Storage Pest Treatments – Pests are the reason for insufficient food for people. Want to know how? The pests that infest your food, especially grains and tubers that are stored are called storage pests. These food items such as grains are not only food for us but for the pests too. The most common storage pests are rodents, beetles, and moths. Among these, there are some weevils, borers, and grain moths that feed on the grains and are said to be primary storage pests. Other secondary pests are flour beetles that feed on the grains damaged by primary storage pests.
Let Us See Some Types Of Storage Pests And Their Treatment Methods:
- Bean bruchid- Bean bruchid is also known as dry bean weevil. It is oval in shape and 3 to 5 millimetres long in size. This bruchid beetle majorly attacks the stored beans. They have a red-brown colour with dark yellow hair patches just on their wings. Their wings are short and do not even cover their abdomen. Once infested, the female bruchids lay eggs on the beans that are stored and the larvae then grow inside the bean. After completion of the life cycle, the adult comes out of the bean by pushing the outer cover that forms a round hole in the bean.
Treatment- Harvesting crops on time and storing them in secured and dry packets can reduce the bean bruchid infestation problems.
- Grain borer- Grain borers are slim and cylindrical in shape with 2 to 3 millimetres in length. They can be either red-brown or black in colour. These borers lay eggs loosely onto the grains, especially cereal grains. Adult borers and larvae both bore through the grains making holes of up to 1 millimetre into the grains. They can also make a grain hollow and pupate in such grains.
Treatment- You can control them by storing the grains with huge amounts of eucalyptus leaves or dried lantana. You can even put them along with neem leaves.
- Potato tuber moth- These moths seriously infest potatoes, tomatoes, eggplants, and tobacco. The potato tuber moth’s caterpillar is about 12 millimetres in length. They start by feeding on leaves making silver blotches on them. Then they bore all their way to the tuber wilting the whole plant. Upon reproduction in the tuber, they make black irregular long tunnels filled with feces that have microorganisms in them. Total destruction of the crop can occur when it is stored.
Treatment- Control them using natural means that are parasitic wasps and cultural methods like ridging. You can even use biopesticides such as dried lantana or neem leaves.
- Storage moths- Tropical warehouse moths are known as main storage moths. They have wings that are about 15 to 20 millimetres in length. They have greyish brown coloured indistinct patterns on their body. The larvae of these moths are caterpillars that are about 2 centimetres long. They feed on seed germs causing a lot of damage to cereal flowers and other whole grains.
Treatment- These can be controlled using specific pesticides and mothballs. Keeping the grains away from moisture in direct sunlight can also help.
We Are Local Experts For Storage Pest Treatments
Marks Pest Control has been providing the best pest control guarantee to all customers. We provide our pest control services for residential, commercial, as well as industrial areas. We understand your need for an emergency, hence, we provide same-day services too. Get in touch with our team of qualified professionals and local experts today for storage pest removal treatments.
Something More About Marks Pest Control
We are a team of professional pest exterminators providing quality services. Our team consists of professionals that are trained to provide pest treatments and prevention. Our agency provides the best quality pest control. We have been working in this industry for many years. We have the best team that looks forward to satisfying your needs.
So, there is no need to worry about pest infestation in your storage rooms and grain stored areas in the home, we can send the best professional pest controllers for the job.