Decoy Moths

These small moths clip to branches or sit on flat spots as decoys to deter real moths from choosing that plant to lay eggs. There is no guarantee they will work, but at a third-of-a-penny each they probably can't hurt the plants.

There are two kinds of decoy moths. One clips to branches up to about 2.5mm and the other clips to branches between 2.5 and 5mm.

A single decoy moth uses about 1/3 cent of filament and prints in about 3 minutes. I've included a slicer profile that includes 16 of each kind. The 32 moth fleet of decoys prints in 81 minutes for ten cents in filament.

You can use a sharpie or paint pen to put markings on the moths to make them unique or mimic your local moths, for example to make them look like they have two wings on each side. You can print them in a color to match their dominant color. You can dunk them in very hot water and bend their wings to other shapes, widen the clips, etc.

You can place them on top of something instead of clipping them to a branch and the small clips act like legs to hold them up at a jaunty angle. Jaunty, I say! Yes, they stand jauntily above all the flat decoy moths. Don't even get me started…

Speaking of flat decoy moths, you can also break the clips off and glue a 6mm magnet to them. Then they will stick to steel fixtures in a garden to help protect them from caterpillars. Or, refrigerators. They stick to refrigerators too. 

These moths are not meant for practical jokes! However, the smaller clips do fit perfectly on USB cables, and the larger ones fit on some eyeglass legs as well as the edges of a shot glass or the wire racks in a refrigerator. However, “Avoid decoy moths” is probably not to be found anywhere in their user manuals. Better safe than sorry: you probably don't want real moths in those places.

Important note: I would think twice about using these if I had a dog that might want to eat them. While inert, I don't think it is safe for pets to eat plastic decoy moths.