TO Conservation Dist. List
Add on to Pest Issue

Mary Ballard <[log in to unmask]>
CAL Senior Textiles Conservator
and
Sandra L. Troon" <[log in to unmask]>

Pest Control - Thanks for the Additional information on Gentrol usage.
I remembered the IPO officer discussing this and we decided the only
real treatment was to dessicate or Fry or Freeze them.
Instead of trying to use the juvenile hormone on carpet beetles
since it is the juvenile stage -- the larval stage--that is
'voracious' for attacking wool. Try controlled heat & a vacuum.

Dear Sandra L. Troon" <[log in to unmask]>
Oregon Textile Workshop, 9745 SW 163rd Avenue, Beaverton, OR 97007

Carpet beetles are very common also here in the Midwest.

I would question a Gentrol Trap outside of the case because children
find them, or at least that is why we looked into other options.

Unreproductive lives" could take 3-6 years to diminish.
So, I suggest being more active to diminish the current generation
of insects from damaging the artifacts,

Strongly consider the freeze treatment of the case contents if they
are composite objects or thicker but better yet consider the
options, "Freeze em or"Fry em".
I prefer heat if it is a thin coverlet, rug, tapestry, blanket.....
I use the CCI method of plastic bagging for either method but when the
object is less than 1/2" thick it can be easily toasted to dessicate
the larvae & the current population. After heating in the sun, enclosed
in a plastic bag, Vaccum voraciously.... to get them out of there.  I
can send you photos of the damge that a population can do in Indian
wool rugs after 7 years.....

Orig. Question: using, Gentrol which is S-Hydroprene, a growth regulator
pesticide  for dermestid (carpet) beetles.
Jennifer Hein
Preservation Consultant
Historic Object Conservator of Textiles, Leather & Ethnography
PO Box 90379, Indianapolis, IN 46290
317-575-9296

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