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Before we introduce you to the home remedies for gnats, you’ll want to know how the pests got inside in the first place and where they come from. Eliminating troublesome gnat infestations starts with identifying gnats vs. fruit flies. Although gnats are difficult to control, a combination of store-bought treatments, DIY solutions and preventative actions can work in both your home and your garden. Whichever methods you choose, you can find the supplies you need to get rid of gnats using The Home Depot Mobile App. Search by voice or image and let our app find products for you. If you spot these tiny bugs, you’ll need to know how to get rid of gnats inside your home.
Avoid Overwatering Houseplants
The good news is that DE won’t affect your houseplants, pets, or humans. Gnat larvae live in soil, and these bugs munch their way through decaying plant matter. They quickly become larger and will grow to about 0.25” (6 mm) in two weeks. If there is little organic matter in the soil or plant roots have a fungal disease, the tiny white bugs will start eating their way through your plant. The first three stages—egg, larva, and pupa—all take place in houseplant soil.
How to Get Rid of Gnats Outdoors
Morgan says if you’ve exhausted all the home remedies and just can’t eradicate the gnats, it might be time to call in the pros. “We get called when homeowners can’t find the source of the bugs,” he says. Likewise, he says the source of the bugs might be unreachable, which could indicate it’s time to call in the pros. Invest in an insecticidal spray that's safe for indoor use, like the Zevo Fly, Gnat & Fruit Fly Flying Insect Spray (which also happens to be a GH Seal holder).
Are Neem Cakes The Answer To Your Fungus Gnat Problem? Here's What We Know
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. Identifying the difference between fruit flies and fungus gnats is essential if you want to get rid of them. In comparison, fruit flies have a rounded body and look more like the common housefly.
How to get rid of fruit flies when an infestation happens in your home - Knoxville News Sentinel
How to get rid of fruit flies when an infestation happens in your home.
Posted: Tue, 10 Oct 2023 07:00:00 GMT [source]
Like sand flies, they bite and extract the blood from both humans and various animals. Non-biting midges (chironomids), on the other hand, look very similar to mosquitos. The adults are gray in color and typically less than 1/8 of an inch in length.
Contact pest control
They reproduce in warm climates and interiors and are commonly found flying near windows and lamps, due to their attraction to light. Some of the most common gnats include fungus gnats, fruit flies, eye gnats, buffalo gnats, and drain gnats, to name a few. We’ve gathered a list of 12 different types of gnats to help you eradicate your gnat infestation for good. These small pests are a part of the fly family and won’t travel far from the moist soil where they lay their eggs. Because of this, it can be rather easy to locate their feeding grounds and breeding spots. Beneficial nematodes are another natural way to kill gnats in houseplants effectively.
Aerosol sprays with pyrethrins are very effective at killing adult gnats, Schutter says. Then, you can set up quarterly or bi-monthly scheduled treatments to continually prevent any issues in the future. Thankfully, you can get rid of gnats, but you might wonder why you have gnats in the house in the first place? After all, if you know that, it should be easier to keep these tiny and very unwelcome flies away. The soil must go into a drought for a short time to dry out the eggs and larvae. Similar to the fruit fly, they will silently enter your home through any crack in search of suitable habitat to lay their eggs.
Depending on how many plants you need to treat, mix 2.5 ounces (of meal) to 0.3 gallons (of water), 2 to 3 rounded tablespoons to 1 gallon, or 2 cups to 5 gallons. Give the mixture a good stir and leave it to aerate for a minimum of 2 and a maximum of 48 hours. You can strain the solution — through a cheesecloth, for example — or use it as is to water your plants, completely covering the surface of the soil when you do. Dawn dish soap is one of many DIY removal methods you can try for your gnat problem. Mix together half a cup of warm water, two tablespoons of apple cider vinegar, a tablespoon of conventional sugar, and roughly six drops of dish soap.
Do house gnats bite?
The most common type of gnat – fungus gnats – won’t bite or sting but when they’re in the larvae stage, they can damage your houseplants and seedlings. Also, some types of gnats have the ability to carry and spread dangerous diseases, such as river blindness. Gnats, fruit flies, and drain flies are prolific breeders, so it’s essential to know how to get rid of gnats in your house—and understand what attracts them.
These tiny flying insects measure between 0.08” and 0.3” (2 – 8 mm) long. Gnat larvae feed on fungus in potting soil where they can affect the health of young plants or weak plants. So, getting rid of these bugs from houseplants is a top priority.
It is highly unlikely that gnats will ever go away on their own if they find somewhere to live. You should act to get rid of gnats as soon as you spot one or two lingering around your home to avoid them multiplying rapidly. Check for entry points and trap and kill any offenders in your home before it becomes an 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.
The dish soap separates from the wine, so whenever a gnat lands on the solution, it sinks and drowns. Don’t worry, there are plenty of measures you can take before calling an exterminator to come out for a treatment. This will cause exciting foaming to occur that is cleaning your disposal for you, and destroying fruit fly habitat. Lastly, run very hot water down the drain as you turn the garbage disposal on to rinse away the mix along with any leftover fruit fly eggs. The fungus gnat, which is the most common type found in homes, is typically found near houseplants.
Each spring as the fresh strawberries start finding their way to my kitchen, the fruit flies show up as well. Now trust me, I am not letting those delicious strawberries rot on my countertop, but they do ripen and get sweeter by the day. The lovely fragrance of ripening fruit will attract pesky gnats. Gnats are a type of pest that tend to be relatively difficult for homeowners to successfully eradicate. It’s very common for do-it-yourself elimination methods to be ineffective and some even expose you and your family to harmful chemicals. With that said, there are some things you can do in your house and on your property to both help control gnats and keep them from congregating.
If you have a drain fly issue, address it quickly before it becomes unmanageable or hazardous. The good news is that there are multiple ways to eradicate gnats in and around your home. From there, we compile the information we’ve gathered and compare each company using our in-depth pest control methodology and review criteria. This process uses a series of factors that are important to our readers, and we score each company depending on how well they perform in each factor. Our pest control research process starts with analyzing customer reviews on third-party websites such as the Better Business Bureau (BBB), Trustpilot, and Google Reviews.
Use this guide to learn how to get rid of gnats in your house, in your garden and in your house plants. Just get rid of it — whether it’s moldy fruit on the counter or food that has built up in your garbage disposal. 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.
They thrive in humid climates and dry areas, which protects their eggs. Sand flies also have a sandy color, with large black eyes and thick hair on their legs and body. Females consume blood prior to laying eggs, and both females and males feed on the sugar found in plant nectar.
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