Help! I cannot Nab Gnats!

[RoughCollie]

Okay, I did the right thing. I searched the boards for what to do about an influx of gnats.

 

I have plastic coke bottles sitting around my kitchen with the right kind of vinegar and some drops of dish soap in them.

 

The gnats are sitting around the rims of the coke bottles like they are sunning at a beach resort.

 

They are not going inside the bottles!!!!!

 

What should I do? Wait until the rim gets to crowded and hope some of them fall in?

 

Thanks,

RC

[bookfiend]

Maybe put on some beach music and see if they will go swimming?

 

P.S. also make certain they haven't set up a nest in your house plants somewhere

Edited September 9, 2010 by bookfiend

[Farrar]

They're like fruit flies, right? When we get an infestation of them from some overdue fruit, I generally just smash them. When they light, I just crush them with my hands... I know, it's totally gross, but it works. It generally takes about two days of giving it five minutes or so a few times in the day. Then they're gone. I've tried the vinegar and so forth but I've never really had it work.

[Mrs Mungo]

I've never used a bottle, just a shallow dish with vinegar and dish soap. We used this extensively when we lived in Germany and our windows were constantly open in warm weather. It helped a lot.

[RoughCollie]

Did you actually see the dead gnats, or were they invisible?

 

I just put out the shallow dish and now I'm going away for a few hours and I hope there are lots of little gnat corpses in there when I get back.

 

I've never used a bottle, just a shallow dish with vinegar and dish soap. We used this extensively when we lived in Germany and our windows were constantly open in warm weather. It helped a lot.

[Mrs Mungo]

Did you actually see the dead gnats, or were they invisible?

 

I just put out the shallow dish and now I'm going away for a few hours and I hope there are lots of little gnat corpses in there when I get back.

 

I could see gnat corpses.

[RoughCollie]

No fruit except in the fridge. No houseplants. No nothing. This place is free of everything that would delight a gnat.

 

Plus they don't have brains, right? I mean they are less than pinheads. I looked and I can't even see a face on any of them!

 

They're like fruit flies, right? When we get an infestation of them from some overdue fruit, I generally just smash them. When they light, I just crush them with my hands... I know, it's totally gross, but it works. It generally takes about two days of giving it five minutes or so a few times in the day. Then they're gone. I've tried the vinegar and so forth but I've never really had it work.

[RoughCollie]

I could see gnat corpses.

 

How many? I need to know.

 

If I fix a plate of food, and a gnat gets onto any of the food, the people in this family won't eat the food. This is ridiculous. Gnats are not dangerous to eat. Worst thing that could happen is that one (or more) could get stuck between one's teeth. DH is the leader in not eating gnatural food.

Edited September 9, 2010 by RoughCollie

[JenniferB]

A shallow glass dish or cup works for us. I caught a mess of them in the garage. I put the vinegar in first, then 2-3 squirts of dish soap. Worked like a charm. Lots of fruit in the garage - no more gnats. They do sit on the edge for a while, but they eventually jump in.

[RoughCollie]

They do sit on the edge for a while, but they eventually jump in.

 

The only one I've caught so far was hand delivered, alive, by me.

 

They swarmed, so I put the vinegar solution plate under the swarm and raised it into the swarm. That did not work. They prefer my bottle of 409 which is perfectly clean and has no gnat-attractors on it. Unless they are attracted to my pheronomes. Could that be it? I'm always handling the 409 bottle. Do pheronomes come out through the fingers. Ah, geez, I'm too old for this. I probably don't have pheronomes any more. I can't even figure out how to spell it, much less what to do with it.

 

I'm going to the grocery store. Maybe the gnats will follow me there.

Edited September 9, 2010 by RoughCollie

[Mrs Mungo]

How many? I need to know.

 

LOTS, but those were German gnats. Maybe that makes a difference? ;)

[Classical Country Mama]

We just went through this, and I would like to break with habit and spoil the ending by telling you we are now 100% gnat-free.

 

Moving backward now to the climax of the story: the gnats were so bad in the bathroom and the dining room that we could use neither room. Our family had to eat in the living room at the coffee table; we girls suffered the worst by being forced to use dh's bathroom.

 

Here's what didn't work:

 

1. A can with a holey lid, filled with the wrong kind of vinegar. The gnats used it as their watering hole.

 

2. Trying to smush them with our hands. It turns out gnats have the ability to defy biology: for every one you smush, five more are created. We unfortunately smushed about a hundred.

 

Here's what finally worked:

 

1. The 2-liter soda bottle with a little bit of the right vinegar and dish soap at the bottom. They eventually quit giggling long enough to go inside and obligingly drown.

