Have you ever wondered where do gnats come from?
After a tiring workday, the last thing you want is to come back to an infestation in your house. They’re not harmful, but they can prove to be a nuisance! Besides, no one likes to deal with tiny flying insects anyway.
Read on to find out three surprising sources of gnats!
3 Sources of Gnats Inside and Outside Your House
You may not believe this, but most things that cause gnats are present in your house right now. That’s why most people find the tiny flies inside their houses rather than out in the yard. Let’s see the sources.
Moisture
Somehow, moisture manages to be the source of most contaminants in our houses, such as roaches, mold, and worms. It’s no wonder that it’s also a main source of gnats.
Anywhere moist can serve as a breeding ground, including soil, overwatered plants, spillage, leaky pipes, and garbage cans. The flies can also choose places that will never cross your mind, such as condensation water around vents and windows.
Once they lay their eggs in the moist material, it’ll be a matter of time before the eggs make it into adults. If you leave them without getting rid of the eggs, the larvae will feed on decaying matter, which will fasten their growth into adult gnats. The adults will then damage your plants’ roots, which may ruin the plant altogether.
Decaying Organic Matter
Do you remember that half-rotten orange you found in your fruit basket once? It seems harmless, but it’s a major source of these pests. Decaying organic things are essential for gnats to breed. After they lay the eggs, the larvae feed on any decaying matter they find on their way.
The decaying matters can be rotten fruits, fungi, or soil algae. These can also serve as a ground for fungus gnats to lay their eggs. So, they won’t only be helping the growth process, but they’ll also be the source of it.
That’s why they mostly live in soil; it’s the best place they’ll find rotting and decaying leaves.
Produce
If you tend to leave your fruits and vegetables out in the open frequently, be ready for an infestation. The flies love sweet-smelling products. That’s why you may find them in your garden often if you grow fruits. In that case, they’re easy to avoid. You just have to collect your fruits once they’re ripe. Leaving them will drive gnats their way.
Gnats identify fruits by their scents. Generally, most flies are attracted to sweet smells; that’s why you may find them around you if you use fruity products. Your lotion or shampoo could be the reason gnats found their way inside your house, even if they bred outside.
The scent is also the reason gnats mostly live around flower beds.
4 Different Types of Gnats
There are four main types of gnats: fungus gnats, phorid flies, fruit flies, and drain flies. Let’s see what each of them gets attracted to.
Fungus Gnats
Fungus gnats are the smallest type of gnats. They’re tiny, and they have black bodies. You’ll mostly find them around potted plants. That’s because they’re attracted to decaying leaves, fungus, and mold.
The problem with fungus gnats is that they stay indoors near the potted plants. You can endure these pests in your garden, but their presence in your house isn’t the best scenario.
You can always get rid of fungus gnats by cleaning the dead leaves from your pots. If there are no dead leaves, they won’t find something to munch on. Plus, letting your soil dry well between watering will also prevent their presence.
Phorid Gnats
Phorid gnats are easier to identify than fungus gnats because they fly in a zig-zag motion. On top of that, they sometimes have yellowish bodies, which are easy to catch sight of. Anywhere there’s a drain, garbage can, or sewer, you’ll find phorid gnats. They love being around dirt.
They come from moist, unsanitary areas. If you have such areas around your house, make sure to clean regularly, so you can avoid the stinky flies. Fixing water leaks when they occur will also make sure no moisture occurs.
Fruit Flies
Fruit flies are the most common type of gnats. There’s a high chance you already encountered them once or twice in your life. They’re small, and they have red eyes. Fruit flies won’t go far from your house; they love fruits and veggies, and they mostly stay around them.
You can also find them around vinegar and empty soda cans. You can prevent their presence by throwing out overripe fruits regularly. Plus, keeping your produce in the fridge will also keep them away.
Drain Flies
Like phorid flies, drain flies love to stay around sewers, septic tanks, and drains. That’s where they breed and lay their eggs. These gnats look like moths; they have larger wings than their bodies, giving them a furry appearance.
You can get rid of them by regularly cleaning around drains and sewers. Also, throw out any soil that’s been contaminated by sewage. It’ll be an open invitation for drain flies to breed.
How Can You Get Rid of Them?
If the gnats are already there, you have no choice but to get rid of them. Afterward, you can apply preventive precautions so that they don’t return. Let’s see how you can do that.
Use an Apple Cider Vinegar Trap
Gnats get attracted to apple cider vinegar faster than you think. Once you lay the trap, it’ll only take a day or so to get rid of the invading pests.
You can do that by leaving an uncapped bottle of vinegar where there’s an infestation. You can cover its opening with transparent plastic wrap and poke holes in it. That way, the flies will enter through the holes and fail to get out.
Get Rid of Their Food
Gnats either feed on fruits, veggies, or rotten leaves. If you get rid of those, the flies won’t stick around for long. Keep the food in the fridge and regularly remove dead leaves from the soil. That way, any gnats around them will go away.
Removing the decaying matter before it’s too late may also prevent the eggs from hatching, which will save you a lot of hassle.
Use Household Items
If you don’t want to exert much effort, you can always resort to household items. Regular vinegar and dish soap will do. Simply mix some vinegar with a few drops of dish soap. Then, leave the bowl near the infestation.
The soap will cut the vinegar’s surface tension, which will cause them to drown once they touch the solution.
What Attracts Gnats?
While gnats are not dangerous to humans, they can be a nuisance as they fly around your home in large numbers. They can also cause damage to your plants if the larval stage of their life cycle is allowed to continue unchecked.
But what attracts gnats?
Moist organic material, like rotting fruit, attracts gnats, which is why you’ll see more of them in the summer. They usually come into the house looking for food and a place to reproduce.
