How to get rid of gnats in houseplants

While they look similar to mosquitoes, they don’t bite. Because gnats in houseplants typically result when the potting mix contains too much moisture, the best way to prevent gnats from taking over your home is to avoid over-watering in the first place.

You can fill the bottom of a deep bowl with apple cider vinegar or red wine, then add several drops of liquid dish soap. Put it near your infested house plants. The gnats love it, and will fall into it and die.

If those pests just won’t quit, you can use a solution of water and soap in a spray bottle to spray into the top layer of soil (or pour it directly on top). You can also do this with an organic insecticidal soap or Neem oil mixture; these natural pesticides should be effective after a few treatments.

Removing Gnats from the Living Room

If you notice just a gnat or two circling the room, this method is for you: Fill a spray bottle with a mixture of one cup of water, one tablespoon of vinegar, and a few drops of dish soap. The next time you see a gnat flying around, zap it in the air with a spritz.

Homemade gnat repellent spray: A mixture of dish soap, water, baking soda, and vinegar can be filled into a spray bottle. The mixture should contain a few drops of dish soap, a tablespoon of vinegar, and baking soda per cup of water. A few sprays of this mixture is an effective gnat repellent.

In a small bowl, mix a half cup of warm water plus two tablespoons of apple cider vinegar, a tablespoon of sugar, and about six drops of liquid dish soap. Gnats will be lured in by the sugary mixture, but once they dip in for a drink, the sticky dish soap will trap them.

Apple Cider Vinegar Trap

Fill a glass or a bowl with 1 tablespoon of sugar, 2 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar, a half cup of warm water, and about 5 drops of liquid dish soap and stir well. Gnats will be attracted to the sweet sugar and pungent vinegar, but the sticky dish soap will disable them from escaping.

To eliminate the gnats flying around, an apple cider vinegar trap will do the trick. Simply put a few tablespoons of apple cider vinegar in a plastic cup. This allows the gnats to fly in, but it’s difficult to escape. The sweet smell of the vinegar lures them in and the dish soap traps them or weighs them down.

Repel them with Scent.

Try Lighting citronella candles, using lemon or vanilla sprays. While gnats are a fan of sweet-smelling fruit, they can’t seem to stand vanilla, lemon, or even lavender. A little spritz can at least keep them at bay.

Dryer sheets can also be used to protect houseplants from annoying pests. Since they have been proven to repel fungus gnats, placing several dryer sheets near your houseplants could protect them from these root-eating pests.

Mainly a springtime pest, these little insects emerge as the winter thaws, and they are attracted to moisture. Gnat population could simply be attributed to how moist an environment is. The more rain and precipitation, the more gnats you’re likely to have. It doesn’t have to be just rain, either.

Repellents: DEET, citronella, vanilla, pine oil, and dryer sheets are commonly used to repel gnats. You can also use fans on your porch to keep the air moving and discourage hovering swarms.

Often times it is because they have been drawn to your property via a fungal source or some sort of moisture or rotting organic matter since these are prime places for them to lay their eggs. Check around your yard and garden to see where the Gnats are gathering.

Fill the jar half-full of apple cider vinegar and add a few drops of dish soap. The vinegar will attract the gnats, while the dish soap makes the mixture too viscous for them to escape. Seal the jar and place it in the area of the highest gnat concentration.

A gnat is always searching for moisture and salt, which are found in sweat and tears. Unfortunately, the pests are vectors for pink eye. They are also drawn to the smell of bad breath and to the carbon dioxide people expel when exhaling.

A gnat is a small two-winged fly. They can either be biting or non-biting and typically form large swarms of adults. These small flies are holometabolis, which means they develop in four stages – egg, larva, pupa, and adult.

Phorid fly adults may live from about 8-14 days and the life cycle may take from as few as 8 days to about 37 days to complete. Fungus gnat adults may live from about one to two weeks and complete one life cycle in about 18-30 days.

The life cycle is about four weeks, with continuous reproduction in homes or greenhouses where warm temperatures are maintained. Adults live about 7 to 10 days and deposit eggs on the moist soil surface or in soil breaks. Females lay up to 100 to 300 eggs in batches of 2 to 30 each in decaying organic matter.