# Weevils



## weedygarden (Apr 27, 2011)

http://americanpreppersnetwork.com/...o-love-the-bugs-or-do-something-about-it.html

By Barbara Salsbury November 14, 2012



> Weevils: Learn to Love the Bugs - Or - do something About It
> 
> An article or so ago I focused on the Mealy Moth and how destructive it can be to the foods in your pantry. I promised that I would continue helping you deal with the other creatures that lurk in our pantries and cupboards and consider all foods there to be their preparedness pantry for several generations.
> 
> ...


I did a search on weevils in the forum and there are several comments about various subjects that are about weevils. I thought this was a good comprehensive article.

I am in the process of going through my preps and checking out what is good, and what I have overlooked. Because my daughter has celiac, I have worked on gluten free options. Many of these I have bought from bins in various stores, and then put in quart canning jars. I found that a couple of my jars had bugs in them, and they had to get thrown away.

I used to get whole wheat flour from food coops that would be buggy. Does anyone want bugs? I don't think so! I know that putting the food in the freezer or heating it in the oven is supposed to help kill it. I have not been so good about that.


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## talob (Sep 16, 2009)

I've had to learn about weevils the hard way myself, last year my garden seed corn had weevils so bad they chewed through the bag, from what I understand seed corn needs to breath so I keep it in paper lunch bags most other seed goes into pill bottles. Last fall when I picked my Hickory Cain corn to make hominy I just put it in a plastic tote seed went into paper bags mixed with diatomaceous earth, this winter I looked at what I had leftover in the totes sure enough little bugs went and checked seed in bags didn't find any bugs so the DE is working. Probably twenty years or so ago I put wheat up in plastic buckets mixed with DE (didn't know about mylar bags back then) now lately I've been grinding it to make flour makes great bread and noodles, she mentioned in the article about pros and cons of DE does anyone know of any cons of DE? As an aside today I'm fixing to put up another hundred pounds of hard red winter wheat and yes it will go into mylar bags.


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## forluvofsmoke (Jan 27, 2012)

I have read of many mixed opinions regarding DE, some completely pro, some completely con for multitudes of uses. DE is not patentable, so getting funding for blind studies and trials to prove or disprove it's effectiveness for the numerous claimed applications and benefits likely isn't going to happen any time in the near future.

I just did another search for anything conclusive and ran into the usual forum and blog posts, but nothing from sources on actual testing or studies...maybe I'm not looking on the right sites, but the hits coming up from open searches are not very enlightening.

As for stored food items which can be infested with critters, I'm going to roll with the freezer treatment method...give 'em a week to chill out and die. Then, rewarm at room temp for several days before opening and repackaging into airtight containers such as canning jars, for vacuum packing. I may have an advantage over some, in having several freezers to work with, but smaller quantities can be processed this way in your normal freezer storage space.

I'm not one for adding something to food for pest control, so I'm seeking out the alternative methods...just me.


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## weedygarden (Apr 27, 2011)

talob said:


> I've had to learn about weevils the hard way myself, last year my garden seed corn had weevils so bad they chewed through the bag, from what I understand seed corn needs to breath so I keep it in paper lunch bags most other seed goes into pill bottles. Last fall when I picked my Hickory Cain corn to make hominy I just put it in a plastic tote seed went into paper bags mixed with diatomaceous earth, this winter I looked at what I had leftover in the totes sure enough little bugs went and checked seed in bags didn't find any bugs so the DE is working. Probably twenty years or so ago I put wheat up in plastic buckets mixed with DE (didn't know about mylar bags back then) now lately I've been grinding it to make flour makes great bread and noodles, she mentioned in the article about pros and cons of DE does anyone know of any cons of DE? As an aside today I'm fixing to put up another hundred pounds of hard red winter wheat and yes it will go into mylar bags.


I am not a super fan of mylar. It can be penetrated by bugs and rodents. I have read about people who have had major invasions in their preps in mylar. I have a bunch of mylar pouches. I tried to put up a bunch of garbanzos and lentils in mylar. They just seemed to poke little holes in the mylar, so no good seal, and no real security from bugs. Now, all of those pouches have been put into plastic buckets.

