First, thank you Grainlady and everyone else on several threads in this forum and money saving tips forum. We had weevils in some rice yesterday. I'm so grateful for all the helpful info on those threads re: what those critters were, how they "evolve", how to get rid of them, and how to never have them again. I've cleared everything out, cleaned everything up, fumigated safely, and am re-stocking in a few days. At the moment anything that is not canned is in the fridge or the freezer, and I'll be re-evaluating all my storage containers.

I suspect they came in, in some rice we recently bought. HOWEVER, at Christmas I purchased a live wreath made of bay leaves (from the California bay laurel tree, made in California, sold by Williams-Sonoma and an absolutely gorgeous thing). The leaves dry in a few weeks and you're supposed to use them off the wreath all year long. One of the things I read is that pantry pests can come in on live decorative things like Indian corn. DO YOU THINK THEY COULD HAVE COME IN ON THE LAUREL WREATH? I read elsewhere that bay leaves are supposed to repel the pests, so this seems unlikely -- but Grainlady, you said that was not the case based on scientific thinking. So I'm really wondering if it could be the culprit.

Should I get rid of it? Would heavily spraying it with odorless pesticide kill them if they're there? (obviously I would not be cooking with the leaves in that case.) The wreath is very beautiful and makes a nice decoration in my kitchen so I want to keep it if I can.

PS on the wreath, when it arrived (perfectly fresh, brand new soft leaves) it smelled strongly skunky. More to me than to others because I have a good nose. As it is drying that odor is going away. This doesn't seem normal, I thought it should smell beautifully aromatic, which it doesn't.

Thank you, Grainlady, and anyone else with helpful ideas. I'm very grateful for the help I get here.