Implement these effective methods to get rid of gnats.

Gnats are pesky small sized flies who are also referred as ‘nats’ or ‘Knats’. They are annoying because they lay eggs, spread disease, and die. There are 4 varieties of species namely Fungus gnats, Eye gnats, Buffalo gnats, and Sand Gnats. Most of the time we deal with fungus gnats.

These gnats are mobile carriers of impeccable diseases who tend to settle on your food, water, and kitchen cabinet. But, is there any effective way to stop them and eliminate their existence? Yes, there are, and In this very article, we will go over effective ways that can be implemented to get rid of any kind of Gnats.

1) Apple cider vinegar Trap

Gnats are mesmerized towards the smell of apple cider vinegar. The best way to get rid of gnats is through apple cider vinegar trap and you will need these essentials to make an ideal apple cider vinegar trap

a) Small bowl or jar facilitated with a lid
b) Apple cider vinegar
c) Dish soap

Take the jar and fill it with 10 – 20 ml of apple cider vinegar. Now, add 5 – 8 drops of dish soap. Stir the mixture well until dish soap is completely dissolved in apple cider vinegar.

Make small holes in the lid and holes should not be more than 0.5 cm. Fix the lid on the jar firmly and place it in the affected area.

Gnats get attracted to the smell and try to reach it passing through holes. On coming in contact with the mixture, gnats will drown due to the addition of soap drops.

Alternatives
a) If apple cider vinegar is not available, then white vinegar can also be used.
b) Instead of dish soap, lemon-scented juice also works great.

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2) Wine and Dish soap trap

Gnats are not just attracted to apple cider vinegar but also mesmerized by red wine. This can be taken as an advantage to trap these pesky insects. To build an ideal Wish and dish soap trap, we need the following

a) A small container or a glass
b) Dish soap
c) Red wine
d) A piece of cardboard

Take the glass container and fill half of it with the red wine. Now, introduce 4-5 drops of dish soap in it. Stir the mixture well until dish soap is completely dissolved into the wine.

Make 0.5cm holes in the cardboard and place it over the glass container. Place the set in the affected area. Gnats get attracted to the pleasant smell and try to enter the container. Gnats drown in the solution due to the addition of soap drop.

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3) UV Light Bug Zapper

UV Light Bug Zappers are used in cafes and restaurant. There are effective to extinct gnats. Many people have suggested and encouraged the use of bug zapper to get rid of gnats.

Bug zapper emits a special frequency UV rays which tend to attract pesky insects like flies, gnats, and others. Bug zapper uses special tube lights which are facilitated a low voltage shock.

These gnats try to reach the UV light emitted from the tube and instead gets deep burned.

4) Vanilla Repellent

Repellents are the best thing available in the market to get rid of annoying insects. Gnats hate the smell of vanilla. You can apply vanilla repellent all over your body to save yourself from gnat bite.

If you vanilla repellent is not available in the market, then we can make one. You need to buy pure vanilla extract from the market. Make sure your vanilla extract is sugarless because it will be less effective if it has sugar.

Take 10ml of vanilla extract and mix it with 10 ml of water. Stir the solution blending vanilla into the water. Dip a cotton ball in the solution and apply it on the exposed area of the body.

Caution: Always use a low concentration of vanilla as it reacts with skin rapidly.

5) Citronella oil Spray

Citronella oil is another thing that gnats and other pesky insects hate. Citronella oil Spray can easily be purchased from the market but if you are unable to find it, let us prepare it at home.

To make Citronella oil Spray we need
a) An empty spray bottle
b) Citronella oil
c) Dish soap

To make the spray, blend two cups of water with two spoons of Citronella oil and add 3-6 drops of dish soap. Stir the mixture well and pour it into the spray bottle. We are ready with our homemade Citronella oil Spray.

You can spray this mixture around your home, near your plants or near garbage cans. It is a pleasant smelling mixture which is eco-friendly.

6) Ammonia to Kill Gnats in Drains

If the hub of Gnats is the kitchen sink drain, then this method is the best available method to get rid of Gnats. Get a low concentrated ammonia from the market. Pour 200-250 ml of ammonia into the sink drain. This will do collateral damage to the breathing tubes of Gnat’s larvae and kill the adults.

The downside of this method is, Ammonia is toxic to human. Ensure to dilute ammonia several hours ago before its use. The best alternative for ammonia is diluted bleach as it serves the same purpose that of ammonia.

Caution: Be careful while using ammonia as it has a foul smell, and can be toxic. Use eye and mouth protection while working with Ammonia.

7) IGR for Gnats

It is always good to check overall insect growth within the house. IGR (Insect Growth Regulator) is the best biological methods to reduce insect population.

IGR’s are chemically synthesized hormones which are specially created to cease the growth life cycle of insects. Every insect undergoes a growth process known as molting. Under this process, insects grow a new exoskeleton under existing exoskeleton until it is grown completely.