 

2. An open bowl with vinegar and dish soap. Lots of cute little dead gnats.

 

3. Sticky mouse paper. The gnats would land on it. Nuff said. (p.s. the sticky paper also makes for a fun game--each family member gets a piece, and you have three minutes to run around the room waving it in the air. The person who catches the most gnats wins.)

 

4. Scrubbing everything down with cleaner, including removing the table cloth and washing it to make sure even hints of dried juice were gone.

 

--I interrupt this list to inform you gnats are great fans of anything from Bath n Body Works.--

 

5. At long last we realized they were making their home in the drains. We treated the drains nightly with a cap full of bleach and sprinkled the interior rim with baking soda. And I mean all the drains in the house. Then we let them sit as long as possible without turning the water on (all night is best). Now we do it about once a week just to make sure they stay gone.

 

Wishing you great success and a gnat-free home.

[TheCoffeeChick]

How many? I need to know.

 

If I fix a plate of food, and a gnat gets onto any of the food, the people in this family won't eat the food. This is ridiculous. Gnats are not dangerous to eat. Worst thing that could happen is that one (or more) could get stuck between one's teeth. DH is the leader in not eating gnatural food.

 

:eek: :ack2: :lol: gnatural food is not on my list of edibles either!! LOL

[Lawana]

Here's something else to do. Once there are a bunch sitting on whatever they like to sit on, vacuum them up with the crevice tool attachment, or just the hose. Do this several times a day for a few days and they are history. I'm not exactly fond of gnatural food either, but it doesn't stop me from scooping out the little critter and eating it anyway.:D

[OrganicAnn]

A banana peel in the vinegar is very attractive to gnats.

[RoughCollie]

Thank you. I am going to try all of your suggestions in the morning. I just got back from a 3-hour gnat-free trip to town. There are now 4 gnats in the balsamic vinegar/dish soap concoction, and 1 of them is the gnat I caught and put in there myself.

 

Does anyone know if putting bleach down the drain will hurt the septic tank?

 

Thanks,

RC

[Classical Country Mama]

The consensus of Google wisdom says household bleach used in laundry and cleaning etc isn't strong enough to affect the septic tank. Since I rarely do laundry and almost never clean, I can't speak for those things, but our cap full for the gnats doesn't appear to have done any damage (of course, it's only been a couple of weeks).

 

If it is going to cause damage, however, I too would like to know please. I don't really know what a septic tank is, but I'm guessing a broken one of those is worse than having to smell vinegar and fight gnats for a week.

[In2why]

Thank you. I am going to try all of your suggestions in the morning. I just got back from a 3-hour gnat-free trip to town. There are now 4 gnats in the balsamic vinegar/dish soap concoction, and 1 of them is the gnat I caught and put in there myself.

 

Does anyone know if putting bleach down the drain will hurt the septic tank?

 

Thanks,

RC

 

 

I always use apple vinegar, maybe that is the difference? I put a shallow bowl out, with the vinegar, a little water, and a bit of dish liquid out. Then I go to bed and the next morning I have about 50+ dead gnats in the bowl. There are certain times of the year they swarm and I put out the bowls, usually in my kitchen and bathrooms and within a day or two they are all dead.

[KidsHappen]

I can't help with the gnats but you are cracking me up. At least you still have your sense of humor. :tongue_smilie:

 

My dd had a gnat infestation in her room once. She took drastic measures. She bombed the room and then took every single thing out of the room and cleaned it. She wiped down all the walls and every surface. She cleaned the carpet, drapes and bedding. I don't know which thing was effective but the gnats were gone. Oh, and I never had to tell her to clean her room again. :D

[qfbrenda]

Yes, bleach is bad for septic systems. They function on live bacteria that chew up, for lack of a better phrase, the "stuff". Since bleach kills bacteria, you can understand why that wouldn't be a good thing. Though I do put a bit down the system now and then, I don't make a habit of it.

 

Re: gnats.... I've tried the bowl of vinegar and for some reason, WA state gnats that like my house won't dive in. What I found that works is doing the bowl of vinegar, but covering it with plastic wrap. Then cut a small hole in the plastic wrap. I still didn't have many go into the vinegar, but once they are inside the plastic, they are easy to squish. :D

 

It also helps to wash fruit before you leave it on the counter, especially bananas. You often bring home the eggs on fruit from the store, then they hatch in your warm house. :tongue_smilie:

[RoughCollie]

It also helps to wash fruit before you leave it on the counter, especially bananas. You often bring home the eggs on fruit from the store, then they hatch in your warm house. :tongue_smilie:

 

Thank you for telling me about the bleach, Brenda. Do you think it would work if I used the bleach, and then followed up a couple of days later with Rid-X after the gnats are gone. Oh, I sound like such an optimist!

