Weevils

[bluebird]

What can I do to prevent them? I have about 70 lbs of flour, most are in 5lb and 10lb bags. I have heard that you need to freeze the flour, then vac seal it and put it in plastic buckets. I live in an apt so all I can put in the freezer at one time is 1 bag.

 

So my question is: Can I put one bag in the freezer for a few days, then seal it and put it in the bucket? Can I keep adding to the bucket with the 5lb bags till it's full or do I need to add enough at one time to fill and then close the bucket? Can I also do this with the rice, noodles and such? I only have a few small bags of rice, beans and noodles, not enough to fill the buckets. Also, should I just keep the same items in one bucket. Can I put the beans, rice and noodles in the same bucket? I am lost about this. I don't want weevils and I am trying my best living in a small space.

[CrabGrassAcres]

Are you sealing the flour in five or ten pound packages, then into the bucket? If so you can put the packages in the bucket one or two at a time till it is full. The rice, noodles, beans, etc don't need to be frozen if you are vacuum sealing. I would freeze the flour because it can be hard to vacuum seal adequately.

[westbrook]

I should finish my article on the life cycle of the flour bug!

 

here is what I have so far.....

 

I am going to combine the life cycle of the rice, corn, flour, bean and wheat beetle because it would take me volumes to get through each one. They are all pretty close to the same.. live 1-3 years, lay up to 500 eggs in a year.

 

 

The adult female uses her mandibles to bore a small hole in a kernel, then lays an egg in the hole she bored. The larva develops entirely inside the kernel. Developmental time from egg to adult is about four to 8 weeks. By reducing the grain temperature to less than 60ºF stops insect reproduction and lowering it to less than 50ºF stops insect feeding.

 

Eggs can hatch in 3 days to 12 days. The larva may take from 15-35 days to develop. One generation can be completed in 4 weeks under ideal conditions which means there may be as many as 12-13 generations in a year.

 

This tells me that I need to kill off the adults lets say by freezing. Remove from the freezer and let sit for 2 weeks and refreeze to kill off the larva that has hatched. It seems that the eggs are protected from freezing.

 

I prefer to freeze because I count on my Whole Wheat Grain to germinate and sprout for my vegetables should it come down to that.

 

Baking in an oven or microwaving kills the ability to germinate. If you use the dry ice method and you must use an oxygen absorber in order to assure when the eggs hatch out the larva will die with out oxygen present.

 

 

Freezing

 

Place 1-10 pounds of grain in a plastic bag and place in the freezer for 4 days at 0 degrees. This is referred to as Super-Cooling. This will usually destroy all stages of any insect pests which are present but not the eggs. As a check spread the deep freeze treated grain on a cookie tray at room temperature until thawed. If live insects are present they will probably be seen crawling about. If they are present, repeat the process. If not, remove any insect fragments, put the grain in an approved container and store it in a cool, dry place.

 

DO NOT TAKE RIGHT FROM THE FREEZER AND PUT DIRECTLY INTO AIR TIGHT CONTAINERS. THE MOISTURE WILL CAUSE MOLD TO GROW IF SHUT UP IN AN AIRTIGHT PLACE. Bring up to room temp first.

 

 

 

Heating

 

Spread a shallow layer of wheat in a cookie tray or large pan. Pre-heat the oven to about 140 to 150 degrees. Put the tray in the preheated oven and leave it there for 30 minutes or more. The oven door should be left slightly open to avoid overheating. This treatment should destroy all stages of the insect if the layer of grain on the tray is not too thick (1/ 2 inch). Next, remove the tray and cool the wheat thoroughly before returning it to a clean, dry storage container. As necessary, use a fan to blow off any existing insect fragments. Where large quantities of dry food are to be treated, this method is not practical. Heat is detrimental to the proteins in wheat and may reduce the ability of the bread to rise properly. Some reduced loaf volume and heavier texture may be apparent when using heat treated grains.

 

Heat treated grain will NOT sprout

 

Microwave

 

heat in a microwave oven for five minutes

 

 

Dry Ice

 

Dry ice tends to control most adult and larval insects present, but probably will not destroy all the eggs or pupae. If a tight fitting lid is placed firmly on the container after the dry ice has vaporized, it may keep enough carbon dioxide inside to destroy some of the eggs and pupae. After 2 to 3 weeks another fumigation with dry ice may be desirable to destroy adult insects which have matured from the surviving eggs and pupae.

 

 

This is a quote:

 

“Bay Leaves, Chewing Gum, Chanting Words and Phrases

 

We receive numerous inquiries asking about exotic treatments to prevent insect infestations in stored grain. In unofficial experiments we have conducted, it was noted that some insects will continue to feed when enclosed in containers with tight fitting lids, even in the presence of these exotic suggestions. We have also concluded that chanting words and phrases fall upon deaf ears. Some consumers have reported on the effectiveness of many exotic treatments. Our investigations have shown these instances to only be effective when no insects were initially present in the food.

http://www.solareagle.com/PREP/FSHOME.HTM”

 

 

 

 

[westbrook]

I realize there is much that needs to be reworded, explained better, and far more research needs to be done but this will get you started.

[ATHagan]

If you're going to vac-seal then that is all that is necessary. Leave the flour in the original bag then vac-seal. No freezing necessary.

 

Same with dry ice or oxygen absorbers. Use one or the other, but no need to freeze with either.

 

I only use freezing if I'm just going to pack the flour and not do anything else with it. Simply sealed up in a jar weevil eggs can hatch and the weevils ruin the flour. It works best with grain or grain products that have been a while in a warm area so that the bugs won't be acclimated to the cold.

