The most common types of gnats that you will find around your home are called fungus gnats. They have dark bodies with clear type wings, looking almost like mosquitoes. But if you ever wondered what they are doing in your bathroom, it’s because they are attracted to the water. That means you will find them at drains, showers, toilet bowls, any moist places. If you have infected house plants in your house, gnats come from the soil of these infected plants. They don’t bite like mosquitoes do, and they don’t spread disease either. In fact they are not dangerous, they’re just a total nuisance.
Adult gnats become attracted to water and light. You will find them gathering around lights, sinks or windows. The bathroom is their favorite room followed by the kitchen. The adult gnat will lay its eggs in the soil of the infected house plant. The larvae of the gnats live in that soil, feeding on any fungal matter. The larvae can actually eat the root of the plants, and the plant can wilt as a result. If the infestation is severe, the damage to the plant can be pretty severe.
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Where do gnats come from?
Gnats come from places like moist vegetables and fruits that are kept in bags and start rotting in your cupboards and pantries. The fungus gnats are drawn completely to any organic matter that is busy decaying. That is for them the perfect meal. You need to remove fruit that is getting soft, liquidizing and oozing because you will be sure to see gnats flying around it.
How to get rid of gnats in your bathroom?
You will need to get rid of gnats by using insecticides that are designed to kill flying insects. You’ll find the right type of insecticides at your garden stores and home improvement stores and online. Read what people say about how effective these can be. But actually killing them as you see them in your bathroom, is just touching the surface; just temporary. Because there will be a new generation of larvae that will be waiting to mature and arrive once again in your bathroom. What does this all mean? You have to get rid of the larvae and kill it.
Start with the larvae that might be in the infected flower pot
You can use a soil drench which is available from the same places mentioned above. What is soil drenching? It’s a technique that is used to apply diluted chemical pesticides, herbicides, fungicides and even fertilizers to a certain plant or tree. Rather than spraying an entire lot of plants for instance, a soil drench in this instance is applied into the affected pot’ soaking in and dealing with the larvae, without affecting the plant. If your plant is very badly infected, sometimes it might just be better for you to move it outdoors for a while to deal with it there, or else throw it away. If you are serious about getting rid of gnats in your home, you will need then to go further and do an inspection of any new plants before you bring them indoors. Try and avoid using the same potting soil that you were using outdoors. Rather get brand new potting soil.
Gnats can be carnivorous
Gnats also feed on pollen from plants and other plants. Some gnats are even carnivorous. They chew on dead organic matter. Sometimes in the summer you can see male gnats all swarming together towards evening. Gnats still manage to be pests in the home. Even though here are a lot of different species of the gnat, it will depend on their diet and food source what their color will be. This can vary a bit. A real effective way of getting rid of gnats is to buy a gnat trap. They are very convenient and inexpensive. In fact, they are just like fly strips. Read the product reviews before just buying anything.
Natural home remedies to get rid of gnats
1. Vinegar Trap
You will need the following:
- Apple cider vinegar
- Sugar
- Dish soap
- Water (warm)
- Small bowl
Mix 2 tablespoons of vinegar, 1 tablespoon sugar and approximately 20 drops dish soap with a couple of cups warm water. Mix well, dissolving everything. Place this gnat-killer liquid where you see the gnats flying around. They will be attracted to the apple cider vinegar smell and drink it. But it will be the soap in the liquid which will trap them and kill them.
2. Ammonia or Bleach
If you have gnats near the bathroom sink, a good homemade method is to just pour some bleach or ammonia down the sink. But DON’T mix the two together, because that will create a horrible poisonous gas. Some people prefer ammonia, just pouring a bottle down the sink. Did you know that gnats can live deep inside the pipes, so flushing ammonia down will kill gnats that lurking there.
3. A jar with apple cider vinegar
The most natural simplest war to get rid of gnats is just simply using a mason jar. Fill it with some apple cider vinegar. Poke quite a few quarter-inch little holes in the jar lid and leave overnight. The gnats will be drawn to the smell and enter the jar but they will not be able to get out.
4. Harmless baking soda
All you do is make paste with baking soda. Apart from that you will need only 2 more things, a bowl and some water. Place some baking soda in a bowl, adding some water to form a paste. Then apply this paste on your bath tub, allowing it to stand for around 5-10 minutes. After the minutes have passed, wash out your bath tub, using a scrubbing brush with hot water. That will definitely get rid of any eggs of the gnats that remain in your bath room. Do this for your shower and toilet too.
Product Recommendations
* Foggers: You will find many fogger-products available on the market. It’s because they are so effective. They create poisonous gases that kill basically any bug or insect in your home and that will include gnats. You will need to leave your house though for about 8 hours while the fogger gets to work. Remember to air the house to let out any of the fumes. It’s proved to be proven way to get rid of bug problems, but you will have to realize that this method will cost time and money.
* Keep your house clean: Don’t leave food around where gnats can lay their eggs, especially on dirty dishes that aren’t washed soon enough. Buy a trash bin that has a lid, keeping bacteria from spreading as well as keeping the odors away in consideration of your neighbors and to keep the gnats away, which are attracted to the odors. Gnats are drawn to the strong smells. Strong odors like rotting flesh, rotten foods, rotten wood; these are the scents that will draw gnats to your home. They are like bees as well when it comes to the sugar that is found in the soda cans.
* Replace indoor plants by throwing away seriously affected plants, or buying a soil drench for not such damaged plants. Grow new plants and new potting soil.
* Check windows and doors of your house to ensure there are no cracks and holes where gnats can enter in. In the summer time, if doors and windows need to be open to get in fresh breezes, keep gnats from entering in by installing mesh screens at windows and doors.
- There are a lot of gnat-killing sprays on the market that contain dangerous chemicals in them. These can be hazardous to kids and pets. Try and focus on natural organic products. Fortunately, the organic natural stuff does work. That means you can hop over to your local garden supply store and probably find citronella candles. These are a natural repellent for gnats. You also get citronella sprays.
- Get a Gloue Bug Zapper
- It’s got a LED light to attract gnats in the bathroom, killing them. The great thing about it, it’s chemical free, containing no pesticides. You will need a plug for it to use in your bathroom. It’s also good for other insects like mosquitos and other bugs, so once it’s done killing gnats in the bathroom, you can use it in other rooms as well. You get a full refunded guaranteed if you don’t find this product works. But heaps of happy users are using it, just look at the reviews, satisfied with the performance.
- Use a Hafer sticky trap
- A sticky trap like the Hafer one are good to use near plants in order to avoid bugs coming near. All you do is place the strips near places where you believe gnats to be and let it get on with its own way of dealing with gnats. The adhesive stuff on them is also eco-friendly and non-toxic as well. You get around 15 of these sticky strips in a box. Don’t use them outdoors, they are more meant for indoors as the sun and dryness outside will just dry them out.
Conclusion
Gnats are not dangerous to our health, they are just a pest in the home. You just want them to stay outdoors. And the larvae is to be found outdoors and indoors. You can find larvae in rain barrels, gutters that are clogged, around birth bath, even around your air conditioner. In order to destroy the gnat infestation, it is advised to clean the areas where the larvae is. You can accomplish this by thoroughly cleaning out the pipes and also removing any organic matter and extra moisture there is. Indoors, the insect traps which are plugged into electrical outlets work too – they emit ultra-violet light sources. Flying insects which include gnats are attracted to the light. They fly towards it, getting trapped by the sticky surface of the trap when they approach. However, if you have a serious gnat infestation, and you need to get right down to the root of the problem which includes the larvae, maybe your best bet is to get in the help of professional exterminators. Don’t let these pests bug you!