Introduction: How to Kill Pesky House Gnats, With a Vengeance!
House gnats are really annoying, and getting rid of them is just as annoying. They fly around without buzzing, and are nearly invisible but these little black specks of annoyance get old really quick. These pesky creatures multiply like crazy, usually live in the most common areas of your home, and LOVE water and fruits.
There are a few steps to follow to get rid of house gnats.
Find the source of the house gnats-You need to find the source of the house gnats. Most commonly they are found near sitting water, indoor plants, or in the kitchen and bathroom.
Destroy them with a vengeance-Destroying house gnats isn't an easy task, it takes skill and a strong will for extermination. The method I'll be going over includes only thrifty household ingredients. All you will need is a spray bottle, dish soap, water and/or baking soda and vinegar. You just need to use a few drops of dish soap and a table spoon of vinegar for each cup of water. With this these destructive gnats will parish with just a few spritz of your new chemical weapon. The best part is that you don't have to worry about this solution harming your indoor plants.
Gnat Prevention Program-So you've killed the pesky creatures, but what now? Follow these easy steps for gnat prevention:
If you have fruit, don’t leave it where the gnats can easily get to it.
Make sure you rinse your dishes before you leave them in the sink
Don’t overwater your indoor plants
Make sure that you soak up any standing water around your home
Now you know how to get rid of the gnats and how to prevent them, just keep it up! If they don't all parish the first go around, try again in a day or so, but don't wait too long or they'll multiply and overrun your household.
25 Comments
6 weeks ago
Been using this for 4 years and it works great. In my experience, it doesn't get all of them, but at least half, and you can just spray them again and again. With my spray, it doesn't immediately kill them, but renders them flightless. Then they are just walking around on my cabinet doors or on the counter below. It's easy to just wipe them up. Some of them are able to jump several inches away when you try to wipe them, but just be quick and angle the cloth so they've got nowhere to go.
Recently I've discovered two other methods.
1. If I leave a couple of inches of water in my (stainless steel) sink, most of them will eventually fly into and get stuck over the course of the day. They're not actually dead, they can float. But they're unable to move or fly so you can wipe them up, or just drain the sink. This works well when you're down to a small number of them and get tired of spraying them. Can't say if they're attracted to stagnant water, or just don't see it on their way into the sink. It's a no-muss, no-fuss way to get rid of those last few.
2. This is the heavy artillery, for when you're overrun. Leave a bit of beer in a glass. They'll immediately gravitate to it, even in an adjacent room. A few will go down into the glass, and pretty soon one or two will fly into the beer and be floating, unable to escape. If you leave it, they'll all make their way from the outside of the glass, to the rim, to the inside, near the beer, and finally into it. I find it usually works overnight, or 24 hours at most. As with the sink, just kill 'em or flush 'em. They're gone and you've broken the breeding cycle. Bonus: you'll need to finish the beer!
5 years ago
I think you mean "perish". A parish is a local church community, a diocese committed to one pastor.
Reply 7 weeks ago
They just mean to publish any bit of something they read to seem important.
Vinegar is an effective BAIT. You can't mix baking soda and dish soap without water. And mixing vinegar and baking soda will blow up your spray bottle in your hand.
Peroxide. Water. Dish soap (a drop or 2) and mint oil (at about the same amount as soap)
Done. Gone. This generation and their eggs and nymphs. Gone ☺️
Reply 3 years ago
It's also a geographical subdivision, similar to a county in other states, in Louisiana.
4 years ago
I just tried this beautiful mixer my word this crazly works ....THANK YOU FOR POSTING....
Reply 7 weeks ago
Really? Which theoretical mixture? How'd you mix dish soap and baking soda for that version? That seems... Thick. And if it was the vinegar and water solution, you did not have fungus gnats or flies... As VINEGAR attracts them 🧐
5 years ago
Before you spray, remove every crumb of food. If they're in the kitchen (mine were), take out or freeze your trash and compost, and leave the pail outside. Check for open containers and hidden sources of food. I think mine were feeding on the crumbs inside the toaster, so I had to thoroughly clean it. Clean all the dishes and put them away and clean all the surfaces, including the cupboard doors. If you use any dishes, wash and dry them immediately and put them away.