 

I bring home fruits and veggies, wash them, and put them in the fridge. The gnats have done that to me. They've been here for a couple of weeks, and they are even outside! There is nothing that I can find that would attract them.

 

I am geared up for another Battle of the Gnats tomorrow. I will beat the little beasties. I hope when the weather turns colder they will die, if all else fails.

[mrs.m]

I use red wine and soap to catch the gnats. My gnats don't like vinegar. ;)

 

And you have to clean your drains. I use bleach too. But I don't have a septic tank.

[qfbrenda]

For the drains, I would try boiling water rather than bleach.

[Perry]

Try a shallow dish or small wide mouthed bottle, like a baby food jar.

[Mrs Mungo]

I always use apple vinegar, maybe that is the difference? I put a shallow bowl out, with the vinegar, a little water, and a bit of dish liquid out. Then I go to bed and the next morning I have about 50+ dead gnats in the bowl. There are certain times of the year they swarm and I put out the bowls, usually in my kitchen and bathrooms and within a day or two they are all dead.

 

I used apple cider vinegar too.

[Classical Country Mama]

For the drains, I would try boiling water rather than bleach.

 

I agree, boiling water SOUNDS like a great idea. You'll have to take my word for it that gnats survive it. I dumped buckets of madly boiling water down the drains, repeatedly, and the gnats just laughed. Of course, maybe that's just our foolhardy Virginia gnats. :D

 

I know the bleach sounds awful, but we were assured household bleach in small quantities will not harm the septic garden. I sure hope that's true!:tongue_smilie:

[qfbrenda]

I agree, boiling water SOUNDS like a great idea. You'll have to take my word for it that gnats survive it. I dumped buckets of madly boiling water down the drains, repeatedly, and the gnats just laughed. Of course, maybe that's just our foolhardy Virginia gnats. :D

 

I know the bleach sounds awful, but we were assured household bleach in small quantities will not harm the septic garden. I sure hope that's true!:tongue_smilie:

 

 

:lol: Ok, maybe not boiling water... seemed like a good idea. I wonder if there's some other more natural thing that would kill them... But I agree, a small amount of bleach shouldn't be a problem, just don't do it that often. :)

[Beach Mom]

Based on info gleaned on this board, earlier this week I set out shallow dishes with apple cider vinegar and soap and overnight nabbed scores of gnats. It works! They do hang around the top for a bit, but left alone eventually jump to their demise.

 

Ours too were living in the drain. Bleach seemed to do the trick there.

 

Good luck in your adventure!

 

Gnats :tongue_smilie: yuk!!!

[Classical Country Mama]

:lol: Ok, maybe not boiling water... seemed like a good idea. I wonder if there's some other more natural thing that would kill them... But I agree, a small amount of bleach shouldn't be a problem, just don't do it that often. :)

 

I am with you 100%, and am totally :bigear: if someone knows of something other than bleach. We tried every natural remedy we could think of (I lived on Google for a while, just like I did the time we were being assaulted by mice--including the one in my closet sitting on a hanging blouse, daring me to break eye contact first--a whole other story), but by the time we called in pest control, the gnats had belligerently overrun two entire rooms despite our best efforts. Pest control said they had a product we could use, but recommended in whispers we just do the bleach/baking soda thing--and sure enough, the gnats were 100% gone within two days. I love the bleach. I hate the bleach. I love the bleach.

 

[[You should know, btw, that I am a total city girl. Moving to the country where there are gnats, mice, snakes, stray dogs, wild coyotes, deer, bears, a married groundhog couple in our front yard, and the nearest Starbucks thirty minutes away is almost more than I can handle.]]

 

So yes, the bleach stinks. But at least the gnats are gone!

[Mrs Mungo]

(I lived on Google for a while, just like I did the time we were being assaulted by mice--including the one in my closet sitting on a hanging blouse, daring me to break eye contact first--a whole other story)

 

You want to hear a great mouse story? My sister had a mouse in her house. Her dh put down glue traps to try and catch it. Her daughter (who was at the time around 2-3?) found a mouse stuck to the glue trap and...ready for this?...FED IT TO THE CAT!!! My sister walks in and there is glue trap and bits of mouse stuck all over the cat. She gets the box, calls the 800 number and the *second option* is to "press 2 if the glue trap is stuck to a cat." :lol:

[*********]

You want to hear a great mouse story? My sister had a mouse in her house. Her dh put down glue traps to try and catch it. Her daughter (who was at the time around 2-3?) found a mouse stuck to the glue trap and...ready for this?...FED IT TO THE CAT!!! My sister walks in and there is glue trap and bits of mouse stuck all over the cat. She gets the box, calls the 800 number and the *second option* is to "press 2 if the glue trap is stuck to a cat." :lol:

 

Ok, I just literally L'd ol. :D

[RoughCollie]

My gnats don't like vinegar. ;) And you have to clean your drains.

