For years I have been advocating natural insect repellents. All these years I thought cedar blocks and cloves did the trick, until today.
About 6 months ago I packed up my tying goodies in preparation of selling the house and buying another. In addition to the cedar blocks and cloves in each plastic container, I placed additional cedar blocks and cloves in the storage boxes and sealed them up with heavy duty strapping tape all along the perimeter in an effort to stop bugs from getting in. Today I opened the boxes and removed the content in preparation for a fly swap I signed on for. I noticed several of my capes looked to have dandruff flacks. Upon further inspection it was the carcasses of dead bugs! When I opened one of the bags I found some of the carcasses to be as big as or bigger than rollie pollies. I was shocked! I called Denny of Conranch Hackles. He told me to place all my materials in plastic bags and put them in the freezer for about a week and to kill the dormant eggs and prevent further issues to buy and cut up bug strips and place them in the storage boxes.
I wanted to stay away from chemical deterrants, but today proved what Al Campbell, Ronn Lucas and Denny have been telling us all along. That more potent means are necessary to protect our materials from bugs.
Here’s part of what I said on the “Road kill” thread…
If I were really paranoid about protecting my road kill I would quarantine it in the freezer…then thaw it …then hit it with the microwave …then back to the freezer…then harvest it …and store it with a piece of “No Pest Strip”…
For “retail” stuff I, like JC, use the No Pest Strips…I do wonder how long those strips last???
JC you aren’t saying a strip lasts 30 yrs are you???
How long are they potent???
If it’s “free materials”, (from hunting buddies, etc.), I FIRST toss it into my microwave, in the garage, I use for just such things, then moth ball it all, in Zip Locks. Like’s been mentioned; “I’ve got way too many dollars to replace”, to worry about a little “Gramaw Stink” from the moth balls!
A fishing buddy, uses the no pest strips and they also work very, very well with no smell of course. But, since there are always puppies running around my tying room and the pest strips are instantly fatal to dogs and cats, (If chewed on or even licked on too much), it’s not worth the risk to me, to use them.
For those of you who use mothballs, how do you apply them? What I am asking is how do you suspend the cake or crystals so you don’t have them loose in your containers.
There is moth balls & moth crystals. Moth balls are Naphthalene and do a better job at repelling bugs than killing them. Moth crystals are Paradichlorobenzene, (PDB) and kill the critters. Moth cakes can be either so you have to read the label.
First of all I store the bulk of my natural materials in separate Rubbermaid containers with Paradichlorobenzene just dumped in and sitting on the bottom. The loose crystals don’t bother me at all. If you use Zip Lock bags for your stuff; just dump some crystals in the bag. I DON’T recommend storing loose natural materials in desk drawers or other places where bugs can easily get at them. Besides, if you go the moth crystal or moth ball route and you dump them in an open desk drawer you will be smelling them ALL the time which I can’t imagine is a good thing for your health or marriage.
I also isolate all new materials in a SEPARATE container FIRST before adding them to the “general population”. So if for example I got some new turkey feathers or a new neck; BEFORE I put it in the container where I store the rest of the feathers or necks; I put it in isolation in a large SEPARATE Rubbermaid container with a generous amount of PDB in there. I keep it segregated from the other materials of the same type for several days to a week before adding it to the container with the rest of the like materials.
This isolation treatment SHOULD kill anything on the new stuff which SHOULD keep any infestation from spreading to the bulk of my other materials. I have been doing it this way ever since I started and never had a problem and I have everything from store bought to road kill. Just freezing and microwaving MAY NOT kill all critters; just ask any entomologist.
I think the No-Pest Strips are a great idea except I can’t find the dang things and I have no idea how long they last. At least with PDB when it completely evaporates I know it is time to add more.
AND…
…I know this is kookie but I kinda like the smell. When I started fly fishing EVERYBODY used moth balls or crystals. Call me sentimental, (or worse) but there were only two smells in the fly fishing world back then; moth balls and good old fashioned fly floatant. The smells of those two things always made me think about fishin’!
No, Bamboozle, you’re only “weird”, like ME, not "strange!
“Moth repellent/killers and Mucelin (sp), smells”, MEAN… “Let’s go fly fishing!” for me as well. Those, or in a pinch, the smell of “color preservative and spar varnish” from rod building,can also set off the 'ol memory channel!
Another trick, that I use for storing materials along with the Moth-B-Dead and Zip-Locks, is I hit up the junk stores and smoke shops for empty CEDAR cigar boxes. Cedar, ALONE, as has been mentioned already, is not enough really on it own merit, to kill very much, but it is a great repellent so, coupled WITH the Moth-B-History it becomes…“A killer application”!?! (sorry, it’s still early).
A lot of cedar cigar boxes are covered in paper, all over too, but usually if you flip one over… the bottoms aren’t pasted over with paper and you’ll see the cedar. These work excellent for small materials, like jungle cock eyes, CDC feathers, calf tails, etc.
I, still, also micro-blast every thing “given” to me too.
Your idea/suggestion Bam-B on the “isolation-quarantine”, before allowing the “newbies” in with the general population cell block is a really good one, too!
I get mine in the supermarket. It’s in that isle with the Rit Dye, canning jars and wax, mop heads, shoe polish and laces, lightbulbs and clothespins, etc.
While I am thinking about it, once I remove the goodies out of the freezer what should I do? Do I open all the plastic bags and shake out the material to remove the dead bugs? Do I then place the materials loosely in several plastic storage bins with Paradichlorobenzene for a week and then rebag. Two of my capes are littered with the pesty bugs now being frozen to death.
another leathal way of long term storage is place materials in an water proof container, 5 gallon paint buckets work well, put in a golf ball size chunk of Dry Ice, as it melts the co2 being heavier than air forces the air out of the bucket making an environment that the bugs cant live in. if you use 5 gallon paint buckets the lids pop in place keeping the c02 in and oxygen out, If I had an infestation I would use this attack along with freezing and no pest strips,
i dont mean to try and hijack the thread but, youre all talking about protecting youre supplies from bugs, and i heard some people recently talking about having an “infestation” in youre supplies.what do you mean by that? what do the bugs do? Do they actually eat and destroy youre supplies or what?
[quote]what do the bugs do? Do they actually eat and destroy youre supplies or what?
[quote]
In short there are bugs that eat dead animals, fur feather etc. if they get in your tying supplies and you dont catch it they will ruin all your fur and feathers. Its best to keep them out rather than try to get rid of them once you get them.
I recall this topic was discussed a year or so ago and some people said they used pet flea collars and cut them into pieces and placed them in zip lock bags with there fur and/or feathers to protect them. Is anyone doing this and how does it work??
