How to get rid of gnats: Try homemade traps in your house to kill them
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Next time a bottle of wine turns stale or vinegary, don’t dump it. This technique is similar to the cider vinegar trap mentioned above. Pour the old wine into a bowl, add a few drops of liquid dish soap, then set the bowl out in the open.
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Clean it (along with a garbage disposal if you have one) on a consistent basis, keep the area as dry as possible, and use a drain stopper overnight. Inspect new plants—Before bringing new houseplants home, carefully inspect them for any signs of pests. Also, isolate new houseplants for two to three weeks to protect other existing plants in your home from possible infestation. Also called Bti, Bacillus thuringiensis is a type of bacteria that is effective in killing mosquito and gnat larvae.
When to Call Pest Control
Alternatively, these gnats may be drain flies that live in the sink or tub drains. To get rid of flies, try fly traps made with vinegar and dish soap, clean the drain with bleach, or call a professional pest control. Before killing gnats, the first thing to do is make sure that they are, in fact, gnats.
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Put out a Beer or Wine Trap.
Adult female gnats can lay up to 300 eggs in their short, 10-day lifespan. When getting rid of gnats, you may have to treat the problem both inside and outside your home. The best way to get rid of gnats is to find a combination of insecticide solutions and natural methods that deal with different types of gnat infestations. Another method for drain flies is to pour a cup of bleach down the drain. Like the drain cleaner, pour slowly to ensure the bleach has time to kill all the gnats and larvae. Also, make sure there aren’t any other chemicals in the drain to prevent creating harmful fumes.
Fruit Flies
The gnats will dive into the trap to get the vinegar, but will be unable to escape. They are most active during dawn and dusk and are often found near bodies of water, such as ponds, lakes or marshy areas. Their bites can be irritating and cause itching, redness and minor swelling. Using insect repellent and wearing protective clothing can help. Gnats have a life cycle of 18 to 30 days, but they reproduce quickly and the infestation will last indefinitely until it’s handled. To increase effectiveness (if needed), mix a teaspoon of dish soap into the wine.
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Make a Candle Trap.
Add the three ingredients to a glass, a plastic cup or any other vessel. Stir it up, and then place the glass where gnats are floating around. If the gnats are infesting your houseplants, you can either purchase a mild insecticidal spray or make one yourself.
Make a fruit trap.
Female gnats bite people because they require a blood meal to produce eggs, while males feed on plants. Symptoms of a gnat bite may include itching, discomfort and localized swelling. Few things are as annoying as a gnat (or several) buzzing about the kitchen when you’re trying to prepare a meal.
Black Flag Use fly paper.
Licensed professionals have access to better equipment, insecticides, and training, so they’ll be able to spot the source of the infestation and treat it efficiently. The best companies have expertise in ridding your home of eggs, larvae, and adult gnats. Their technicians will create a customized treatment plan for your home at a reasonable cost for pest control. If you have a gnat problem, you may have noticed them swarming around your house plants. Fungus gnats are the most common type of gnat found around house plants.
What's more, it deodorizes your sink, so gnats are less likely to be drawn to your pipework. Be sure to cover the plug with a damp cloth so the vinegar-soda reaction works its way downwards through your pipes and doesn't flow over into the sink. “Cleaning is the number one thing you can do to get rid of gnats,” says Morgan.
Another option that can work for all types of gnats is sticky paper or cards. These cards are yellow—a color that gnats are attracted to— and have adhesive on their faces. As soon as the gnats land on them, they get stuck and dehydrate.
A professional can help pinpoint areas you might have missed that attract fungus gnats and even spray affected areas in your home to kill adult populations. They can also treat the soil in your potted plants and make other recommendations for avoiding recurring infestations. If these efforts don’t eliminate the gnats, you can also repot houseplants with sterile soil or treat them with a product containing BTI.
They tend to float in front of faces and land on food, giving most folks the creeps. And while these bugs do reproduce quickly, you’re not destined for a life of fluttering suffering. These tricks and tips will help homeowners learn how to get rid of gnats the next time these pests pop up.
This technique requires you to be on standby after dark, but it’s an easy solution. Fill a pan with water and a bit of dish soap and add a candlestick with a tall, tapered candle in the middle. After a while, you’ll notice that the gnats have been drawn to it and ultimately perish by the heat or by dropping into the soapy mixture below. This is a good way to remind your household to eat fruit before it starts to spoil. Diatomaceous earth is mineralized fossil dust that acts as a non-toxic pesticide.
For example, a hydrogen peroxide drench will also kill nematodes. So, wait for two weeks after a neem oil or hydrogen peroxide flush before putting nematodes in the soil. How do you know that fungus gnats are affecting your houseplants? If your plants at home are generally healthy and there are only a few flies, it can be challenging to spot sight of houseplant gnats. Of course, seeing minuscule mosquito-like flies is a sign of a gnat problem.
Fungus gnats generally are between 1/8 and 1/4 inch long (4 to 7 mm) and can be brown, black, or yellowish. Once you have treated your gnat infestation, the key to keeping it from coming back is to clean thoroughly and reduce available sources of food and moisture for the gnats. For outdoor infestations, you can purchase an electric insect killer, or bug zapper, to install on your porch or patio.
Leftover food will attract gnats and create all kinds of unwanted smells in your kitchen. On the same note, throw out your garbage, and until you do, make sure it stays in a sealed container. The same goes for any compost bins you might have — don’t leave them open throughout the day. Pour boiling water down the drain to kill the eggs before they hatch. If none of these solutions seem to be working and the gnats keep returning, it may be time to call in a professional. A pest control company can help you tackle a serious or persistent infestation.
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