Possible Moth Problem

[RememberThe5thESB]

I recently purchased and brought home a 32 ounce melton wool over coat from WW2, it's an early version it the gilt brass buttons. After my dad witnessed a moth fly after me into my room I went into a full panic mode of checking through all my wool uniforms, inside and out, and boxing them up, then leaving them in my closet with the lights on. Same day, I killed the moth that had earlier entered my room. But it was too big to be a clothes moth and the color of it was wrong.

 

The same night however I killed two smaller moths, one in a darker spot outside of my room, but it didn't seem to be either kind of common clothes moth. The second however appeared very much to be a clothes moth, it was crawling on the floor in my kitchen, outside of my room. (Post pics of it just for all your guys' opinions.)

 

The overcoat is the most recent wool item I've purchased and I've never had any possible problems of moths. Today I just found what I think was a larvae on the coat (white cocoon, brownish head poking out)but it was dead if it was. This coat has been sitting in my closet on top of some boxes, with all of my ike jackets hung up and to the right of it. I haven't seen any evidence of eggs, larvae, or even moths (I went through the whole closet and didn't find a single one inside of it, the only moths I've found are the ones mentioned) On them so far. I've put all those and all other wool items aside from the jacket into a separate box as to kind of "quarantine" them with themselves.

 

Now, I bring all of this up for a few questions.

 

- Can I freeze the wool overcoat, or will the condensation that will form on the jacket destroy the gilt brass buttons? (Also had a sleeping bag cover in the box with it that has metal eyelets and snaps, same question on that)

 

- Is it advisable to buy and put mothballs in some of the containers I have, particularly the one with all the WW2 wools?

 

- Aside from cleaning, and frequently opening up the containers to check the uniforms for larvae and damage, what can I do to prevent any possible damage to the uniforms?

 

- Should I be worried about any field gear (WW2 Canteen cover, haversack, Garand belt) I had inside the closet, near and on the overcoat, as having eggs on it? Or any of my other webgear in general?

 

I would GREATLY appreciate any and all opinions, as I really do need help with this, as all the wool uniforms I own were in the closet with this.

 

(I'll include the best photo of the moth I found in the kitchen here)

 

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[Wake1941]

I have heard freezing can help, I don’t think it’ll do any damage. But I’ve heard you have to repeat the process a few times to kill the eggs. I’d just let it air out outside, and just check for larvae. 

[huntssurplus]

I think freezing should be okay. I don’t do it myself but I know people who put all the new wools into the freezer for a few weeks before anything else. For me, in order to prevent moths, I put all of my susceptible items into either a garment bag if I’m putting it on a hanger or into one of those plastic tubs you can get from any target, Walmart, etc. then I put cedar and lavender scented bags Into the plastic tub or around the openings of the garment bag for the hanger. This won’t 100% keep moths away, but it will help to act as a bit of a deterrent.

As for the moths, I’m pretty sure you shouldn’t be able to see any of the moths that eat wool. But in the end you can’t do much except periodically check and add little deterrents. Moth balls are okay for you are looking to keep it in storage somewhere long term, but I’m pretty sure they are toxic, and so may not be the best for short term storage solutions. keeping your items in the open near light, or in a covered/container with a lid is probably the best prevention you can do. I have items in a dark closet, but they are all in garment bags or plastic containers like I mentioned. For this I would just invest in some good containers, get some lavender scented bags to help with prevention, and keep an eye on everything checking once a day for a few weeks to be sure there isn’t anything. I’d you do see something, immediately put the item and everything near it if kept in the same container and put it into the freezer for a week or two. That should hopefully deal with the issue.

Knock on wood everything’s okay!

Hunt


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[jmd62]

That's good advice Hunt, I also keep my items in those cotton breathable garment bags with the large clear plastic area, with lavender bags. The Container Store has nice ones but my wife gets decent ones from Target for about $6. So far so good, but I don't have many items like y'all 

[RememberThe5thESB]

I appreciate you guys' opinions a whole lot. I decided to pop the wool overcoat into the freezer, I'm hoping no moisture condensates inside of the brass buttons or between the pressed edge on the back of it. But damage to those buttons is less expensive that allowing an infestation to spread to the rest of my closet and collection.

I've tried to do as much possible research into deterrents, and methods of elimination as possible (some will even tell you to pop the garment into the oven at 120 F for a bit, as long as it has no plastic buttons). As far as storage goes, I used to hang up, until this event, any complete uniform I had on a hanger in my closet (Ike jacket, pants, garrison cap inside the jacket on the lower end of the hanger). Most of the rest of my collection are in those black plastic tubs with yellow lids that I think you can get at Walmart, the ikes are now in one of these.

I'm mostly just hoping now that nothing had enough time to mature to become a moth and plant eggs on any of the things I had up on hangers, crossing my fingers on that one.

Thanks for all the help on this, we'll see how it goes.

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[Survival]

I would buy a few moth traps.  Make sure they are for clothes moths rather then pantry moths.  Here is an example off E Bay.  Replace every three or four months.   If you suddenly find you are trapping alot of them all of a sudden check your collection.

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/1-x-KRITTERKILL-DIAMOND-CLOTHES-MOTH-TRAP-AND-PAD-1-2-MILLION-PADS-SOLD/181896137398?hash=item2a59dacab6:g:d38AAOSw9N1Vy5XR

[ken88]

Not sure how this will sound but I've used vodka in a spray bottle to get rid of a nasty smell in a wool blanket that was just too hard to bear. It actually helped, might help fight moths too? The alcohol is said to kill of bacteria responsible for the smell, could be toxic enough for larvae? Normally should not damage the fiber or affect the color of your garment but only try this at your own risk. You should Google it some time, swear I'm not making this up. 

[Reforger]

I don't know how valuable the coat is, but if it has moth issues and may be dirty, you could take it to the dry cleaners. Not everyone would recommend cleaning it, but that is a matter of opinion. I don't know if it would cause any damage to your coat, but that is what I would probably do. I guess you could ask the cleaners if they think the coat could handle it.

[RememberThe5thESB]

I took the coat out a while ago, it was in for 4 days, but I had to evacuate it since it was blocking the blowers in the freezer... And everything was melting. No damage that I can see thankfully, and I'm still checking my boxes of things at least once a week.

Also, thoughts on this, no clue if it will work. I put dryer sheets inside of the boxes (holy crap is that stuff strong after its stuck in a box for a while..) I doubt that it would effectively repel moths, but it certainly isn't pleasant to my nose, smells like chemicals with a hint of "clean cotton" like it's supposed to smell like.

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