Overripe fruits, veggies, decaying food matter and moisture in drains are all culprits. You can purchase products that contain BTI online, at a local home improvement store or from your local nursery. Follow the manufacturer’s application directions to reduce the population of fungus gnats in your home.
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Relocating an outdoor compost bin farther from your house can also help keep the flies outside where they won’t be a nuisance. Sarah Fielding, MS, is an acclaimed journalist focusing on mental health, gender rights, and social issues. She's also the co-founder of Empire Coven, a space for highlighting trailblazing women across New York. She has written for The Washington Post, The New York Times, Insider, Verywell, The Guardian and more. Every pest is different, and knowing what you're dealing with is essential before formulating a treatment plan.
Gnats vs. Fruit Flies
Bug zappers typically attract flying insects with a UV light, then trap and collect the small bugs. Most modern zappers are safe for indoor use, so you can plug one in adjacent to your gnat problem. If pests are hovering around the sink drain, grab a bottle of bleach and mix a half cup of it with a full gallon of water. Then, slowly pour the diluted mixture down the drain to kill any gnats and potential larvae. Alternatively, you can use a commercial drain cleaner to produce the same results.
Tips
Below, we explain how to identify a gnat infestation and offer expert tips for prevention. You could always kill gnats the old-fashioned way—by swatting them with a fly swatter or your hands. This is one of the more difficult ways to eradicate gnats because the insects are so agile and acrobatic.
Gnats vs Fruit Flies
Here's how to tell the difference to identify and address your pest problem properly. Gretchen Heber is a writer, marketer, and entrepreneur based in Texas.
What Should I Do If My Plant Has Gnats? - The Cut
What Should I Do If My Plant Has Gnats?.
Posted: Tue, 23 Jul 2019 07:00:00 GMT [source]
If the soil in or around your home tends to be overly moist, try letting it dry out more between waterings to discourage gnats and other pests from being attracted to it. Gnats may lay eggs in clothes if they are left damp and undisturbed for a period of time, so making sure your laundry room is equipped to dry your clothing properly is essential. If gnats have laid eggs on damp clothes, there is a chance that larvae (maggots) will hatch within a few days or weeks.
Dilute bleach for drain gnats
If you're experiencing an abundance of gnats in your house, several factors could be contributing to the problem. Gnats are attracted to warm, moist environments and breed in damp areas, so reduce or eliminate areas where water collects in your yard and house. These tiny flying insects are a nuisance, hovering around faces and swarming in large numbers. Aerosol sprays with pyrethrins are very effective at killing adult gnats, Schutter says. Clear your plants and soil of decaying leaves, flowers, or organic matter. Remove dead flowers, leaves, or other plant parts from your plants.
Look for leaky windows, roofs or other cracks that might be letting extra moisture into your home. Repairing these spots could reduce or completely eliminate your gnat problem, as they will lose their food source. Whether you're dealing with gnats or one of the many pests mistaken for them, you can prevent an ongoing issue by focusing on sanitation. Once the pest's food source or breeding site is cleaned up (or never allowed to linger in the first place), the issue should be resolved.
What does a gnat bite look like?
If possible, try to leave all fruit in the fridge and flora outside. “If you make these traps alongside removing mildew, standing water, and keeping overripe fruit in the fridge, you’ll get rid of the gnats in no time,” Ludwiczak explains. Fill the tray or bowl with vinegar and a drop of dish soap so that it pools around the candle. The light should reflect on the vinegar solution and attract the gnats. Gnats are irritating little creatures that can crop up in your home looking for produce, flowers, houseplants, and any other exposed foodstuff to munch on. At worst, you can wind up with a pregnant gnat laying as many as 300 eggs in your house.
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 you're wondering how to get rid of gnats quickly, look no further. 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.
Many of the modern bug zappers on the market are safe for indoor use, so placing one on the counter or near plants can take care of a gnat problem quickly. In all reality, the main sign of a gnat infestation is several gnats flying through the air when you turn on the sink, move a house plant or disturb an old piece of fruit. These bugs don’t damage wood or leave trails of scat around, so take the first sight of these winged pests as a sign that there is an infestation. 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. Protect yourself and your lungs properly, then dilute one-half cup of bleach with about one gallon of water and pour it down the affected drain.
If all else fails, it might be time to call a professional extermination service. Extermination services will charge between $100 and $450 to treat an infestation. And some extermination services offer guarantees that state if the infestation reoccurs within a certain amount of time, they’ll treat it again.
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