Stored Product Pest Control in Atlantic Seaboard

The Atlantic Seaboard runs from Mouille Point and Green Point down past Sea Point, Bantry Bay and Clifton to Camps Bay, squeezed between the mountain and the cold ocean. Pest work here is mostly in apartment blocks, restaurants and holiday rentals, where one problem flat can spread to the whole building.

Stored Product Pest Control by suburb

We cover all 26 suburbs on our City Bowl & Atlantic Seaboard route. Each suburb page covers what we find there and what works for those streets and buildings.

• Bantry BayStored Product Pest Control
• Bo-KaapStored Product Pest Control
• Camps BayStored Product Pest Control
• CliftonStored Product Pest Control
• De WaterkantStored Product Pest Control
• ForeshoreStored Product Pest Control
• FresnayeStored Product Pest Control
• GardensStored Product Pest Control
• Green PointStored Product Pest Control
• HiggovaleStored Product Pest Control
• Hout BayStored Product Pest Control
• Imizamo YethuStored Product Pest Control
• LlandudnoStored Product Pest Control
• Malay QuarterStored Product Pest Control
• Mouille PointStored Product Pest Control
• OranjezichtStored Product Pest Control
• Schotsche KloofStored Product Pest Control
• Sea PointStored Product Pest Control
• TamboerskloofStored Product Pest Control
• Three Anchor BayStored Product Pest Control
• University EstateStored Product Pest Control
• Upper WoodstockStored Product Pest Control
• VredehoekStored Product Pest Control
• Walmer EstateStored Product Pest Control
• WoodstockStored Product Pest Control
• ZonnebloemStored Product Pest Control

The local picture in Atlantic Seaboard

Restaurants, delis and corner cafés need routine stored product checks for flour beetles and moths. In holiday homes, opened packets left in the pantry between visits are a common source of pantry moths.

Much of the coast is high-rise and mid-rise flats along Beach Road and Victoria Road, mixed with older semi-detached houses inland and big modern homes cut into the slopes higher up. Apartment blocks share refuse rooms, service ducts and basements, which is where rats and cockroaches settle. Holiday lets change guests every few days, and that turnover brings bed bugs in with the luggage.

Worth knowing

In homes with small children and pets, we lean on clean-out, sealed storage and pheromone traps rather than chemical treatment near food.

Signs to look for

1. Insects collect in the folds of packaging or along the seams of sealed boxes and bags.
2. Small moths flutter out when you open a cupboard, and rest on the ceiling at night.
3. Small brown or reddish beetles walk along pantry shelves or across the kitchen counter.
4. Silky webbing clumps cereal, nuts or pet food together, sometimes with small caterpillars inside.
5. Grains of rice or maize have tiny round exit holes, or the bag has fine dust at the bottom.
6. Pheromone traps or glue boards in a warehouse catch more beetles or moths each week.

How the treatment works

The first and most important step is finding and removing every infested product, because no treatment works while the insects still have food. Shelves, cracks and crevices, and the gaps behind and under cupboards and racking are vacuumed out to remove spilt product and eggs. We then apply a targeted residual treatment into cracks and crevices, and an insect growth regulator where the pest is a moth or beetle that keeps cycling through. Pheromone traps for moths and beetles go in to monitor for survivors and new arrivals. In warehouses, mills and food factories, larger infestations of bulk commodities may need fumigation, which we plan and carry out separately under the right controls.

Want the full step-by-step? See how our stored product pest control service works.

Keeping them out afterwards

• Wipe and vacuum pantry shelves when you restock, paying attention to corners and the gaps behind shelf supports.
• Buy dry goods in amounts you will use within a month or two, rather than letting big bags sit at the back of the cupboard.
• Move flour, rice, cereal, pasta and pet food into sealed glass or hard plastic containers as soon as you get them home.
• In commercial stores, rotate stock on a first-in, first-out basis and keep pallets off walls so you can inspect behind them.
• Store birdseed and pet food away from the kitchen, as these are common sources of pantry moths.

What affects the price

For homes, the cost depends mostly on how big the pantry is and how far the insects have spread into other cupboards. For commercial sites, the size of the storage area, the type of commodity, the level of infestation and whether fumigation is needed all affect the price. Food businesses that need regular monitoring and audit paperwork are usually best on a service contract, and we quote free after an inspection.

In a home pantry, throwing out infested food, a thorough clean and sealed containers fixes most problems, and we will happily talk you through that over the phone. Spraying insecticide in a cupboard full of food is a bad idea, so please do not. Where you need a professional is when the insects keep returning after a clean-out, or when you have a commercial store, bakery or factory where losses and audits are at stake.

Questions we get asked in Atlantic Seaboard

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