 

The visiting gnats are picky eaters for sure. Not one of them went into the coke bottles or shallow dishes I left out for them yesterday -- in 24 hours.

 

For the drains, I would try boiling water rather than bleach.

 

I will try it.

 

She gets the box, calls the 800 number and the *second option* is to "press 2 if the glue trap is stuck to a cat." :lol:

 

That is hilarious!

[RoughCollie]

Pest control said they had a product we could use, but recommended in whispers we just do the bleach/baking soda thing--and sure enough, the gnats were 100% gone within two days.

 

[[You should know, btw, that I am a total city girl.

 

Thank you. I will try that after the boiling water. Each experiment gets only 24 hours to work. By the time I am through, either the gnats will be gone or I will be installed permanently in a rubber room. :D

 

This is my first time living in the country. It seems like every problem that comes up is totally new to me. It's frustrating to be a newbie -- I suppose country people who have moved to the big city encounter this, too.

[RoughCollie]

household bleach in small quantities will not harm the septic garden. I sure hope that's true!:tongue_smilie:

 

The "septic garden"? :001_smile: What an interesting phrase.

 

I'm not sure, but I think the Rid-X the landlord requires us to use every month is some kind of powdered bacteria for our "septic garden". I'm going to follow-up with that after the gnats are gone.

 

****

Thank you all for your help. I'm not going to reply to other posts that have already been posted because I figured out how to do the multiple quoting in one post by accident and I have no idea how I did that. So please don't feel left out -- I appreciate everyone's help.

 

RC

[Perry]

Thank you. I will try that after the boiling water. Each experiment gets only 24 hours to work.

I'd give the vinegar longer than that. Sometimes it takes them awhile. If there is another food source around (fruit) they won't go for the vinegar. Just put it in a small bowl or cup, stick it on the counter out of sight somewhere, and forget about it. Check it in a few days.

[RoughCollie]

I'd give the vinegar longer than that. Sometimes it takes them awhile.

 

"In fact, one gnat can lay two to three hundred eggs in its two to four month life span. " http://www.wisegeek.com/how-can-i-get-rid-of-gnats.htm

 

Now I'm getting the creeps. I thought gnats would have a shorter lifespan than 2-4 months.

 

I'll try multiple experiments at once then -- something has to work before my family decides eating out is the only option. No matter how many times I tell them that Marines have to learn to eat bugs, they aren't buying the man-up and eat gnats (or at least pick them out of your food) idea.

 

If any of you are a member of the armed forces, married to one, have a child who is one -- don't tell me they have never eaten bugs. Don't confuse me with facts! :D

[Perry]

"In fact, one gnat can lay two to three hundred eggs in its two to four month life span. " http://www.wisegeek.com/how-can-i-get-rid-of-gnats.htm

 

Are you sure they are gnats, and not fruit flies? I've never had a gnat problem, and I haven't heard of gnat infestations in the home. If they really are gnats, the vinegar might not work.

 

gnats

 

 

fruit flies

[Mrs Mungo]

EWWWWWW!!!!! PERRY!!! :ack2:

[homeschoolin'mygirls]

I used apple cider vinegar too.

 

ONLY apple cider vinegar helped here---gnats totally ignored reg vinegar

[RoughCollie]

Perry, they have those red snouts. Does this mean they are fruit flies and I have to start over figuring out how to get rid of them? There has been no faceless food outside of the fridge at my house for a couple of weeks now.

 

ETA: The buglets in the bathroom are gnats! Thanks for the pictures, Perry. It is good to be able to identify our guests.

 

I just took a banana out of the fridge, heated it a little in the microwave in case the ff's don't like cold bananas, squished it real good, then forked it, and made 2 traps. Now if they will just like something better than my 409 bottle, I'll be in business with half of the buglets.

Edited September 11, 2010 by RoughCollie

[mrs.m]

Have you tried a little bowl of the 409? They won't survive drinking that!!! ;)

[Classical Country Mama]

So how are (or aren't) the gnats??? Update, please!