If you forget for several months about packages and cans of flour, cereal, corn, beans and so on, then be ready to meet with unknown to you domestic inhabitants. The contents of jars and sachets can turn into a lumpy mass, teeming with larvae and pupae of all kinds of mustached and beardless pests. They can also damage crackers, cookies, dried fruits and vegetables and even herbal collections. Many of the "saboteurs" are able to fly or for a long time to hide in old purchases. Especially this sins imported products, in particular, rice cereal, which is traditionally a pest problem. Our grandmothers took care of the flour from the old familiar grain grinder. Now we have become acquainted with overseas pests, which come to us more and more with imported products - rice weevil, Surinamese flint, Brazilian grinder, Mauritanian goat. Here are the main pests attacking with poor storage for flour, cereals, corn, beans and flour products, sugar and even ground paprika:
Food moth - caterpillars of small butterflies barn fire (grain and flour), grain moths, barn moths. They damage cookies, corn, cereals, flour, bran, biscuits. And also dried vegetables and fruits. Some even taste chocolate candy. The external sign of settlement is clods of cereals or grains, cereal grain, flour and other grocery products braided with cobweb.
Surinamese flies - bug length 2.5 - 3.5 mm, red-brown color. Does not fly. Body narrow. In the warmth it gives five generations a year. It damages cookies, dried fruits, flour, cereals.
Small flour flour-mare is three times smaller than a large, red-brown color. Does not fly. In favorable conditions gives up to four generations. It damages bran, flour, cereals, rice, less often buckwheat, dry vegetables and fruits.
A large flour meal is a beetle 13 to 16 mm in length, from brown to black. Its hard yellow larvae, the so-called flour worms, feed aquarium fish and birds in cages. Flies at night. In the heat it gives up to two generations a year. Inhabits caked crackers, bran, flour, corn.
Ambarny weevil - a tiny beetle 2-4 mm in length, with a color from black to light brown. Does not fly. In this pest, the head is stretched into the proboscis. Damages corn, rye, barley, wheat, rice, buckwheat, sometimes crumbled flour and pasta. The beet eats the grain from the outside, and the larva eats them from the inside.
Rice weevil in size and shape of the body is similar to a granary weevil. In contrast, the granary has 2 reddish patches on the elytra. Gives up to six generations per year. Usually it feeds on the same bread supplies as the granary weevil. However, he prefers corn, bean and rice grains.
Bread grinder - bug length 2 - 3 mm, reddish, brownish or light brown color, cylindrical shape. When frightened, he pretends to be dead. It's flying. In the heat it gives up to four generations a year. Its larvae damage dried fruits and vegetables, crackers, cookies, cereals, pasta, legumes. They feed on these pests and flour, make lumps from it, glue them together with their secretions.
Control measures against pests
Most often, to save products from the main pests of cereals, corn, legume foods - if they are already wound up - can not. The most effective precautionary measures against them are cleanliness in the places of storage of products. At the first suspicion it is necessary to arrange a general cleaning in the cupboards, throw out all bags and bags with cereals, flour, where the bugs got. Bulk products should be kept in sealed containers with tightly fitting lids. It is impossible to keep a long grocery in plastic bags and containers of thin plastics. After a while, the plastic will turn into a sieve because of the holes in the holes.
To combat the main pests, it is strictly forbidden to use poisonous substances-insecticides. The beetles, who moved from the cereal to the shelves of the cabinet, can be removed by spreading paper in their places of origin and pouring onto it a mixture prepared from equal parts of borax (or boric acid), powdered sugar and chopped cereals.
All storage areas should be rinsed thoroughly with warm water and soap or soda. If possible, scald with boiling water, and then dry and ventilate. You can rinse with the addition of a safe antiseptic, for example, with vinegar. For complete destruction of pests, you need to repeat the procedure several times.
Strongly damaged supplies are not suitable for food - they are forever ruined by the feces of insects, empty cocoons and chitinous shells of pupae. If you have only found a single granary pest in the croup, it must be immediately isolated from the uncontaminated cereal, then warmed, dried and separated from the granary pests on the sieves. Small packets with injured groceries should be thrown out. Eaten grains become bitter and lose flavor. It is better to feed it to domestic animals or birds. Flour can be sipped by sieving through a sieve.
The best way to protect yourself from pest attacks is not to make long-term supplies, especially in the warm season. And most importantly - at the first detection of bugs to throw out the entire package without regret - health is more expensive.
Precautions against the re-emergence of pests
• Bring a package of cereals from the store immediately to a few days in the freezer.
• Candied fruits, nuts and raisins should be stored in the refrigerator.
• Do not leave the grocery store for the winter at the dacha.
• If you breed flour worms for fishes in an aquarium or birds in a cage, try to make the incubators airtight so that adult imago individuals do not scatter or crawl around the apartment.
Knowing about the main pests of cereals, corn, legume products with them can effectively fight and win. Let your kitchen only be clean, fresh and delicious!