the walnuts and remove the webs I decided to find out what type of critter – weevil? beetle? moth? was responsible.

Well this week the responsible critter revealed itself. Opening the walnut container released a squadron of Indianmeal Moths (Plodia interpunctella), pictured below, into the kitchen. The insects are named not for their country of origin but for the fact the larvae feed on cornmeal (Indian meal). They also feed on nuts (obviously), cereal, pasta, bread, flour, even dogfood.

I thought this was the end of the story but the moths can travel large distances to breed, which they can do in clothing. The larvae also have the ability to eat through cardboard and plastic. As with some of my other (failed!) scientific trials it looks like this one could have long term consequences!