Wait...do I see a moth hole?!

[koneko]

Hi,

Well, I found a carpet beetle in my kimono room today, so I'm in all-out panic mode!

Yes, I know it was just one beetle, and it could have crawled in there from outside...but I took ownership of a very old Meiji furi last month, and it had a few moth holes in it (looked like moth not beetle to me, judging from the spaced nature). They looked old, and there were no signs of new ones, but I have a habit of hanging any newly-arrived kimono out for a month to acclimatize, before I put them into tatoshi, and it's a bit of a coincidence that a carpet beetle showed up a few weeks later, just underneath another Meiji furi that was out on display (one I'd had for years, and has no damage whatsoever).

I know that carpet beetles are just as dangerous to silk as fabric moths, and am thinking of using the preventative anti-moth drawer papers--one on each shelf of my kimono closet, and wondered if anyone had used them? I don't want to end up getting a headache every time I go in the room!

The alternative plan is to put each kimono into a large plastic lidded box along with an anti-moth paper (not touching the silk of course) for about eight weeks, then take them out and air them. I know that in the enclosed box the strips will kill every stage of the beetles, if there are any.

So yeah...anybody used the anti-moth paper?

Also, yeah, I know I'm over-reacting here...

[Quat]

I don't think you're over reacting. I've never heard of moth repelling paper before, but it sounds like a good investment! It won't interact weird with anything in your closet, right? What I would like to start doing, is once or twice a year, remove everything from my closet/shelf/dresser, clean and vacuum the areas, and inspect closely for unwanted guests.

[koneko]

Thank you for humoring me! I really like the sound of the moth repellent paper (I think it's relatively new) because you can cut it to size, so you get the perfect dose for the space, meaning you can place a cut-to-size piece on each shelf, rather than one of those more general hanging plastic wardrobe things. I just feel like I'm getting full circulation through each individual shelf which divides the shelved wardrobe space I use. Plus I don't like the idea of over-dosing if I'm sealing my nice kimono into a box with no fresh air for a month or two! The manufacturers also claim that the paper won't damage fabric even with full contact, though I haven't tried that yet--I have a couple of old kimono I'm willing to sacrifice, though, so I will at some point

Yeah, I also keep meaning to do the whole 'clean out the whole space and wipe it down with liquid repellent' thing too--I really do! I gotta get on top of that I worry a little about having all these chemicals wafting about in the house, though--do you? I have a liquid that you can spray around the edges of the room, but I don't use it for that very reason. Still, I'm aware that my problem ( and everyone's here!) is that I have about 200-plus kimono (as well as obi and silk bolts) in one place, so it's basically like clothes-moth heaven in there!

I wonder if anyone is on top of that kind of thing? Does anyone know anyone who's had any kind of reaction to the insecticides? I've read that if you keep a lot of older kimono (I collect vintage stuff), mould spores and particles can be a possible irritant, too.

Curious now--does anyone get the prize for actually doing the whole the prevention thing? ?

[Quat]

I've unintentionally taken everything out because my main area of storage for kimono doesn't have enough shelving, kimono get piled high, and end up collapsing right out of the shelf forcing me to refold and restack everything.
Maybe with the bonus from work I'm getting soon, I can invest in a nice Ikea dresser....
Actually this has me thinking... bed bugs are a terrible problem in my state. I really really really should look into some sort of bug repellent in ALL my shelves. And with spring coming, really need to check the windows in my apartment. I always find stink beetles. T_T
Where's that bottle of lavender oil...

[koneko]

I know this was a long time ago, but I'm just cruising past this page, so...

I treated all kimono that had been out on display at the time by packing them very airily with acid-free tissue paper and putting each into an under-bed storage box. Onto the inside lid of the box I taped the right amount of insect-killing paper, making sure it wasn't in direct contact with the kimono silk, then left them the advised 6 months, opening the boxes just twice, to turn the kimono. There were a mix of kimono individually boxed, from present day to several Meiji and one Edo, and none seemed to suffer any damage from the insect paper.

One furisode had been harboring eggs, as I found about nine dead larvae on the tissue paper in the base of its box at the four month point...so I got the little tinkers!

I've been good ever since, and developed the habit of spraying liquid moth killer just around the edges of the room-- that's under the lip between the skirting board and the floor, and at the door threshold. That's it. The door is open, but with an insect curtain over it (to keep the air in there moving, as I watch humidity pretty closely), and no insect repellent in the actual storage (which by the way are Ikea Pax wardrobes with shelves throughout--the shallow version is 38cm deep and 100cm long; perfect for folded kimono! I'd say each double 100cm wide wardrobe holds about 175 folded kimono, three to a tatoshi). I've sewn tiny magnets into the curtain's hems, which attach to plain ol' drawing pins with white heads nailed into the door frame, to give a good seal.

I do also have six mannequins out in the room with kimono on them, and generally about half of them have an insect-killing sachet threaded onto a bit of ribbon and tied to the underside of the mannequin body, to just hand loose under the kimono.

Interestingly, the company I buy my insect stuff from told me that if I find any insect, the best thing to do is get a bit of sellotape and encapsulate it between two pieces, being careful not to crush it, so that it can be clearly viewed. Then use an indelible pen to date it and list exactly where it was, and keep any insects found in a plastic bag. That way if you think it might have laid eggs and you want advice, you can always take a pic of the insect and email it to any decent supplier of good quality repellents. They'll be able to name it and tell you exactly what you need to do to deal with it. The guy was really helpful, and knowledgeable about vintage fabrics and their pests. He said in a small (10 x 16feet) room such as mine, I should expect to find about two insects a year. That was provided I keep it sealed from the outside, of course; the main ingress would be via floorboards and of course, the door, even with an insect curtain up. He was the one who said, just spray the edges of the room and the threshold--and the insect curtain. The idea is to have the insect crawl over about an inch of treated surface--that's sufficient to kill it within an hour or so.

Sorry, information-drop there! Hope you never need it!

[koneko]

Also Quat...what are stink-beetles?!