How to Get Rid of Gnats from Your House and Garden

Home Tips,  Gardens - Gnats are flying pests that can infest almost everything. It's a common problem for new homeowners and even experienced homeowners. They particularly like to attack buildings, infesting residential properties through cracks and crevices.

Gnats often strike when you least expect them. As a result, they can cause big problems and let you down big time. 

What is a Gnat 

Gnat is an order of parasitic flies that feed on plant roots and other organic matter. They are commonly found in tropical and subtropical regions of the world. Despite their name, they are not strictly insects - they are considered to be a separate phylum within the Arthropodia order. 

Unlike many true bugs they do not have legs, but instead use chemical messengers along with their proboscis (a segmented proboscis that functions as a mouthpiece) to inject their eggs into host body.

What to Do About Gnats

Gnats larvae feed on plant sap and even small animals. If you spot them in your pots, they'll bore into the root ball of your host plant and may pupate into beautiful, colorful adults. Fortunately, they don't much affect indoor landscape plants, though eggs and larvae do develop on these tricky ones outdoors at night.

A garden filled with gnats can quickly turn boring. If the problem continues, you'll find yourself hurling food and water from your kitchen into the garden at every meal. It's tempting to simply spray a chemical cleaner to get rid of the pests, but that could spell trouble for your health. Instead, focus on identifying where the problem is -- and how to fix it. 

How to Get Rid of Gnats From Your House

Gnats can be found in all kinds of places, including your house (hence the name). They can be flat and pesky like flies, or they can be more noticeable like ants. Ants can be drawn to a source of food or water and will travel there to lay their eggs. Food sources where this happens quickly are often where ant populations are greatest so if you find yourself getting very little rain or if the soil in your garden is dark and unsettling, it's worth thinking abouthow other options might be available to you to deal with those pesky little flying creatures.

1. Gnat Trap

Gnats are drawn to the color yellow, and can be trapped on special small cards covered with a sticky adhesive. For best results, use small cards or cut larger ones into small squares. Lay them on the ground in your potted plants or attach them to twigs or skewers stuck into the pots. Once the traps are full, discard them in an outside trash can.

2. Food-Grade Diatomaceous Earth

To avoid gnats, you can buy DE, an organic, abrasive powder. It will trap the gnats until they die from dehydration. Don't apply it when the soil is wet, or it won't work. To make sure the DE. To make sure the DE stays dry, you may want to put a layer of sand on top of your potting soil and then apply it, and water your plants from the bottom while using it.

3. Flypaper Ribbons

These sticky ribbons will trap gnats, but place them carefully around your house. They'll grab onto almost anything, including curtains, hair and furniture. Don't use them outdoors, where they'll trap beneficial creatures.

4. One-Part Water to One-Part Apple Cider Vinegar

Fill a shallow saucer with this solution and mix in a few drops of liquid dishwashing soap. Keep it near your affected plants. The gnats will fall into the liquid and the soap will keep them from escaping. Add fresh vinegar and water as needed until the gnats are gone.

5. Drench the Soil in Potted Plants

The bacterium Bt is found naturally in the soil. It occurs in a form called Bti that kills fungus gnat larvae. To use it, follow the directions on your product and drench the soil around the plants with it. It will coat the plant roots without harming them and kill fungus gnat larvae that try to feed on them.

Gnats are tiny insects that live in your house and garden. They can become a problem when they invade your comfort zone and start feeding on your vegetable or flower bulbs. This can happen if you have multiple plants in the same area (for example, if you have two plants in your front lawn and another in your back yard, there's a good chance one of them will get gnatted on) or if you left them unattended for a while (more on that in a second). 

To get rid of these pests quickly and easily, you'll need some Plant Quarantine. Plant quarantine is a loose leaf tea that can be applied to any exposed leaf of the plant — killing the insect instantly. If you see gnats around the drainage holes of your pots, put small pieces of fabric over the holes — but make sure excess water can still drain out.

How to Get Rid of Gnats From Your Garden

Gnats repellents are one of the most effective ways to rid yourself of snats, mosquitos, dust mites, deer ticks, and other small game animals that feed on humans and pets. Some products contain synthetic chemicals that have been shown in lab tests to affect the reproductive organs of male mosquitoes. 

This can cause infertility in humans or infertility in animals who have consumed the treated water. So if you’re concerned about those little buggers in your backyard or on your tent, keep reading to learn about alternative methods to rid yourself of these pests without resorting to chemical insecticides.

Electric pest traps are not best recommended item for gnats, because they usualy kill beneficial insects together with real pests. Traps that use ultraviolet lights can attract gnats to come, but they only attract the adults, so the larvae can remain grow into adults and reproduce again, and starting the cycle all over again.

Some type of gnats love to swarm around porch lights or other outdoor lights and sneak inside to fly around your TV or lamps. To make them away, switch to yellow "bug lights" or low voltage bulbs, or keep lights near doors and windows turned off.

If you get bitten but can't see what's biting you, you may have encountered tiny, biting midges, also called sand gnats and no-see-ums. Avoid their bites by staying indoors on damp, overcast days when the air is still, or cover up as much as possible when you're outside. Insect repellants and insect repellant clothing may also help.

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