 

All of my stuff is vac-sealed, packed with oxygen absorbers or fumigated with dry ice. I haven't have a weevil problem in years and the last several that I had were all stuff that I bought out of bulk bins to use right away so it wasn't treated, but simply sealed in a jar.

 

.....Alan.

 

 

[bluebird]

Thanks ladies.

I am new to storing flour, wheat etc..

I have #10 cans of organic hard red spring wheat. Can I just leave the wheat in the cans and it will be okay? When I vac seal the flour in 5lb increments, do I put the oxygen absorbers in the bucket with the flour or in the bag with the flour?

[bluebird]

What kind of vac sealer should I use for mylar bags?

Also how do I store salt?

[PureCajunSunshine]

This might help...

 

http://waltonfeed.net/grain/faqs/

 

Also, Alan's link is a must-see-learn-a-lot kinda place. http://athagan.members.atlantic.net/Index.html

[still survieving]

Originally Posted By: bluebird

What kind of vac sealer should I use for mylar bags?
Also how do I store salt?

This should help althou it has been posted before

[Evergreen]

OK, WOW. I just watched several videos and read Alan’s pages and Walton and I am having information overload!! I have to be at work in a little while and will go straight from there to baseball game and I do not have time to sit and read forever - bu this is important- so i need to know!

 

I have an extra deep freeze right not so I have been putting stuff in gallon ziplocks and throwing all my extra in there (rice, sugar, flour, wheat -whole grain, corn meal, grits,) HOWEVER -I want to get this stuff in buckets since I ma not be able to count on deep freeze for several reason (electricity out ect.)

 

Anyway- I do not have a food sealer -I do have some buckets and am about to order gamma seal lids. I am just not sure where to proceed form here- I feel overwhelmed every time I read. I would rather spend the bulk of our money on actual food- since the amount I have is probally not sufficient for 6 mos at this time- I am adding weekly but could easily rotate most of this stuff out pretty regularly for now.

 

so since I want to spend the bulk of my money on food and not just putting the food up- what is most important -a food sealer? mylar bags? H2O absorbers? I was honestly planing on just putting ziplocks in the buckets but I do live in the hot humid South and I would rather not eat bugs -so what is MOST important to the stuff that needs to go into buckets????

 

[ATHagan]

Originally Posted By: bluebird

I have #10 cans of organic hard red spring wheat. Can I just leave the wheat in the cans and it will be okay? When I vac seal the flour in 5lb increments, do I put the oxygen absorbers in the bucket with the flour or in the bag with the flour?

If the wheat came packed in #10 cans then by all means leave it in the cans. I live in the South as well and we're still using wheat we packed in '98 and it's just fine. It was stored in the house, not someplace where there was no climate control.

If you're going to vac-seal the flour in bags there is no need for oxygen absorbers. It's redundant. If you're just going to seal the flour in plastic bags (no vacuum) then put the absorbers in the bags with the flour. If you're just going to put five pound bags of flour in a bucket then the absorbers go into the bucket with the flour. I don't recommend that method though unless you use the flour fast enough that it'll all be gone within a year of opening the bucket.

Originally Posted By: bluebird

What kind of vac sealer should I use for mylar bags?
Also how do I store salt?

Salt can be simply sealed up in a glass jar. Nothing else needed if it will seal air tight. It's about as inert as it gets so long as it stays dry.

Mylar bags can be vac-sealed, but it's not as straight forward as using proper vacuum sealer bags. Unless the bags are quite small they are too big to fit into a vac-sealer so you'll need to use something like a clothes iron. I describe the process in the food storage FAQ which you can read or download for free via the URL in my signature below. If that still doesn't answer your questions come on back and I'll see what I can do.

Originally Posted By: Evergreen

so since I want to spend the bulk of my money on food and not just putting the food up- what is most important -a food sealer? mylar bags? H2O absorbers? I was honestly planing on just putting ziplocks in the buckets but I do live in the hot humid South and I would rather not eat bugs -so what is MOST important to the stuff that needs to go into buckets????

Ziplocs are not intended for long-term food storage and will perform poorly unless you have them inside of some sort of packaging that is intended for the long-term.

Personally in your circumstances what I would do is this: Get your buckets together, your Mylar bags, and buy some oxygen absorbers. Buy an absorber size that makes the most sense for the amount of buckets you want to seal. I cover that in the FAQ. Put the bags in the buckets, fill, shake down, put the absorbers on top of the food, then seal with an iron. Once sealed test to make sure they are sealed air tight by pushing down on the bags in the buckets. There should be no sound of air whistling out. Once you're sure you've made a good seal on each bag hammer on the lids. Personally I wouldn't fool with Gamma Seal lids except for the buckets that you're going to actually have open. The rest of the buckets are better off with the regular lids. With only one gasket compared to the Gamma Seal's two they are less likely to fail and they're much cheaper. When you open a bucket to start using the contents then put the Gamma Seal on so that you can more easily get into it when you want to use something.

There are a number of different methods that one can use to store foods for the long-term and it's easy to become confused by them. The important thing is to pick ONE and use it. Vac-sealing OR oxygen absorbers OR dry ice. No need to double up on them.

.....Alan.

[Evergreen]

Thanks for all the great information. I was just panicking a little I took my old copy of Making the Best of Basics to work with me and re-read parts of it- And I have decided my situation may not be perfect- but as long as I am doing something -and continuing to do all I can to prepare each week- well, that all I can do! I think you are right about the mylar bags and oxygen absorbers they are my best bet.

 

(not water H2O absorbers though -Ha ha DUH I guess I was really flustered!)

[westbrook]

bump

 

[Cat]

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[westbrook]

bump