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We've rounded up 10 easy methods for removal — from simple home remedies, like a trap made from apple cider vinegar, to top-tested products that have earned the Good Housekeeping Seal. If you’ve tried these solutions with no luck, you’ll need to call in a professional pest control company to help address your gnat infestation. Traps like this Zevo Flying Insect Trap ($19.97, Walmart), use safe amounts of blue and UV light to attract gnats, and mosquitoes to trap them in. The best thing is they contain no chemical insecticides, odor and are more user-friendly. Cinnamon powder is another natural remedy with powerful insecticidal properties that can help get rid of fungus gnats.
Dealing with Gnat Infestations
This should be relatively obvious, as they tend to gather around the problem, which will aid in identifying their type. Use the following ideas to get rid of gnats and learn how to fend them off for good. While these tiny insects are not harmful, they can become a huge nuisance.
Gnats vs. Other Common Pests
If you spot these tiny bugs, you’ll need to know how to get rid of gnats inside your home. Be it rotting fruit, overwatered plants or you simply forgot to wipe up a sugary spill, these can easily attract a swarm of gnats. If all else fails, and you still have a problem of fungus gnats in the roots of your plants, you may have to change the soil to get rid of and prevent a gnat infestation. When you change the soil, make sure that you replace it with good quality soil and check for any signs of larvae and insects before replanting your plants.
Where do gnats lay eggs?
She is a board-certified entomologist and volunteers for USAIDs Farmer to Farmer program. She is a professor of Horticulture, an Education Specialist, and a pest specialist. Here is a super useful homemade gnat trap that takes hardly any effort at all to set up.
Bug zapper
There are a handful of biological controls for fungus gnats, but they are mainly used in greenhouses where plants are being propagated. If a gnat problem gets so out of hand with houseplants that you are considering biological controls, you are probably better off sacrificing your houseplants and starting over. Existing fungus gnat larvae can be trapped using pieces of raw potato. Place the potato pieces flesh side down on the soil, and check under them every couple of days. Remove any feeding larvae, and replace the potato with fresh pieces. Often indoor plants get gnats when plants are being overwatered.
To get rid of the infestation, a good place to start is to let the soil dry out between waterings to discourage gnats from making your plants their home. "Gnat" is actually an umbrella term referring to a wide variety of small insects. To get rid of gnats in the house a few different strategies are recommended. Traps, bleach and even exterminators can be effective solutions depending on the severity of your infestation. The tiny bugs often hover above your fruit bowl or drain, bite the skin, and persist as a general nuisance until dealt with. It is also a good idea to prevent build-up in garbage bins in the kitchen, especially during the summer months.
Sometimes a more direct approach is helpful with gnats, especially when you only have a few. For a spot treatment that's effective and easy to put together, combine warm water with a few tablespoons of vinegar and a few drops of dish soap in a spray bottle. Combine well, and spray any gnats you see, whether they're flying or on the counter. If houseplants are the source of your gnat issue, kill off any larvae in the soil of your houseplants by digging down 2 to 3 inches and turning the top of the soil over. Place 1 to 2 inches of sand on top of the soil to discourage standing water and deter gnats from laying eggs.
Use Red Wine and Soap
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If you are having trouble finding where the gnats or flies are coming from, call a professional integrated pest management specialist to help you deal with the problem. Amanda Rose Newton is a pest specialist and horticulture expert, reviewing pest control and gardening content for The Spruce's Cleaning and Gardening Review Board. Her passion for pest control and sustainable gardening allows her to review plant and pest content for best practices and accuracy.
Thankfully, unlike with a cold, there are a number of cures to a gnat infestation to get rid of those pesky critters for good! To get rid of them, spread a little honey on bright yellow index cards. Glue the card to a straw or chopstick and stick into the soil of the gnat’s favorite houseplants. Yellow attracts gnats because it’s the color of plants under stress whose defenses are weakened against predators. When the gnats come to investigate, they’ll get stuck in the honey. Fruit flies look like tiny house flies, and they have large, red eyes.
Your garbage can, particularly in the kitchen, should have a lid that seals tight when not in use. The trash, along with any indoor compost, should be taken out regularly. If you have an open wine bottle (red works best) that’s gone rancid but you haven’t had the heart to toss it yet, you can swap it for vinegar and follow the rest of the steps. If you're bedeviled by other pests, we've also get tips on how to get rid of mosquitoes, how to get rid of moths as well as how to get rid of ants and how to get rid of fleas. Cinnamon powder is one of the best home remedies for ants and other insects and can easily take care of your gnat problem.
Fruit flies are so small they can pass through ordinary screening used to keep other flies away. They are common in houses, especially kitchens, restaurants, and other food-handling sites, attracted to ripening or fermenting fruit, other fly droppings, and uncooked food. Gnats and small flies that appear inside homes are drawn to rotting organic matter, which they use for both a feeding and breeding site. You will want to address as many of these sources as you can to get rid of them. If none of these homemade bug traps seem to work, or if you don’t have all the ingredients present, there are plenty of premade gnat traps available to purchase.
As well as removing these gnat magnets from countertops, there are, thankfully, a number of home remedies available for you to get rid of gnats without having to head out to the store. Glue or sticky traps are strips of paper or tape with an adhesive coating that traps gnats. You can set these traps anywhere in your home that sees gnat activity. Note that the traps will need to be replaced often and may have limited effectiveness for large infestations. You can avoid getting rid of gnats entirely by preventing them in the first place. To do this, avoid keeping out overripe fruits or vegetables and keep your sink and kitchen counters clean.
Continue to use the mix in an area that becomes infested with the gnats. Read on to learn about several additional methods that will help you get rid of gnats indoors. Many will combat a gnat problem with harsh pesticides that fill the air with toxic chemicals. You can just as easily eradicate gnats with natural solutions like a bowl of vinegar or a piece of scrap paper slathered with honey.
Regarding houseplants, Pangborn says gnats are looking for consistently moist environments where they can lay eggs — and that's why potted plants are so attractive to them. "The trouble comes when the top layer of potting mix doesn't dry out between waterings, since the top layer is where the gnats settle," she says. Gnat infestations typically occur with plants that need a lot of water or plants that are overwatered. Price recommends placing a few tablespoons of apple cider vinegar, a few drops of dish soap, and a tablespoon of sugar in a bowl and then stirring the contents. "Set your bowl in an area where gnats are prevalent, like your kitchen or bathroom," he says. The gnats will be attracted to the sugar and vinegar, but the dish soap will coat their wings making them unable to fly away.
When it comes to household gnats, the infestation is typically due to a source of organic material they're drawn to. First, it's essential to identify the specific pest in your home. Chances are you have a bottle of apple cider vinegar and some sugar sitting in your kitchen or pantry, and these two ingredients can help you get rid of gnats. Place a bowl near the infestation and fill it with vinegar before adding a teaspoon of plain sugar, which is what the gnats will be drawn to. The vinegar is what will ultimately kill them, but you also need a way to keep them in the bowl long enough for that to happen. Either cover the bowl with plastic wrap and poke small holes on the top, or add a bit of dish soap to the vinegar and sugar concoction.
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