How to kill Gnats?

[turbotrip]

So these little bastards started off from over watering houseplants but now they seem to have spread across most of the house. Ive tried spraying chemicals on the plants and setting vinegar traps, etc. but these gnats seem to be extra smart since i haven't caught a single one this way. Also I have no idea where the hell they have nested now, so cant really kill them at the source. I'm pretty sure they're called gnats but also might be aphids/fruit flies. Whatever they are they're driving me crazy and I need to figure out a way to get rid of them. Any help would be appreciated.


thanks

[HyperZell]

Bury a clove of garlic in the soil?

[aristocrat]

take a shower?

[bignerd]

Knats are tiny with a very skinny little black body, fruit flies have a fat body that is kind of reddish/brown (although they are still small) and squish a fair bit when you kill them. Fruit flies generally don't live in plants, more in things like bad/old fruit, a mug or glass of juice or milk that was left out too long...

If they are knats in a plant it is possible you are watering them too much, let them dry out or you could try re-potting if they are in the soil and discard the old dirt. Or chuck the plant.

If they are fruit flies you need to put away or put in the fridge or discard any food, fruit, dirty dishes, glasses etc... and start killing the ones you see. A spray bottle of windex or soapy cleaner works pretty well (stops them from flying away so you can kill them). Check to make sure there isn't something left out/forgotten about that they are feeding off of.

I read somewhere online a mother that found her kid had chucked a banana peel behind his bed and she found a huge fruit fly infestation. Gross.

[ExtraSlow]

If they are fruit flies, then check out Lee Valley - Fruit Fly Traps (http://www.leevalley.com/garden/page.aspx?c=1&p=44735&cat=2,40733,40734)
they are bloody magic, cheap and non-toxic for kids and pets.
If they are actually gnats, I'm going to guess you are over watering. Most plants do well if they dry out completely between waterings.

[turbotrip]

^^thanks, by those descriptions they definitely arent fruit flies; theyre black so they must be gnats

and i removed the plants but think they have made a nest somewhere else now but have no idea how to find it since they're all so spread out

[oilerfan4lyfe]

Check the fertilizer in your house plants - some fertilizers seem to spawn those little flies which is why you can't get rid of them...no matter how much you kill there are always more.

If you removed the plants there's a chance that the ones that are still there came from the plants and they'll go away once they die or you kill them.

[Abeo]

If its the ones I'm thinking of, they live/breed in the moist soil. Try putting a 1 inch layer of sand on top of the soil, that got rid of mine (after trying all sorts of stuff).

[cdnsir]

Dude, i bought a plant from Rona and it was infested with these things.

Did some research, and here is what I did. Fact is gnats larvae thrive only in the top inch of over moisten dirt of the pot. So number one step is to water less to keep the top layer dry. I went from watering 2-3 times a week to only once a week and it made all the difference with the bugs, and my plant is still very healthy.

If I remembered right, gnats only live for 2 weeks or so. During this time they just eat dirt and lay eggs. If you start consistently water less every week, you will see a reduction of these things week over week because each batch of their larvae will die off in the dryer soil. After a month and a half, you would have slowly killed off generations of these things leaving nothing left to breed.

If it is really bad, I read from somewhere that you can put an inch of sand on top of the dirt. The layer of sand will first bury them all alive, then make it inhabitable for the gnats should they try to crawl up a layer because sand doesn't retain water right. I personally didn't have to go this far, but I think it should work. For you tho, you'll need to start watering ALL your house plants less because it sounds like they have nested in multiple plants already.

[stevieo]

when it happened at my parents house during the summer they just took the plants outside, left it to dry and then took em back in after but then they toned down the amount of water they gave the plants