I don't know about where you live but the moths here on the South Dakota plains are just awful this year. Last night we snuck into the house in the dark without turning any lights on and still had over 30 moths in the kitchen when we finally did flip on the lights. A swarm of moths attacks our heads every time we head out to the garage.
I have to give my hubby all the credit for this idea. While I was still wondering what to do, he thought he'd heard of something to try so he set up this moth trap.
What you need to create it is dishsoap that will foam up, water, a bowl, and a light.
Place the water into the bowl and add in the dishsoap. It would help to add in the soap while you are filling with water so the soap foams up. You only need a few inches of water.
Place the bowl under a light. In the house we put the bowl on the stove and turned the stove light on above it. Turn off all other lights in the area.
Here's our bowl the next morning. The suds are gone but the moths are there. No chemical sprays used and easy to set up but it works! And nothing extra to buy, you can easily set this up with what's already in your house!
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{ 15 comments… read them below or add one }
Thank you! We’ve had such a hard time fighting the moths.
I thought all the moths were in Kansas! Thanks!
Thank you. I have been fighting moths for a while now.
When we lived in Stergis there were more miller moths than I have ever seen. And all of them were in my kitchen windows…ivk. I don’t mind them, or freak out over them like some people do but really that many in one spot was just a bit much
This is a great idea
Thank you for sharing this! I have moths, we get them every spring and I never know how to get rid of them. I will do this tonight!
I have another similar trick but this one for fruit flies. Put a few drops of dishwashing detergent into a small bit of apple cider vinegar.
I haven’t tried it yet, but someone told me you can also put some rotting fruit (like an apple core) in a cup with a bit of vodka, cover it with Saran wrap, and punch some holes in the wrap. Apparently, the fruit flies are drawn to the fruit, get stuck inside, and before they can find their way back out, asphyxiate from the alcohol. Like I said, I haven’t tried it. Your version seems so much simpler!
I used this growing up and it works great! Its super easy and fast too. Much easier than trying to swat them like flies (and getting that dust everywhere) or spray them with chemicals.
Thanks – will also try this for those flying ants that we seem to get so many of at this time of year (particularly at Full Moon).
I had flying ants in an apartment I lived in years ago. The nasty things were coming out of the bottoms of the walls. My mom told me to mix equal parts Borax and granulated sugar, and pour it around where they were coming in at. I did what she said to do and fixed my ant problem. The ants took the sugar back to the nest and fed it to the babies, the babies ate the poisoned sugar and died, effectively killing off any future generation of ants.
I can’t thank you enough for this. This Spring we too have had such a moth problem. I have been at a loss as what to do. I cannot stand the smell of moth balls. Do you happen to know if this works with the larvae too (maybe they inch their way into the bowl)…LOL.
Thank goodness for Facebook, otherwise I would have thought WE were the only ones with such a severe moth infestation. Please tell your hubby thank-you for the insecticide free recipe. Ask him to come up with one for mosquitoes too. LOL
Texas native.
I have a strange kind of moth – one that seems to emerge from the cat litter. I did a Google search and only found a few references, so at least I know it’s not just me…but no insights on how to get rid of them. They don’t seem particularly attracted to light, though. I had some success with a store-bought moth trap (that uses pheromones and sticky paper; caught some of them, but I still see them flying around from time to time), but it would be nice to try something simpler. Anyone ever see these before? I live in Northern California; I’m from Michigan, where I’d never seen these moths.
We live in a swampy area of Florida and we use this out on our deck at night. Mosquitoes, gnats, no-see-ums, they all go for it. Some say that lemon or orange scented dish soap is better, but for me whatever I have on hand works fine.