IGR interferes the process of molting and ceases insect to reach their maturity. When insects are unable to reach their maturity phase, they can not mate and reproduce which controls the growing population of these insects.

8) Hydrogen peroxide and water

Fungus gnats show no resistance when they come in contact with Hydrogen peroxide and die instantly. To get the best out of this method, we need 3% of hydrogen peroxide solution. Dilute it with water by taking 3 parts of water and 1 part of the chemical.

Water the plants with the solution. It will kill all the larvae and eggs instantly. It is an eco-friendly solution when used in small concentration. You can also spray the solution across your house killing gnats instantly.

9) Pouring vegetable or Olive Oil in kitchen sink

Gnats like to live in cool surrounding and your kitchen sink is certainly one among them. They lay eggs and you let their larvae to grow. But you can implement a method on regular basis to prevent the growth of gnats in your kitchen sink.

Pouring vegetable oil or olive oil makes a thick surface of oil over the surface of the sink. This makes it difficult for the gnats to move on the surface of the sink and difficult to lay eggs. This method has to be done on the regular basis as it is one of the effective ways.

10) Gnatnix for Gnat Control

Technology has come a long way and has induced new inventions over a time in every possible field. Gnatnix is one such creation that displays growth of science. Gnatnix is 100% eco-friendly and non-toxic barrier as it is made from recycled glass.

It serves its purpose of creating a physical barrier between gnats and soil, thereby preventing the eggs from hatching, the growth of larvae and deters female gnats from laying eggs in the pots.

Scientifically, It has been referred as most effective way to get rid of gnats.

11) Vacuuming Adult Gnats

Adult Gnats are the source of eggs and larvae. Well, you know what happens when you kill the source. Adult Gnats are responsible for laying eggs and existing larvae in the house as they mate with each other.

To cease the growth of this massive army of gnats, we need to take out the adults. Scientifically, it is proven that adult gnats are responsible for growing larvae and vacuuming them reduces the growth by 96%.

All you need to do is switch on the vacuum cleaner and move it around the house to get rid of those pesky little monsters.

12) Tobacco Layer

Tobacco is good but to get rid of gnats. Gnats lay their eggs and larvae in plant’s pot. We can cover plant’s soil layer with a thin layer of tobacco. Tobacco has an unpleasant smell which is despised by the gnats. Tobacco can be extracted from 3-4 cigarettes. Spread the tobacco all over the soil forming a thin layer.

It is one such method implemented by many people to get rid of gnats.

Methods that prevent gnats to grow

We are quite much done by implementing those gnat annihilation techniques but you never know when these pesky monster return. We implemented ways to get rid of them but not to prevent them. You know “Prevention is better than cure” and it holds good because few of the methods those get rid of gnats may be expensive.

Expensive because they need a lot of money invested and also few of them are health hazardous. But, it is always better to prevent instead of incurring an impeccable disease. Thus, let us get over few of the effective ways that prevent gnats to exist.

1) Clean Up Dirty Dishes

Gnats are typical fungus carrying insects. Fungus often makes an adequate environment to forge such carriers. Dirty dishes have leftover food which on exposure to air forms fungus.

The fungus may not be visible to a naked eye but still, they exist. The best way to prevent fungus is by creating the dishes regularly. At least try to clean up the dirty dishes twice a day. This will not just cease fungus growth but also prevent gnats growth.

2) Cover & Get Rid of Trash bags

It is necessary to seal all the possible sources that encourage the growth of gnats. One such source is trash bags. We collect all the stinky waste materials into a plastic bag leaving it uncovered in a corner. Generally, this corner is a dark cold place which creates an adequate environment for gnats to grow.

It is always recommended to cover the open end of the trash bags. Even keeping trash bags for a long period is unacceptable. It is strongly recommended to dump the trash bags earlier. This immobilizes growth of gnats.

3) Get Rid of Damp areas

Gnats like wet and cold area. Maybe you are not aware of such places inside your house but gnats are. You need to explore each corner of your house to identify damp areas. Look around specifically in the bathroom and the kitchen. It could also be a leaking pipe in or around the house. It can also be an area where the water settles while it rains.

Try to keep such damp areas dry. This could prevent the growth of gnats up to 98%.

4) Change pot soil

Gardening is a great hobby and passion but it could also lead to the house of horrors when you are a bad gardener. Gnats lay their eggs in such filthy soil. This soil may also contain water which has not been changed for many days.

These get to attract gnats to lay their eggs. It is recommended to change soil of a plant for every 5 days at least. Try to invest money in the high-quality soil which is favorable for plant growth and also avoid the growth of pest and weed.

Conclusion: These were few of the effective ways that can be implemented to get rid of gnats permanently. Most of the methods can be implemented at home as they are simple to use but incurring primary goal of getting rid of gnats.