Table Of Content
You can make a simple homemade fruit fly trap with apple cider vinegar and dish soap. 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. Lucky for the gnats that want to move inside, many people have interior house plants, which provide fungus gnats with a year-round feeding and breeding source. Keep an eye out for these pests flitting around light fixtures and windows. Fruit flies, drain flies, and fungus gnats tend to be the most common household pests.
How to get rid of gnats
Additionally, they can eat and lay eggs in nearly any kind of decaying organic matter, so they can be hard to get rid of. Overwatering indoor plants can lead to mold growth in the soil that attracts fungus gnats. Allow the soil to dry completely before rewatering, and use pots with holes in the bottom and water trays to catch excess water rather than let it sit in the soil. First, you should confirm that you have a gnat problem and not an issue with look-alike pests, including fruit flies and drain flies. “Many small fly species exist that may be easily confused with fungus gnats. A small magnifier can be used to identify the species by comparing the wing veins to identification guides available online,” advised Sansig.
How to get rid of fruit flies in your house - AgriLife Today - AgriLife Today
How to get rid of fruit flies in your house - AgriLife Today.
Posted: Mon, 06 Jul 2020 07:00:00 GMT [source]
Plug-in traps
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. They may attempt to fly into the flame or simply fall into the soapy water and die. To increase effectiveness (if needed), mix a teaspoon of dish soap into the wine. Some scents, including citronella, are known to ward off gnats.
Make a trap using apple cider vinegar.
Gnats are attracted to the color yellow, and the traps entice them, where they get stuck to the adhesive. Schutter recommends cutting the sticky traps into squares and taping them to sticks (chopsticks, pencils, skewers, etc.). “Pop the sticks into problem pots, and you’ll see adult gnats start to get trapped almost immediately,” she says. You can employ several natural ways to eliminate gnats from your house plants. Since gnats reproduce quickly, you may need to try a few methods to get rid of them all. Natural methods are the best first line of defense, so try these before turning to chemical solutions.
Fruit flies: Tips for getting rid of fruit flies in your home and kitchen - Des Moines Register
Fruit flies: Tips for getting rid of fruit flies in your home and kitchen.
Posted: Mon, 07 Oct 2019 07:00:00 GMT [source]
Dealing with Gnat Infestations
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. Hydrogen peroxide will kill the gnat larvae and not injure your plant.
There are non-toxic products you can add to the water supply to address larvae, such as Fungus Gnat Larvae Tablets or The Mosquito Company's Anti Gnat Neem Powder. These dissolve in the watering can and target the larvae on application. Make sure your plants are only getting as much water as they need, leaving the soil to dry out completely between watering. The easiest way to get rid of fungus gnats is by preventing an infestation from happening altogether.
As these cards fill up, simply throw them out and replace them. This might be hard for some greenthumbs, but skip watering those plants. Letting plants dry out a bit between watering will kill larvae, preventing them from thriving off of the fungus on the plant’s roots. They can have yellow, tan, black, or brown coloring, and they have long legs compared to their bodies, and wide, flat wings.
How to Get Rid of Gnats in the House
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. The term gnats refers to small flying insects that may or may not bite. You can rest easy knowing that most indoor gnats are not the biting kind nor are they prone to spreading disease. But still, these unwelcome guests are a nuisance and it’s important to deal with them before an infestation gets worse. The first step to combating gnats is to know what kind of gnat you have buzzing around your space.
These include food sources, spillages, and organic matter such as fruits and vegetables left uncovered. Moist soil in plants make an ideal, warm environment for fungal gnats to congregate. While decomposing organic matter, wastes and sewage from damaged pipes and drains are the perfect breeding ground for gnats. Luckily, getting rid of gnats is a simple process, and with numerous ways to deal with gnats in the house, there is bound to be a method that works for you and your home. More extreme measures for severe infestations or ongoing problems include moving indoor composting bins outside and calling in a pest management company near you.
Both are generally outdoor pests, but they can end up inside, especially during summer evenings when it is warm, and they are attracted to sources of light around the home. Even a leaky pipe causing minimal mold or wood rot can provide gnats and other pests with food and water sources. If you can't find the source of your issue but know it must be somewhere, think outside the box to determine where it could be. Don't overwater your soil; clean your drains with a stiff scrub brush and drain cleaner, and ensure your compost bin has a tight lid.
In North America, gnats are most commonly black flies, midges, fungus gnats or fruit flies. If you have fungus flies, you may be over watering your indoor plants. Don’t keep the soil too moist, and scrape off any noticeable fuzzy mold. 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. To use peppermint oil to get rid of gnats, spray the essential oil around your garden, windows, and doors to deter pests from approaching your property. This method is best paired with other preventative measures or removal methods to make sure your gnat problem is taken care of in its entirety.
No comments:
Post a Comment