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Post by Little_Ninja on Sept 20, 2008 19:56:34 GMT -5
Is there a season or cycle for gnats invading the home? In the past two weeks, I've been inundated with gnats in my house. I assumed they were coming from my potted plants, so I sprayed an insecticidal soap on them and put up a bunch of fly strips throughout the house. I've already had to replace one fly strip that was covered with hundreds of gnats after just a week. I looked on the Internet and found a couple of solutions (like red wine vinegar to attract them and drown them) but I've found that just a simple cup of water attracts them. (I don't like the smell of vinegar in my house.) I guess I need a science lesson - what is the lifespan of a gnat? Will they all die eventually as long as they can't lay eggs (I'll keep on using the insecticidal soap on my plants). Is there a "season" for gnats that I just never noticed before? naughty gnats!   Little_Ninja |
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Post by need2bfree on Sept 20, 2008 20:08:36 GMT -5
You must have some food rotting somewhere. I know I thought I had no food out anywhere yet I had tons of gnats. So I started looking everywhere, I found potatoes, in there basket rotting, I thought they were still good or I would have tossed them, anyway check around you might have something hidden away. Good luck
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Post by messymimi on Sept 20, 2008 20:21:58 GMT -5
Food that has escaped your notice is the most likely culprit, as need2bfree said. Thoroughly check the pantry, empty the garbage cans regularly, scrub them if they have gunk in the bottom, look for anything that might have been accidentally shoved under a couch or rolled under the stove or fridge.
Whenever this happens here, we go on a hunt and always find something. Last time it was corn cobs thrown out in the can that is only supposed to be for non-food trash  .
messymimi
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Post by limegreen on Sept 20, 2008 20:42:51 GMT -5
Definitely some sort of rotting vegetable matter, with us it was daffodil bulbs.
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Post by Magpie on Sept 21, 2008 10:44:13 GMT -5
Another tactic for gnat removal - when you see some, use the vacuum to suck them up, if you have one. That worked really well when flies found the basement kitty litter in the Littermaid - the litter collects in a container, but that isn't airtight, so the flies found it and voila, I had a breeding colony! Ick!!
Maggie
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Post by bluefrog on Sept 21, 2008 11:20:59 GMT -5
Little Ninja, I feel your pain. We couldn't figure out where the gnats were coming from, until DH found the forgotten, black, squooshy banana in the kitchen behind the crock pot. It must have crawled there to die, because neither of us has any idea how else it could have gotten there. I doubt that your problem is houseplants.
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Post by DJ on Sept 21, 2008 13:02:30 GMT -5
even without 'squalor' you can problems from those little buggers... yeah i've seen em from plants with soil with high organic content.
the traditional- oops my bananas went over ripe
a few nastieeee incidents w/ out and out squalor
but the one that really messed with me and i could NOT get rid of em?
my garbage disposal has that plastic flap to keep things in
and it actually got really -gross-on the underside
and bits of water were pooling in the sink because it drained slow and there was some gunk in the disposal.
no bad smell or anything that i could find. but i finally noticed a cloud of gnats rise up from my sink. it was all steven kingesque. i threw bleach down there and turned it on and took it apart and ran everything through the dishwasher and no more gnats. ickickickickick
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Post by mouse on Sept 21, 2008 13:08:01 GMT -5
I've had similar problems with weevils, even when I was squalor-free. In the case of weevils, they lay eggs in the cardboard boxes that all your dry goods come in (grains, cereals, etc.). The only way to get rid of them completely is to get rid of everything, and then wash out all cupboards with disinfectant (like javel water).
I don't know if that would work with gnats, since I don't know what they eat per se.
~Mouse
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Post by threeg on Sept 21, 2008 13:21:52 GMT -5
So sorry Ninja....gnats are so pesty and breed so fast.  Ick. When we had them at work, we found out that it was the soda pop cans that we had saved to recycle that attracted them. I work in a nursing home, and believe me, it is spotless! However the little buggars found soda tasty, and started to feast. As soon as the cans were disposed of, they dissapeared. Now, all the trash cans in the employee's lunch room are emptied more than twice a day. I'm sure that they used a pesticide and I know that the cans were washed and sanitized also. Good luck with the gnat wars!   The little devils!  3g |
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Post by sleepymom on Sept 21, 2008 14:06:56 GMT -5
Another place I`ve found them in is at the bottom of the Rubbermaid bin where I keep the dog food. Mine are also often breeding in potatoes that I`ve forgotten about. Now I only buy potatos when I`m planning to use them right away, but usually have a few left over. I`ve had success using a vinegar trap and a fly strip. Usually after all the sources are found and disposed of they die off fairly quickly. I think they can come any time of year. When we had guinea pigs, they were breeding in the litter and we had little flies buzzing around at Christmas!
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boysmaid
New Member
Joined: May 2008
Posts: 6
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Post by boysmaid on Sept 21, 2008 21:22:58 GMT -5
Little Ninja,
I have the ame problem.. we have went though 2 of those sticky strip I cant find the source. With all the info you got I will go back and reread and see if I missed something.. Good luck.. we have been battling this for 3 weeks now!!! Ugh
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