Know your Weevils from your Beetles!
We’ve created this handy guide to help you get to know the types of stored product insects lurking in your stored product, how to avoid them from the start and the treatments we offer if you do suffer from an infestation.
Fumigation treatments are one of the best ways to get rid of stored product insects. Our treatments can remove insects and pests including mites, moths, beetles, weevils and more. We specialise in getting rid of pests from grain and rice storage. Providing solutions to prevent contamination after the fumigation treatments as well as pre-harvest treatments ahead of storing your products.
Get in touch today on 07498 222657 to see how we can help solve your infestation with the right fumigation treatment for you.
Here’s your guide to the types of pests lurking in your storage…
What are the types of Stored Product Insects?
Primary insects
Capable of infesting whole grain, making it an ideal breeding ground for other insect species to invade. They damage the grain and raise temperatures and moisture levels, making it suitable for secondary pests and fungi.
Secondary storage insects
Insects like the Australian Spider Beetles, Booklice and Fungus beetles will sometimes invade from nearby haystacks. These secondary pests develop on the grain that has already been damaged by primary insects.
Mites
These are much smaller than the insect pests and are a severe problem of stored cereals and oilseed rape, causing direct damage. In large numbers, they can cause an allergic reaction in humans and livestock.
Tips to avoid Stored Product Insects
1. Keep your Stored Product below 18 degrees
The usual breeding temperatures for stored product insects can be anywhere between 18 to 38 degrees. But the optimum temperature for insects to breed is between 25 and 33 degrees. If your product temperature is at the optimum range for pest breeding, then it’s likely to become infested 10 times faster than if your product is stored at the minimum temperature.
2. Raising the temperature!
You suspect a problem; can you raise the temperature in your store? When the temperatures are above 50 degrees those pests will begin to die off. But temperatures over 60 degrees will mean the insects will die in seconds.
3. Focus on humidity.
The optimum humidity breeding conditions for stored product insects is between 60 and 80%, this equates to a grain moisture content of between 13 to 15%.
Still, got pests? We’re on hand to help you today, call us on 07498 222657 to see how we can help solve your infestation with the right fumigation treatment for you.
The impact of your infestation…
What happens if you ignore the problem?
- First things first, you’re at risk of loss of commodity being eaten by insects.
- Your commodity is being spoiled.
- Risk of contamination by mould growth.
- You’ll end up with contamination from dead insect bodies and waste products.
- You’ll risk your commodity being downgraded from human food-grade to animal feed grade.
- Rejection of your product by consumers.
- Or you could be at risk of prosecution under the Food Safety Act 1990.
Common questions we get asked about Stored Product Insects (FAQs)
What can I do to ensure I avoid infestation from the start?
Clean early! It might be the worst job of the year, but don’t leave it until last. The quicker you get your commodity out of the door of the store, the better. Most insects take time to build up a decent population. Therefore, if you remove their habitat, they won’t get the chance to infest the good grain coming in at harvest. We offer a pre-harvest cleaning solution bespoke to you – Find out more.
Do insect traps work?
These are usually cheap to buy and contain an irresistible storage insect pheromone. Insects will soon show up in the traps if they are in the area. These are a good way to identify if your infestation is going to become a problem. Once you’ve identified the problem, call us to see how we can help solve your infestation with the right fumigation treatment for you.
How does your Pre-harvest treatment work to get rid of stored product insects?
Different stores require different machines to apply insecticide pre-harvest. It’s all based on substrate and droplet size. We offer a pre-harvest treatment to help mitigate these potential infestations. We apply a high-pressure spray treatment to get to those hard-to-reach areas. Using K-Obiol® EC25 will protect your grain against most stored product pests for 2 months.
When should I prepare my grain store for harvest to avoid stored product insects?
The ideal time to apply insecticide to grain stores pre-harvest is around six weeks before you’re due to harvest and store your product. Grain store insects go through one whole life cycle in six weeks. Leaving your store for that long with residual insecticide applied will ensure you’ve cleared the pests. Spraying a few days before harvest is much less effective and could be a waste of both time and money.