Tiny black or dark-brown insects with long, slender bodies and thin wings: the gnats. Not only annoying but also carriers of many diseases. Many homeowners struggle with this pest since it’s a very common sight throughout the country.
There are many homemade solutions to get rid of gnats that people swear by, so I compiled the most effective ones below. Learn how and when to use them to eliminate gnats efficiently and learn how you can prevent them from ever coming back!
How to Get Rid of Gnats
Make attractive traps
Since gnats are attracted by scents, dirt, a few types of food, and some other things, you can use them against them. There are several traps for gnats you could try in your house. Here are some of them:
Apple cider vinegar
In a bowl, put a ¼ cup of apple cider vinegar, a few drops of dish soap, and a tablespoon of sugar and mix it.
Set the bowl in an area where the gnats are frequent and wait until they get trapped and soon drown, due to the effects of the dish soap.
A good substitute for apple cider vinegar is red wine.
Rotting fruit
Cover a jar with rotting fruit with perforated plastic wrap. Eventually, the gnats will enter the jar and get stuck in it.
Honey-dipped yellow index card
This is a great trap idea if you suffer from gnats in houseplants. Spread some honey in a bright yellow index card, or another yellow piece of paper, and glue it to a chopstick or straw. Stick it into the soil of your indoor plant and see the gnats get attracted by the color, and soon stuck in the honey.
Hire a pest control service
If you don’t have the patience to make traps and try homemade solutions, you can always call a local pest control company. The professionals are skilled and trained to eliminate insects and plagues by the most effective means.
Use Scents In Your Favor
Just as there are scents that attract gnats and houseflies, there are also some they hate and consequently push them away.
Vanilla
Surprisingly, vanilla is one of the scents gnats hate the most. A good tip to use it is mixing a sugarless vanilla essence to a baby cream and using it as a repellent on the areas of your skin exposed to the gnats.
Peppermint
As you probably already know, a universal insect and animal repellent. From animals like deers to raccoons or flies to beetles, they all hate the peppermint scent.
To take advantage of this, you can use essential oils, flavoring, and plants around areas you want to keep safe from gnats and other insects.
Citronella
A scent maybe not that common as gnats repellent, citronella is a plant commonly used in cosmetics confection. You can use it as repellent oil and spray, but the most usual way to use it to prevent flies and bugs is by lighting up a citronella candle. The strong scent released will ward off the gnats in house or the area you are in.
Remember: even though the citronella candle is a great and natural way of expelling the gnats around you, the repellent effect works better and is way more efficient in small places.
Preventing Them
Avoid leaving standing water
One of the most common ways of spreading diseases, not only from gnats and other insects but also from rodents and parasites. The gnats are attracted to standing water, which can cause the proliferation of diseases and attract even more pests to your home.
Do not leave food uncovered or out of the fridge
When you see a huge amount of insects outside and inside the house, it is because they are looking for shelter, food, and water. And the gnats aren’t different. They are looking for their basic supplies of necessity, so if you don’t want them around your kitchen or any other room in your house, avoid leaving food, drinks, and even unsealed products unprotected.
Take out your garbage constantly
Do not let your trash accumulate. Gnats are attracted to garbage, so keep the lids shut and don’t let them overflow. Avoid leaving rotting food, especially fruits, in the range of the gnats.
Take care of your houseplants
The most common place for insects to lay their eggs is in indoor plants, specifically in their moist soil. The key to getting rid of the gnats in houseplants is reducing the excess moisture. And for extra care, you can use insecticides, both artificial and natural.
Cover your windows
Avoid letting gnats enter your house by installing anti-insect screens. They are usually a mesh made of metal, fiberglass, plastic wire, or other plastics or materials, and stretched in a frame of wood or metal.
Or if you may want it to be simpler, you can attach velcro to the edges of your windows and attach a fabric screen to it, so you can take it out whenever you want.
Call a gnat exterminator to get rid of gnats once and for all. Request a free quote today!
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