Evil weevils

aurorahelios

clareski wrote: »

Is it better to keep the flour in the bags inside the airtight containers, or empty them out? Does this make a difference?

The only difference will be if there are eggs present in the packaging but not in the flour. Again the best way to prevent them is to freeze the packets for several hours ( I usually leave mine overnight) before putting it into airtight containers.

floyd

I store my flour emptied out into Lock and Lock containers as they are about as airtight as you can get without buying one of those fanxy vacuum lock storage boxes. I remove the flour from the bags as the folds of the paper bag can harbor the little beasties

DenBo_4

I might be totally wrong but when I used to buy flour (am gluten free now), I found I only got the little beasts in cheap flour, not the expensive stuff, I always figured they were there anyway, so however you store your flour if its got little eggs in it they will hatch out...............ewww

Pink.

Hi clareski,

This older thread might give you some ideas on getting rid of them:

Creepy crawly things in flour!!!! & weevils & bugs

I'll merge your thread with that one later to keep all the suggestions together.

Pink

[Deleted User]

I put all flour staright into lock and lock boxes as soon as I get home and I don`t look closely, on purpose. I had them once before in my old house and they were dreadful to get rid of. I`m of the mind that they won`t hurt us so I`m burying my head in the sand as all my flour gets cooked anyway

kitten_caboodle_2

hi, I'm a newbie *waves*

I'm just going through this at the moment, came home from 2.5 weeks holiday on Sunday to find these horrors rampaging all through the kitchen. Thought it had been exceptionally dusty until my other half realised that the 'dust' was moving. Have been onto the environmental health who are 'analysing' the sample I had to take in but i'm fairly sure from what I've read that this is what they are. They are everywhere. I'm not sleeping at all (i've been awake pretty much straight from Saturday when we left to come home), I've had to throw away all my small cooking items (coffeemaker and teapot were covered in them despite being clean when we left) and the windows/worktops are covered too. I'm becoming paranoid about it and am just getting more and more stressed. It's horrible, but I'm so glad I found this thread about it, at least I don't feel so alone anymore.

We live in an old victorian house that has lots of cracks and nooks and crannys, and suffers from damp spots, so I suppose it was inevitable.

I'm not happy at making this my first ever post - it's more of a brain dump but It feels so glad to get it all out! I'm spending my last day off at home today doing what I've done for the past three days...recleaning all the surfaces because they keep coming back!

Puniksem

Weevil:
common name for certain beetles of the snout beetle family (Curculionidae), small, usually dull-colored, hard-bodied insects. The mouthparts of snout beetles are modified into down-curved snouts, or beaks, adapted for boring into plants; the jaws are at the end of the snout. The bent antennae usually project from the middle of the snout.

The largest weevils are about 3 in. (7.6 cm) long, with the average length being about 1⁄4 in. (0.6 cm). The snout varies greatly in length among the different species; in the curculios, or nut weevils, it may be longer than the body.

Different weevil species attack different parts of plants–fruits, seeds, leaves, stems, or roots. In most species the female lays her eggs inside the plant tissue, on which the growing larvae feed. The granary weevil and rice weevil are serious pests of stored cereal grains.

The thousands of other destructive weevil species include the sweet-potato, vegetable, alfalfa, clover leaf, strawberry, and pine weevils, as well as the cotton boll weevil, the most serious weevil pest in the United States. The seed weevils, including the bean weevil, are not true weevils, but boring beetles of another family; they feed on leguminous crops, such as peas and beans. Weevils cause millions of dollars' worth of damage annually.

The bark beetles, or engraver beetles, are related to the weevils. True weevils are classified in the phylum Arthropoda, class Insecta, order Coleoptera, family Curculionidae.

[Deleted User]

I noticed some crawlies in barley. The barley was bigger than them so I washed and strained lots of times. I then froze the clean barley in small bags

I don`t look too closely at flour because I know these blighters can appear in the cleanest of homes. All the flour is cooked so it wouldn`t harm us

kippers

Clareski Pls see my post on the 18/1/07. (Sorry,i don't know how to insert it on this post)

I know how distressing these little mites can be. Pm me if you need some on going support or advice.

I am now paranoid about them and i really feel for you.

mioliere

Just found this thread. Apparently, keeping bay leaves (from the spice section of any supermarket) in the flour prevents weevils. I haven't tried it but have been promised that it works! Hope this helps!