Beware of the Webbing Clothes Moth
The webbing clothes moth, Tineola bisselliella, is a fabric pest that can damage items containing wool, furs, silks, feathers and linen. It is a pest that can be very challenging for the pest control professional as well as the customer, because of their damage to high value items. The pest is difficult to control because the larva (worm stage) are found on the bottom and undersides of rugs/carpets. Most in-home rugs have things on top of them. Sometimes very heavy things like Grand Pianos, etc. and turning them over to get the pesticide where it needs to go is not an option or an easy one.
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Recently, I went on a call with a customer to a house that had a significant webbing clothes moth infestation. The infestation ranged from Persian rugs to other fabrics including furs. Just about every rug showed evidence of damage. Most rugs were under things like beds and tables. In this situation, if we had to rely on one of the aerosols that are labeled, we would have had to move a lot of furniture to insure that the bottoms were properly treated. Some of the rugs were pretty thick and there was little to no chance the aerosol spray would have gotten to the larva.
Enter Wick Adjuvant, the time and labor saver. Wick is a fabric penetrant and spreading agent designed to be used indoors with labeled active ingredient. Wick helps products spread and penetrate far better than water alone as water will bead up and Wick will break the surface tension. On this call, we mixed a labeled active ingredient with Wick and treated the rugs and carpets that we could not turn over. Just treating the tops of each rug where the thickness varied, we did a spot check on the edge to see how much we needed to apply to get product all the way through.
For more information on Wick, listen to episode #126 of Arthroodcast!
To order Wick online, visit our online marketplace winproonline.com.
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Carpet with a drop of water with blue dye. On the left with Wick. On the right no Wick.![]()
Bottom of the carpet – Wick Pushed all the way through.
Recently, I went on a call with a customer to a house that had a significant webbing clothes moth infestation. The infestation ranged from Persian rugs to other fabrics including furs. Just about every rug showed evidence of damage. Most rugs were under things like beds and tables. In this situation, if we had to rely on one of the aerosols that are labeled, we would have had to move a lot of furniture to insure that the bottoms were properly treated. Some of the rugs were pretty thick and there was little to no chance the aerosol spray would have gotten to the larva.
Enter Wick Adjuvant, the time and labor saver. Wick is a fabric penetrant and spreading agent designed to be used indoors with labeled active ingredient. Wick helps products spread and penetrate far better than water alone as water will bead up and Wick will break the surface tension. On this call, we mixed a labeled active ingredient with Wick and treated the rugs and carpets that we could not turn over. Just treating the tops of each rug where the thickness varied, we did a spot check on the edge to see how much we needed to apply to get product all the way through.
For more information on Wick, listen to episode #126 of Arthroodcast!
To order Wick online, visit our online marketplace winproonline.com.
Carpet with a drop of water with blue dye. On the left with Wick. On the right no Wick.
Bottom of the carpet – Wick Pushed all the way through.
The webbing clothes moth, Tineola bisselliella, is a fabric pest that can damage items containing wool, furs, silks, feathers and linen. It is a pest that can be very challenging for the pest control
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