I have several plastic buckets with grains, but given the gluten free preps, I am using quart canning jars a lot lately. They are a good portion size and easier to maneuver. I have started packing them in banker boxes, where 12 jars fit nicely. I use cardboard boxes from cereal and crackers to help with padding.


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## cowboyhermit (Nov 10, 2012)

About the only downside to FOOD grade DE or even feed grade (as opposed to different types used for pools, etc) is that it is can cause problems when inhaled. For that matter so can flour, baking soda, etc, etc. Anyways, it is best to avoid breathing the dust (or any dust).

It is also only effective when dry, so I guess that's a downside. Chemically, it is just silica, and not harmful (possibly beneficial). It doesn't work chemically on bugs though, it works mechanically.


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## Caribou (Aug 18, 2012)

I use mylar unless the product has sharp points. The mylar is to block the O2 not the mice. To fight the bugs I put a small chunk of dry ice in the bag. First I put in three or four inches of product, then a small chunk of dry ice, then fill with product. CO2 is heavier than air so it will push the room air out as it sublimates. I seal the bag after the dry ice has had time to sublimate. As little as three percent CO2 will prevent the bugs from hatching.

Plastic buckets are porous and will allow O2 to pass through. Mylar is an O2 barrier.


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## Balls004 (Feb 28, 2015)

cowboyhermit said:


> It is also only effective when dry, so I guess that's a downside. Chemically, it is just silica, and not harmful (possibly beneficial). It doesn't work chemically on bugs though, it works mechanically.


We add DE to our goat feed, and it significantly reduces the parasite load. The way it was explained to me, is that on a scale it actually cuts the worms in the gut and causes death, as well as the larvae in the droppings. It works, for whatever reason. So, I'm not sure that it only works dry.

I know my wife sells a lot of it as an organic bug killer to lawn and garden retailers.


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## cowboyhermit (Nov 10, 2012)

Balls004 said:


> We add DE to our goat feed, and it significantly reduces the parasite load. The way it was explained to me, is that on a scale it actually cuts the worms in the gut and causes death, as well as the larvae in the droppings. It works, for whatever reason. So, I'm not sure that it only works dry.
> 
> I know my wife sells a lot of it as an organic bug killer to lawn and garden retailers.


Yes, we too have also used it in our pet and livestock feed for potential parasite uses, unfortunately, last I checked the research wasn't looking particularly favorable for those applications. I hope it works. The hypothesis there was that inside of a digestive system, scratching the surface of an organism might expose it to acidic or otherwise damaging fluids (as opposed to drying it out).

I remember seeing evidence that it was not effective at protecting grain that was damp, or killing bugs on damp surfaces, and also that it became relatively harmless (to bugs) inside moist soil. This was not recent though, so perhaps it has been proven otherwise. Personally, I have high confidence in it when dry, and (though I incorporate some into animal feed) relatively low confidence in it's potential when damp. Hope to be proven wrong though.


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## Balls004 (Feb 28, 2015)

cowboyhermit said:


> Yes, we too have also used it in our pet and livestock feed for potential parasite uses, unfortunately, last I checked the research wasn't looking particularly favorable for those applications. I hope it works. The hypothesis there was that inside of a digestive system, scratching the surface of an organism might expose it to acidic or otherwise damaging fluids (as opposed to drying it out).
> 
> I remember seeing evidence that it was not effective at protecting grain that was damp, or killing bugs on damp surfaces, and also that it became relatively harmless (to bugs) inside moist soil. This was not recent though, so perhaps it has been proven otherwise. Personally, I have high confidence in it when dry, and (though I incorporate some into animal feed) relatively low confidence in it's potential when damp. Hope to be proven wrong though.


The only empirical evidence I can provide is my own experience, and that is that doing fecal egg counts (FEC's), is that we saw a significant reduction in worm eggs in our goats feces. Instead of worming our goats every 3 weeks, we could manage every other month or better depending on the weather conditions. It definitely was a very effective treatment cost and labor wise.


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