A weevil is a type of bug from the curculionoidea family. Weevils are considered herbivores pests with their ability to damage and kill crops in the larval stage and as adults, in the farms or even in stores. This results to numerous losses to farmers.
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Weevils occur in various range of colors and shapes. The common types are slender or oval shaped with a shiny dark colored covering. An adult weevil has an elongated head forming a snout, the elongation allows the weevil to effectively bore grains or crops without any difficulty.
There are many types of weevils; boll weevils, rice weevil, flour weevil, bean weevil, black vine weevils, rose weevil, white pine weevil, cowpea weevil, wheat weevil etc. They are commonly named according to the type of crop it destroys.
Weevils life origin depends on the type of species, commonly the adult weevils lay eggs near the host plants which later hatch into larvae during the winters and finally adults in the summer however weevils are universal species thus there breeding times and seasons may vary.
7 Easy Ways of Getting Rid of Weevils
Here are some of the best home remedies to get rid of weevil bugs
Discard Rotten Food
If any foods has any contamination when brought home for storage or in plantations, the adult weevils will lay eggs while consuming the food, they eventually form a large colony of infestation. To get rid of the weevils it is important to consider the following precautions and ways of ridding out weevils.
Remove all the contaminated food in the house-contaminated food product is one of the good breeding grounds for weevil infestation. Removal of the contaminated food is a single but most important step in getting rid of weevils. Gather all the products that may be contaminated in the cupboards, sacks, trashes and sacks and move it far away from your house.
When making purchases it is important to inspect on items you are buying. Products with holes or any sign of damage on the packaging should not be purchased.
Freeze Food
Keep your food frozen so as to kill the any eggs, larvae, or weevils. You may also heat the foods beyond 130 degrees for about half an hour. This exposure will accomplish the same thing as freezing.
Before freezing or heating, it is important to keep in mind the types of food recommended for heating or freezing. Heating of seeds may cause enzymes to be denatured thus germination may not be possible.
Cleaning
When you realize that you have been infested with weevils, it is important to first conduct a thorough cleaning of your cupboards and pantry. Remove absolutely everything off from the shelves and vacuuming them. To maximize this, make sure all the cracks where flour or other food pits may have hidden by having a thorough cleanup with a rag and cold water.
Conduct a regular cupboard and pantry cleanup – High hygiene is a simple and precise way to destroy weevils. Start by cleaning the cupboards and pantry regularly to prevent food spills from making it easy for weevils to breed.
Find the infested material and eliminate it – it is important to remove the weevil infested food so as to prevent it from infecting the others. A bag of maize in a store infested with weevils should be removed so that other bags are not infected.
When disposing the contents of the cupboards, be quick and ensure that all the old food is wrapped with double cage material. This ensures that the little blighters do not get enough time or chance to escape. The disposal bin should be somehow far away from your house alternatively you can dispose it in your own compost bin and burn.
Seal any cracks in the cupboards, shelves or stores – Cracks provide an ultimate breeding ground for weevils as it keeps keep food trapped until it is contaminated making an easy place for the weevils to lay eggs
Buy foods in smaller amounts to minimize contamination – This is a simple way to deter weevils, a lot of foods may be contaminated more easily than a small amount. In case of weevil infestations, severe losses are incurred in large stores.
Rotate the food stock regularly and don’t mix the new food with the older one. This short cuts the weevil’s life cycle thus preventing a continuous life cycle. Mixing of foods allows the weevils to interact with one another and interbreed.
This may cause a difficult task to eliminate weevils as more genitival versions of weevils are created which may be resistant to pesticides or any other way.
Seal Food in Storage
Store all the perishable foods in tight sealed containers to prevent weevils from entering the container and lay eggs. Air tight container is also important in weevil control as the oxygen from the outside is prevented from entering the container with food. This prevents weevil survival in case there has been inhabitation.
Thoroughly wash any storage containers which had been infested with the weevils. Run them clean with a relevant dirt washer with hot water, rinse and dry. It is a way of successfully killing the eggs, larvae or the weevils themselves.
Use of pesticides
Use of Pyrethrins is the most effective way of getting rid of weevils using a pesticide. The chemical content in pyrethrins instantly kills the weevils. However since weevils live and breed in food, contaminating the food directly with an insecticide is not good for your health.
It is advisable to empty your cupboard before spraying it down. This prevents the food from directly contacting the chemical content in pyrethrins. Leave the cupboard empty for some hours after spraying before filling it back.
Try the natural ways to fight weevils – Use the Natural Weevil Control Bay leaves or cloves.
These are natural leaves with a natural weevil deterrent. Drop a bay leaf or two onto the top of the storage container with your foods after you have done you have frozen or heated the foods. This allows ultimate protection from weevils as the deterring smell from the bay leaves is repellent to weevils.
Use of Clovers
Cloves are another type of natural deterrents for weevils, they are similarly used as the Bay leaves. After treating your food with a hot or cold environment, drop a clover leaf on top of it before storage.
It is also good to scatter a couple or more around the cupboards and pantry. Cloves and bay leaves are the most economical ways of getting rid of the weevils as they are all over available naturally.
Use of matchbooks
Take a plain matchbook and open it. Set it in with your grains or pastas to prevent weevils. Apparently, matchbooks has a sulfur smell which naturally acts as a weevil repellent and deterrent. Using matchbooks is the simplest but funny way of controlling weevils.
Finals Words
Living in a weevil infested environment is deterrent to work, comfort and may cause severe losses when they infests in our crops and stores. However they are not much a challenge to stress up with. Weevil control tips are ways we can have weevil control at ease by using simple, reliable, environmental friendly and cheap resources within our reach and comfort.