They prefer decaying organic material, such as rotten fruit or decomposing leaves, as well as moist environments inside the house, such as clogged sinks. These are just few of the things that attract gnats. Fungus gnats are most commonly found near sources of moisture, such as:
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Damp soil
A damp basement, a leaky pipe under the sink, and condensation on the window or vent are all gnat breeding grounds. Spills in your kitchen or outside your home, garbage cans, puddles in the bathroom or other moist spots, overflowing trash bins, soggy potting soil, overwatered grass or plants, sewage drains into gutters, and drains downspouts from clogged toilets are all potential breeding places for gnats.
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Leafy greens, fruits, and vegetables
Fruit flies are attracted to fragrant apples and rotting greens or veggies that have been left out in the open. They’ll also be drawn to fruit falling from your trees in your garden.
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Decaying organic matter
These gnats are attracted to decaying vegetation and flowers. Fungus, mold, moss, and compost are some of the foods they consume. They like to reside in potting soil where they can eat root rot or decomposing leaves.
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Bathrooms and laundry rooms
Bathroom sinks, unlike kitchens, are seldom used. Even though there is less food for gnats to eat in bathroom sinks, they will still use them on occasion. They prefer the moisture, and it’s a fantastic breeding ground since the sink isn’t utilized very often.
They prefer stagnant water, so if you’re still seeing them after using the sink, look for additional sources of standing water, such as a dripping pipe or a leaking toilet that’s creating a tiny quantity of water to pool on the floor.
If a shower curtain is left wet for an extended amount of time, drain flies and gnats can breed in it. You’ll want to take your curtain down and wash it, then find a means to improve the ventilation in the area to keep gnats out in the future.
To cope with sluggish water or organic buildup in the pipes, mend any drips and clean your drains. This should help efficiently deter and eliminate the gnats.
Gnats don’t come from sink drains, but they’ll gladly live in one, especially if there’s plenty of organic debris to eat. They also breed down there.
They’re also known as drain gnats because they live their entire lives in the drain. You may find them hovering around the sink or burrowed in dishes that have been soaking for a long time.
The presence of infestations can sometimes be signaled by gnats flying about when you wave your hand over a drain. They enjoy stagnant water in sinks because they are not disturbed.
Sink gnats may be more apparent if you have waste disposal in your sink and regularly dispose of food waste, as there will be enough organic debris in the pipes for them to consume. Because they are so tenacious, it might be tough to eliminate them.
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Air Ducts and Vents
You should take action if you detect gnats in or around your air ducts. The gnats don’t come from the air ducts specifically, but if they’ve chosen to reproduce in your air conditioner, you’ll want to know about it as soon as possible.
Gnats that breed in the air conditioner will spread throughout the house whenever you use it – and may infest other living spaces as well, eating plants and organic trash.
They will seek out any spot where they can survive and reproduce, so if the air conditioner is turned on while the house is full of gnats, you may have major difficulties on your hands.
Gnats should not breed in a functioning air conditioner, so if it appears to be spreading gnats around the house, you should have it examined. Find out what’s wrong – it’ll almost always be related to wetness – and solve it right away to avoid more problems.
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Light
These insects are also attracted to light, which is why you often see them flying near windows or doors. If you have a fungus gnat infestation, you may notice them congregating around your porch lights at night.
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Humans
Gnats are attracted to perspiration, body heat, nasal mucus, tears, and carbon dioxide. They also gravitate toward fragrant lotions, odors, perfumes, hairsprays, and cleaners; therefore if you have a gnat infestation, you might want to avoid these fruit or sweet-smelling scents altogether.
How to Get Rid of Gnats…for Good?
You can prevent the reoccurrence of gnat infestation by following these three steps, or doing them simultaneously:
Get Rid of the Source of the Gnat Infestation
You need need to get rid of the source, replace the potting soil, clean the kitchen and seal the drains. You can stop the moisture by drying out organic materials, using humidifiers, and fixing your drainage. You can also keep them out by fixing cracks in doors and window screens.
Kill the Larvae and the Adult Gnats
To end the cycle of reproduction, one must find the gnats’ breeding grounds and destroy the larvae. You should also consider ways to trap gnats, and prevent them from breeding or infesting your home.
The best method to kill larvae is a combination of steel wool and Trappify’s Gnat Traps. These traps work for both outdoor and indoor plants, and they are great for preventing gnat infestations. These things can efficiently trap flying pests.
Be sure to cover the topsoil with steel wool to prevent the baby gnats from flying out and the adult gnats from embedding into the soil to breed. This combination is quite effective in killing these pesky gnats.
You can also use an apple cider vinegar trap to kill the gnats. It is also quite simple to do.
First, you need to fill a jar or cup halfway with apple cider vinegar. Add a pinch of dish soap, and stir well. The apple cider vinegar smell drives the insects crazy while the soap keeps them from flying away.
Make sure to cover the cup with plastic wrap. Poke holes in it to allow the gnats to crawl inside the cup through these openings. Leave the apple cider vinegar mixture alone for a couple of days, and then dump the water and start over.
Pour a Hydrogen Peroxide Solution Into the Plant
To destroy the fungus gnat larvae, irrigate the plant with a solution of 1 part hydrogen peroxide (3 percent solution) and 4 parts water. After you’ve put the liquid into the dirt, you should see some bubbling, which means it’s working.
Final Thoughts
You may be surprised now, seeing as most sources of gnats are regular guests in your house. You shouldn’t be concerned, though. They are easy to get rid of, and preventing them is also doable.
You merely have to clean regularly and get rid of any organic matter that may decompose. Doing so will hopefully keep the tiny flies from infesting your house.
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