Corn beetles are very small and therefore hardly recognizable at first glance.
But they do a lot of damage in return.
This is how you get rid of the insects.
Corn beetles are mostly found near food, so keep a close eye on supplies in the kitchen or pantry.
Cereals in
particular
, but also rye, wheat, barley, maize, millet or other foods such as pasta, nuts, dried fruit, dried vegetables or legumes are often attacked by insects and consumed as food.
Once you have the grain beetles in your pantry, it will be difficult to get rid of them.
But here we have
tips on how to fight
it.
Fighting grain weevils: how to spot insects
Wheat beetles are about two to two and a half millimeters long and have a
reddish brown to dark brown color
.
You can also recognize it by its long proboscis with the mouthparts at the end - the grain beetle belongs to the family of weevils.
Close relatives are the corn beetle or the rice beetle.
According to the Federal Environment Agency, the females lay between 100 and 200 eggs in one grain each.
The contaminated food is
harmful to human health
- in addition to the extremities and threads of the larvae and pupae, mites and mold can also appear.
How to fight the grain beetle in the pantry
If the grain beetle has settled in between your supplies, there is nothing left to do but clean and dispose of the infected food. The pests are very stubborn and multiply extremely quickly. Affected supplies should therefore be put in
airtight plastic bags
before they are disposed of, and the chamber or cupboard must then be thoroughly vacuumed. The vacuum cleaner bag must also be tightly closed so that the beetles cannot escape again.
The grain weevils that you haven't caught by then can then be
combated
with
silica
, as advised by Focus Online.
It ensures that the insects die when it is placed in the appropriate places.
Alternatively, you can go to the pests' collar with a blow dryer, which you use to heat the areas that have been vacuumed off.
Also interesting
: fur beetles: this is how you recognize and control the pests.
The
Federal Environment Agency recommends the parasitic wasp
Lariophagus distinguendus
as a
biological control
agent
, which
locates
the larvae of the grain beetle in the grains.
The beneficial organism can also fight other stored food pests such as the Australian thief beetle or the corn moth.
That being said,
storing food
in a freezer
for three days at -18 degrees can
kill leftover pests.
However, the Federal Environment Agency advises against combating with insecticides due to the resilience of the beetles.
If the infestation is particularly stubborn, the help of a professional is necessary.
This will avoid an infestation by the grain beetle
In order not to lure grain beetles into your pantry in the first place, you should transfer open food - especially grain -
into sealable containers
.
This will prevent the pests from discovering the stocks in the first place.
In addition, the food should be stored as cool as possible and the cupboards should be cleaned regularly.
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Also read
: Bread beetles: Recognize the food pest and combat it in a targeted manner.
These washing tips from grandma are obsolete
These washing tips from grandma are obsolete