The spray (1 cup water, 1 oz vinegar, a few drops of dish soap) misses most of them. I presume some are missed because they're so small that most pass between the droplets of spray without being hit. But it kills some of them, and renders some more unable to fly for a few minutes. If they fall where you can wipe them up, you kill the flightless ones as well. The survivors will scatter and disappear for a while. After 30-60 minutes, they're back. Spray them again and again several times per day until finally you get the last of them. Mathematically, if you kill 30% of them each time, you'll be down to 6% in 8 sprays. If you started with 50, you'd be down to three. When the population down to one or two, kill those ones and you're done. It took me about a day and a half, spraying every hour or so.
Reply 7 weeks ago
Vinegar attracts them... You may have eventually killed them in dish soap water as they can't breath well with that film on them but vinegar was not a helpful diy ingredient to spray them.
5 years ago
In my case i use this bulbs https://stoppestinfo.com/240-how-to-get-rid-of-mid...
They aer work so good.
Onec i try to use zapp rocket and it is so so.
Don't use any repellent! I think they are don;t work.
Reply 7 weeks ago
Ok... What? Did this post help you? Or are you giving another solution?
7 years ago
It's not clear what you mean, "dish soap, water and/or baking soda and vinegar." Baking soda and vinegar in solution react and foam up. That might be okay for pouring down a drain to clean it, but it's not going to work in a spray bottle. Do you really mean mix them together, or do you mean "dish soap, water and baking soda; or dish soap, water and vinegar"?
Reply 7 weeks ago
Actually baking soda and vinegar in a solution in a SPRAY bottle will most likely leave people with not just a solution that literally neutralizes itself but may even injure people upon overpressure rupture...
Reply 7 years ago
Just make a solution from water mixed with a few drops of dish liquid. You can use this to spray on the flying gnats or spray inside your trash can with or without the trash in it. It works for plants and fruits and veggies. Also in summer downsize your trash can so trash is taken out more often. I leave about two inches of soapy water in my sink overnight and leave a banana peel in it, make sure the peel is just covered by water and soap bubbles. Gnats die once landing on the soapy bubbles and water.
6 years ago
I'm confused. It says you need a spray bottle, dish soap, water and/or baking soda and vinegar. It doesn't say how much or what to do with it. Did I miss something? I'm blonde, so it's completely possible...
Reply 7 weeks ago
Nope... You read it. They just fail to explain how "and or" is possible for water OR baking soda interchangeably. Just use 50/45 mix of water and household peroxide then make up the last 5% with a few drops of dish soap and mint oil (peppermint, spearmint, wintergreen etc) respectively to the size of the batch. 5 percent total should be fine.
Tip 1 year ago on Introduction
I've tried everything and have had them worse than ever this year. They r tough but I put cups of Apple cider vinegar w 2 tablespoonsof blue dawn soap and spread those throughout my home (cleaned up house thoroughly ) closed my drains........ THERE MUST BE 50 IN EVERY CUP!!!! After one nights sleep!!!!!! I filled them back up and they have been going for a dip.allllll day!!!!! Hahaha!!!
Reply 7 weeks ago
You're praising them for using their respective DIY pesticide as a BAIT... you think maybe you're perpetuating bad info??
Question 7 weeks ago on Introduction
How does an "and/or" work in your formula?
Water and or baking soda?? Dish soap and or vinegar (in a "respectively" way)? And why is there only instructions for the LEAST effective solution (I'll actually clarify: as in as a bait for them in most forums)
2 years ago
Well, I tried it and had zero success. The gnats just flew around for a few minutes and then landed back where they were. Oh well, it was inexpensive and fun to try.
5 years ago on Introduction
Vinegar Kills Plants. It Kills Almost all Plants. I Use a mixture of Vinegar & Dish Soap & Water to Spray & Kill Weeds in Flower Beds & Other unwanted plants. It Doesn't Kill some plants completely some after the foliage dies will return from the root but others completely die. This is not safe to spay on Your houseplants or around or any plants You don't want to Kill. Look it Up. I have been Using Vinegar & Water to Kill Weeds forever. Also If You have a Fish Aquarium check Your water pump filtration they can make their maggot-filled nest in them.