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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.
Use Yellow Sticky Traps
Here are some natural remedies to get rid of gnats without resorting to harsh chemicals. The mere presence of these pesky insects in your house can leave you feeling twitchy. Take steps to prevent an infestation, and act quickly if the invaders set up shop in your home and garden. While some gnats can contaminate your food by transferring bacteria from a dirty surface, Price says that in most cases, gnats are just a nuisance. And there are plenty of solutions that require little more than what you've already got lying around. But first, you should know what type of gnat you're dealing with.
Look for a moisture source
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Set up a trap by placing a piece of ripe fruit or a small amount of wine in a container covered with plastic wrap. Poke small holes in the wrap to allow gnats to enter but make it difficult for them to escape. Whether you use dish soap or wine, be sure to place several around the house. The first is an apple cider vinegar and dish soap trap (use standard Dawn dish soap, at Walmart). Gnats are attracted to the scent of vinegar and will be lured into the trap, but the dish soap prevents them from escaping. Simply pour equal parts of apple cider vinegar and Dawn into a small plastic container and cover it with plastic wrap before piercing with a cocktail stick.
Make a Gnat Trap
Make a spray with equal parts white vinegar and water, and add a couple of drops of dish soap. Whether they’re hovering by the hundreds around your fruit bowl, clouding your vegetable garden, or swarming your face—attracted to moisture and salt—gnats are unwelcome visitors. Fortunately, there are numerous remedies available to rid your home and yard of gnats.
If you have drain flies or gnats coming out of drains, you can put a few drops of tea tree oil directly into the drain to kill off any larvae or gnat eggs that are harboring there. Make sure and put enough drops of tea tree oil in the drains so that it covers all around the edges. In the morning, pour a large amount of boiling water in the drain to make sure that all fly eggs are destroyed. Leave the containers close to a food source, like rotten fruit or near your potted plants.
Gnat Repellent Home Remedies using Essential Oils
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. Fruit flies are another pest commonly confused with interior or fungus gnats. Also called vinegar flies, they are tiny, around 1/16 inch (2 mm), with distinct red eyes and a mix of tan, black, and gray on their head and body. Gnats and many of their lookalikes are attracted to rotting organic materials.
The smell of red wine is attractive to gnats as they love the smell of anything fermented. When you place an open jar of stale wine out, the gnats will be attracted to the smell and fly to it. Since the wine is mixed with a few drops of dish soap, this makes it impossible for them to fly away, thus drowning them in the concoction.
Rotten Fruit
They may go unnoticed at this stage unless you have a crop of them; then, you could see slime trails similar to those of snails and slugs. Catching gnats in your house can be done by building a trap with dish soap, apple cider vinegar and sugar. Combine equal parts vinegar and soap and then add a few tablespoons of sugar – once you mix it all together you can place the bowl wherever the gnats have been gathering. They will be attracted to the sugar and vinegar and drown in the mixture. That's because as the larvae develop, they can feed on and damage your plants' roots.
Effective Sticky Traps
These tiny, flying insects reproduce quickly, so it's important to take action immediately. Similar to fruit flies, gnats are tiny flying insects that include fungus gnats, fruit flies, and drain flies. Usually, fungus gnats are dark with long legs around 2.5 mm in size; fruit flies tend to be brown, while drain flies have moth-like wings and are usually found anywhere near water.
Sticky traps are a simple and cost-effective way to get rid of adult gnats. 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. However, if you want to try botanical controls, the best choice is Bacillus thuringiensis subspecies israelensis (Bti), the same bacteria used for mosquito control in ponds. These bacteria control gnats but pose no risk to people or pets.
The gnats will fly into the pot to get to the sweet-smelling wine, and become covered in the dish soap which will prevent them from being able to fly free, and will drown in the wine. Using a toothpick, create several small holes in the plastic wrap. The holes will allow the gnats to fly into the jar, but because there is no stable place for them to land in the bowl, the gnats drown in the apple cider vinegar.
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Dispose of any fruit or other produce past its prime, and do the same with any cut flowers. One of the biggest pest control mistakes you can make when dealing with irritants such as gnats is leaving the problem to worsen. 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. 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.
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