Some kind of moth? in my sunflower seeds

[GardenWeasel]

I have 40 lbs of sunflower seeds in a rubber wear bin in the house for my treat can. Never had a bug in 4 months. I just brought my home grown sunflower heads into dry in this same room. Could they have gotten in to my covered bin from the ones I grew? Freaked out and dusted the top layer with DE. Will this work. Don't want have to trash all those seeds.

 

[BlackBart]

The worms of those moths live inside the seed until they are ready to hatch into a moth. If you look at the seeds you might see a small hole where the worm entered.

I don't know if DE will kill the worms inside the seeds.

My Husband worked for a seed company and those moths are a big problem, they will eat a entire shipment of seeds. All new shipments were carefully examined and quarantined until they were deemed moth free.

They company he worked for had sticky strips everywhere to catch the adult moths and they would fumigate with Pyrethrium (sp?)monthly.
Try hanging up sticky strips and see how many adults you catch. We always use sticky strips to monitor the grain since he worked for the seed company.

 

[cmom]

Chickens love bugs. Maybe you can identify them. I have had moths in my sunflower heads from plants I have grown too. I fed them to my birds and never saw any ill effects.

 

[alyssa558]

Whatever you do, don't let it in the house! I got some old boxes from my grandma's basement and they had those moths (I can't remember the name...) and they infested my house. They got in the pantry and ruined everything I had in there. They even got into sealed packages. It was totally disgusting! I had to throw everything away and scour the entire house for those nasty cocoons.

I recently bought some corn for my deer and squirrels that had the moths (I never bought from that place again!) and I just dumped the whole thing in the woods. There is no way I am going through that again.