How can I get Rid of Gnats?
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Of all the flying pests, gnats might be the most annoying. Though they're harmless, they hover and buzz around our heads, driving us crazy. Gnats are also known as vinegar flies or fruit flies because of their attraction to the smell of rotten food. This explains why they particularly enjoy the areas around drains and trash cans.
Gnats are most commonly found around fruit, saturated house plants, compost piles, and other rotting, smelly food or plants. The problem is there's no such thing as one gnat. In fact, one gnat can lay two to three hundred eggs in its two to four month life span. If you frequently see gnats hovering around your sink drain or trash can, there's a good chance they're laying eggs inside your home.
If you don't want gnats around, you have to cut off their food supply. This means fruits and vegetables have to go in the refrigerator or a bin the bugs can't penetrate. Make sure house plants stay damp, but not wet, and they must have the proper drainage. Gnats just love over-watered house plants. Empty trashcans regularly and don't allow rotting food to sit in the house. Make sure all trash receptacles and sink drains are cleaned thoroughly, and don't have any old rancid food stuck to them. Never let dirty dishes stand in the sink.
Your best recourse is chemicals. The supermarket and hardware stores have several flying insect spray options for you to choose from. Just about any one of these will take care of your gnat problem. Be sure to check the back of the label to make certain it isn't harmful to pets. If your home is experiencing an all-out infestation, you may need to look into a fogging product. This will require you to seal off cabinets and anywhere else food and eating implements are stored. Be sure to take the pets and leave the house for the day.
You can also get rid of gnats by using products found around the home. Since they are attracted to the scent of vinegar, fill a jar with vinegar and poke holes in the lid. The gnats will climb into the jar, but they won't be able to climb out. For those that remain in the house, try putting vegetable oil around your kitchen sink drain. Gnats finding themselves coated in the oil will be unable to breed. If you're not interested in potentially clogging your drain with vegetable oil, pouring a cup of ammonia down your kitchen sink is said to get rid of any flies hovering around that area. Let it sit for a couple of hours before using the sink again.
Gnats are a source of irritation for many, but you don't have to let this happen to you. Dispose of food properly and don't over water your house plants. If gnats do get in the house, act quickly before one or two bugs become an infestation. Save your irritation for something else... like mosquitoes.
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New: Discuss this ArticlePosted by: anon1621
I thought that gnats laid their eggs in the dirt. If that is so, how do you kill the eggs in the soil? What if it's a house plant?
Posted by: malik30
When using the vinegar in a jar, can we use a plastic cup with a lid on it? How many would you use?
Posted by: anon2818
i tried the vinegar & it worked very well.
Posted by: anon2994
how can i get rid of the adult gnats that are laying eggs. Can i just change soil to organic how do I know they wont lay eggs there. Help. Got the vinegar thing down and catching the gnats but need to get the larve.
Posted by: anon3163
hi there, i had these gnats in my BATHROOM SINK!!! i live in an apartment, and this infestation could be one of two reason.... those being: i sometimes pour my pet's water down the bathroom sink, to save time from running across the house, and perhaps the pet's water is better smelling???
and the other factor is: i believe we need a new sink. the plug on it doesn't work, and i think that causes the water not to drain properly(seems as it takes forever). i think that this is the landlord's fault. perhaps some pipe cleaner is in order,after the ammonia i will try tonight at work. Posted by: anon3375
Help we have gnats in and around our screened porch and we are also finding them in our master bath. (in the tube , in the sink and on the floor)
I have tried the spraying and the vinegar in a jar and nothing seems to work.
They are driving us crazy and my husband has sprayed under the porch and all the surrounding areas.
We live on 5 acres and have many trees and plants outside. We have lived here for 11 years and never had this problem before.
We have no inside plants, we have no standing water as it has not rained here in Georgia for over a month. Posted by: anon3669
i have gnats in the bathroom, but cannot tell from where they are coming from, checked all drains and have no live plants. i'm baffled!
Posted by: anon4299
We get gnats every year, but they are particularly bothersome this year. I have found that gnats love a good cocktail. I make a Manhattan and cover if with saran wrap and punch holes in the wrap. This works better than the vinegar.
Posted by: anon4324
i found using apple cider vinegar in a soda bottle works really well, its draws them down into the bottle and then they drown in the vinegar. also using fly strips near areas where they tend to be most of the time works REALLY well.
P.S. if you have pets that use a litter box, ie cats or ferrets make sure to change their litter daily because the gnats will lay eggs in their poop which can actually harm your pet when they hatch into larvae. Posted by: anon4525
gnats in my bedroom.....
Posted by: olittlewood
it seems like these annoying pests just spring out of thin air! your bananas start turning a little brown, and there they are! do they come in from the store, or just simply find their way in from outside? it never ceases to amaze me how these little critters just come from nowhere. i live in the midwest, and don't tend to see them during the winter...do nats and/or their eggs go dormant during the cold weather?
Posted by: anon6497
OMG, I have gnats everywhere, in my bedroom on the walls I spray, spray, spray and they just will not go away. In my kitchen that I was forced to bleach real good they are on my cabinets but not near my sink and they are on my ceiling. In my bathroom on my washcloths and on the walls. I can't spray too much because we have 1yr old twins in the house, so we pretty much can't do a whole lot of spraying. I mean every 5 minutes I swatting and trying to catch them banging my hand on the walls and they just relocate from one spot to another, please HELP!!!! before they run me out my own home.
Posted by: carl894
Gnat free! I figured it out. Gnats love fruity wine. put about 1 inch or so of wine in a straight-wall glass, perhaps 2 or 3 inches or so in diameter. set the wine glass on a counter. buy a tube of fly paper, the kind that pulls out in a curly ribbon with the glue on the paper, hang that fly paper over the wine glass, with the fly-paper ribbon bottom hanging down in the glass, almost touching the wine.
In about 3 hours, I rid my house of gnats that flew into that glass and got stuck on the paper, I had hundreds, if not thousands of those critters. I tried: Just hanging fly paper in the open doesn't work... you might catch a few, like I did, but you won't get rid of many. Editor's reply: Thanks for the tip! I know we're all looking for non-chemical pest solutions, and I don't know about you, but I hate the smell of bug spray in my house!
Posted by: francyne
we live in nyc. since november we have been plagued by gnats. very puzzling. they do not go near any food. we have a dog who eats promptly and has her bowl picked up for washing. trash is taken out daily. we have a few bromiliads and cacti....no standing water or overwatered plants.
the gnats sit on the walls in the kitchen and living room. i find dead ones on the window sills. the windows are all double glazed and shut. we've closed off the kitchen exhaust fan.
i'm trying the vinegar remedy today. Editor's reply: i wonder if you have a neighbor who is attracting them? i'm assuming you live in an apartment in nyc.
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