How do I get rid of the gnats in my kitchen?
Question:For about the last month I have had an increasing number of gnats flying around my kitchen. I clean it everyday, I never open the kitchen window, I never leave trash, food, or dirty dishes sitting out. I have already tried raid! Any ideas? Thanks!
Answers:
ugh. i've had that problem. it 's infuriating, especially if you're a neat person.
1) if you live in an apartment building, where other people's habits are close to your own...buy a can of raid/other bug killer and spray around your doors/outside of windows/etc.
2) pour 1 cup vinegar and 1/3 cup baking soda down your sinks. cover. after 30 min. rinse with 1 cup cold water. gives it a nice flush-out and will kill ANYTHING living in your near pipes.
3) this is how it happened to me- if your cupboards don't go all the way up to the ceiling, wipe them down with vinegar water, then bleach. same for top of fridge, back of stove, etc, etc. in my old house, someone had put something on top of the cupboards that spilled and attracted bugs, it was DISGUSTING ,and we could not figure it out, as our kitchen was cleaned daily and we took our trash out daily as well. just keep in mind that the oddest things will attract them.
4) the vinegar thing works. buy small bottles of rice or apple cider vinegar bottles- the ones with the plastic nozzle to let you 'sprinkle' vinegar on things..the flies will want to drink the vinegar and then not be able to find their way out. good luck!
Try not to leave any fresh fruit out.
In my experience, they may be coming from your potted plants, and it may be because you water them too often.
Hire the proffesionals... nothing beats raid.
Put your fruits away inside of plastic bags. Do not throw away banana peels etc. and all plants must be moved outside, they lay their eggs in plants :] or use fake plants.
put a little bit of comet close to the wall.
Have you checked your disposal?
Do you have live plants in your home? Sometimes if you over-water, they multiply in the soil.
I have had this problem occasionally, and it was either the disposal, or my plants.
Try this it seemed to help when my aunt had them around her friut bowl. Fill a small shallow bowl with vinegar where the gnats seem to fly around, I am not sure what in the vinegar deters them but it worked for us. Though your kitchen will smell of vinegar.
A bug bomb
get rid of those planters or cove the soil with foil when wet. and keep your fruit covered with saran wrap.
Make sure you wash your kitchen rags/sponges good everyday.
The easiest way to get rid of them is to put a little orange juice in the bottom of a drinking glass. Take a piece of paper and make it into a cone shape with a circular hole at the bottom the size of a dime. Tape the paper that size and put into glass (make sure paper isn't sitting in oj and make sure the width of the paper meets the top edge of the glass. By morning you will find several. You may have to do this for a few days but it works. Don't worry about changing out the oj, those pesky critters like spoiled oj.
Gnats come home from the store with you. Wash your bananas especially because the little eggs can be on them when you bring them home. Since you don't put bananas in the fridge they keep warm and hatch.
You can try placing vinegar and dawn in a bowl of water, read this somewhere don.t know it it works. haven't needed to try it.
But keep trash emptied daily, store fruits in the fridge and wash the nannas.
Gnats live of your house hold plant´s , they love wet soil & also eat the dead roots from the plant´s, let your plant´s dry out for a week, and you will soon be rid of them
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