Uggs and the dryer?
August 21, 2019 9:57 AM

Battling an infestation of clothes moths.

Friday will be my third professional spray treatment, and I've been using 2 kinds of pheromone sticky traps both to monitor activity and to catch any of the little suckers that I can. (One kind from the pro company, another from Amazon which seems to be more effective.)
For the first time, this week I found 2 dead moths in a pheromone trap in my front hall closet...where my cashmere wraps, down coat, wool scarves and my Ugg boots live. When I emptied the closet I found one other dead moth on a wool hat.
A little research told me that the cashmere would do fine for an hour in a hot dryer as long as it was dry, and it came out fine. All wool, silk, the coat, etc got the same.
However I have 3 nice pairs of Ugg boots and I'm not sure how to proceed with them. Can I put them in the dryer, one pair at a time, for an hour? Will it hurt the boots? Will it hurt the dryer?
Any advice much appreciated. I'm so tired of having all my togs in the basement storage room!
posted by antiquated to Home & Garden (8 answers total)
If you are living in a place that is currently hot and sunny, you can put the Uggs in your car for a few days. Moths will die at 120 degrees and your car should get to that temperature.
posted by mcduff at 9:59 AM on August 21, 2019


Yep! And if you are not, and you have freezer space, put those suckers in air-tight bags and freeze them for a week. Then store in air-tight bags or containers.
posted by fiercecupcake at 10:16 AM on August 21, 2019


If you go the freezer route, turn your freezer down to its lowest temp and leave them in for two weeks. It takes longer than people think.
posted by praemunire at 10:26 AM on August 21, 2019


Thanks. No freezer, but a hot sunny driveway and thats where they are!
posted by antiquated at 10:33 AM on August 21, 2019


That's interesting -- I got my "week" from hearing others say three days! So I more than doubled it and thought that was safe.
posted by fiercecupcake at 11:36 AM on August 21, 2019


The basic problem is that the freezer doesn't get cold enough, especially if you are opening/closing it like a normal human would. Better to err on the conservative side than, you know.

OP, I forgot to mention last time--your dryer may come with (or have sold as an accessory) a shelf you can insert to put items on so that they don't agitate, which is what I'd worry about with Uggs. After my own fights with clothes moths, I'm planning on getting one so I can heat things in the dryer without felting them.
posted by praemunire at 11:44 AM on August 21, 2019


I saw this today: Revenge of the clothes mothsand it mentions a treatment.

I use cedar oil to discourage them. doesn't affect larvae, but the fliers avoid it, and it's non-toxic and smells pleasant. Consider making a cedar closet, moths are proliferating.
posted by theora55 at 2:45 PM on August 21, 2019


dry ice
posted by H21 at 3:16 PM on August 21, 2019


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