Have you recently found clothes in your wardrobe in pieces and tatters? You might have moths to blame for this. Definitely not a pretty sight, you need to get rid of these pesky creatures as soon as possible. This article tells you about some natural moth repellent recipes that will help you do just the same.
Moths invade wardrobes, because they have a conducive environment in there – darkness, humidity, smelly clothes stacked together – a breeder’s paradise. While it is a party for them, detecting these pests becomes a hard task for you. Even if you are able to track them down and get rid of them, the danger looms large, as they leave the most dangerous threat behind, namely larvae. It is the larvae, which causes most of the damage to the clothes.
Most of the time, we use moth repellents made from naphthalene to drive these pests away. However, it is not the safest option, as it can have a negative impact on you as well as your pets, if they ingest any. Instead, you can try some herbal recipes, which are proved to be the most effective. These repellent recipes are not as difficult to make as you perceive them to be. Let us look at some of the recipes in this article.
Natural Moth Repellent
Instead of using artificial repellents found in the market, you can make use of natural repellents. Some extremely effective elements from nature like dried lavender, cloves, rosemary herb, mint, thyme, cinnamon sticks, eucalyptus, peppercorns, dried lemon peel, cedar, etc. fight moths and can be used as repellents. Store them in small and compact sachets and stack them in your wardrobe to keep your clothes from being infested by moths.
Recipe 1
Mix 1 part whole cloves with 1 part whole peppercorns, and cinnamon sticks broken into about 4 pieces. Place the mixture into a sachet. This will prove to be a deterrent for the moths.
Recipe 2
Take 1 part dried lavender, 1 part dried lemon peel, and 1 broken cinnamon stick. Combine all the three together and place the mixture in a sachet.
Recipe 3
Mix dried lavender flowers (buds), dried and crushed lemon peel, crushed cloves, dried mint, feverfew leaves, and flowers dried in equal proportions. Once all the ingredients are mixed well, fill them into sachets and place the sachets in your cupboards, drawers, etc.
Recipe 4
Mix peppermint, spearmint, rosemary, and thyme in the ratio 1:1:1:0.5 to make an effective moth repellent.
Recipe 5
In a bowl mix 2 tablespoons of dried rosemary, 2 tablespoons of dried mint, 1 tablespoon dried thyme, 1 tablespoon dried ginseng, and 4 teaspoons whole cloves. Mix the herbs well and fill sachets with the ingredients to make moth repellent sachets.
If you are wondering how to make the sachets, it is simple and you can easily make them yourselves. Take a sheer fabric like organza. Cut two 5 inch squares of the fabric. Place the cut fabric squares one on top of the other and pin them together. Sew the sachet around three sides with small straight stitches. You may also give tight zigzag stitch. Spoon the herbal mixture in to the pouch and then sew the remaining fourth side as well. Trim the edges with pinking shears or scalloped scissors and place the moth repellent sachets in your clothes, especially in your woolen clothes. If you do not want to stitch to make the sachets, there is another simple way of making them.
Place one tablespoon of herbs in the middle of a square clean cloth. Tie all the four edges with a string or a ribbon and your moth repellent sachet is ready for use. You can also make use of empty tea bags to make small sachets. Just fill the teabags with the home-made repellent and tie them with a string or a ribbon or a twist tie. Before stacking up your clothes in your wardrobe, make sure you wash and clean them properly. Unclean garments is what attracts moths the most. You can have them dry cleaned as well to be on a safer side.
