How do you feel when after a tasty dinner you enter your kitchen and there is the bunch of gnats welcoming you? Annoying isn’t it? Gnats don’t buzz around but still will annoy you at their best by following you everywhere.
Those tiny little bugs are not as innocent as they look, they will accompany you for every sweet dish you consume.
Want to impress your guests by the appearance of your dwelling, but the kitchen sucks due to fruit flies, right? Here is the article providing the best of its solutions to get rid of those miniature gnats.
Table of Contents
What Are Gnats?
It is an undersized two winged, a kind of fly that be similar to mosquito but are much smaller in size as compared to them. Their size varies but is not more than 33mm in length.
They are usually referred to as fruit flies, vinegar flies or no-see-ums. Gnats are usually light brown or black in colour and are seen in the dazzling areas like lighted rooms, close to your windowpane or a mirror. They also exist in on the leftover foodstuff of your dinner in the kitchen sink.
Gnats have very squat life duration of hardly 4 months. They include both biting and non-biting forms of fruit flies.
Why Do We Need To Get Rid Of Gnats In the Kitchen?
Do These Flies Cause Any Disease?
Usually, the internal gnats are not damaging. They just magnetised towards the moist surplus food after dinner and other rotten foodstuffs in your kitchen. Fruit flies do not bite humans, but in some exceptional case, females do bite humans.
Still, it does not cause a major harm to an individual. Moreover, they can ground food poisoning only if your kitchen is too malevolent for them to reside.
From Where Do These Gnats Come?
There are many forms of gnats and their origins vary:
1. Fungus Gnats
They are habitually established near the plants in or about your habitat. Vegetation seems to be a constructive place for this little’s to replicate exponentially. Their eggs are generally rested on the damp mud. These gnats tend to harm the plants they reside on. Fungus gnats feed on fungi and also the roots of the wheat plants and the rhizomes of potatoes.
2. Non-Biting Gnats
They live in freshwater or in wet soil. They love humidity and feed upon Algae which is full of moisture.
3. Biting Gnats
They inhabit in mud, sand or close to the decaying plants. Feminine biting gnats are always in the hunt to suck your blood. Sometimes she would also feed herself with honey.
What Attracts These Tiny Little Gnats Towards Your Kitchen?
Usually, the gnats that are attracted towards the kitchen are known as the fruit flies. They are tiny brown coloured miniature.
As you know now pretty well that the gnats inhabits in a damp place, the moisture of your kitchen plays an important role in drawing the attention of the gnats.
The dampness of a chopped potato, onion or moisture of the dirty dishes after dinner attracts these miniatures.
Gnats do encompass a strapping hold towards the vinegar. Anything that possesses moist in your kitchen will definitely give a call to the gnats.
They often get attracted towards the sugary foodstuff. Even the leftover sauces in your plate can magnetise these fruit flies. They tend to produce their larvae on the seasoned fruits and even vegetables.
What If Gnats Bite Us, How To Recognise the Symptoms?
Gnats are actually the word used for all those miniature creatures that have tiny wings and are capable of flying. This includes species like Dipterid, Mycetophilidae, Ansipodidae, and Sciaridae.
The Following Species Includes
- Fungus or winter gnats.
- Eye flies or Grass flies.
- Buffalo or Black flies.
- Fruit flies.
- Sand flies.
Some of the above-mentioned species might bite the human and suck their blood. Especially only females are responsible for the biting.
The Biting Might Appear Like
- Reddish swelled area.
- You might feel slight ache and tickling.
- Some individual might suffer from burning sensation.
- You might notice a single drop of blood at the place of bite.
- In case if the bite gets severe one might suffer from fever for few hours.
- 2% out of the 100% of the population might suffer from breathing issues due to the biting of the gnat.
How To Get Rid Of Gnats In The Kitchen?
Discard Over-Ripped Foodstuff And Water
- The fruit flies in the kitchen are usually found because of the moisture.
- Do not forget to abandon the putrid foodstuff and the remaining water in the sink of the kitchen.
- Store the lingering food in the refrigerator.
- Seal the dry groceries in proper containers.
Dispose Of The Stagnant Water
- Do not maintain the glasses with leftover water in it.
- Do not let the sink get blocked by water
- Even if you are watering your plants, make sure they are placed in the balcony far from the kitchen.
- Offer water to your pets in the room which does not possess any foodstuff.
Seize Out The Trash
- Do not let your dustbin get pour out with garbage.
- Preserve the garbage regularly and make sure you wrap the litter with a stiff lid.
Accumulate The Dung Outside
- Once you are done with the cooking, make sure you collect all the compost from the kitchen platform and dump it properly into the bin.
Monitor The Indications Of Rotting Plants
Gnats get easily attracted towards the moist and the decaying plants. Make sure you prevent your plant by rotting up by keeping the following points in mind:
- Do not water your plant in excess.
- In such condition, the remaining water gets collected at the bottom of the plant and attracts gnats.
- Make use of pots that have drainage pores, also, place some nuggets inside the pot for additional drainage.
- Whenever you irrigate your plants, place them in the sink or bathtub so the running water gets discarded.
Keep Your Kitchen Hygienic
- Wipe out each and every crook of your counters properly if you have any special liquid to clean up the kitchen sprinkle it all over the cabinets on the kitchen platform.
- Clean the areas of the kitchen with both wet and dry cloth.
- Make sure you do not leave any moist area on your platform, if so, wipe it out immediately with the dry cloth.
- Regularly rinse your garbage bin with the ice water and lemon peelings. This helps you to prevent your kitchen from the fruit flies.
But what if still, you are unable to prevent the gnats from entering your kitchen?
Here Are Some Instant Remedies For The Fruit Flies In Your Kitchen
1. Dry Out The Soil
- Gnats usually reside over the moist soil and sometimes over watering your plants may attract them.
- You need to dry out the soil completely and then feed your plants with water.
How Does It Help?
- Dry soil kills the larvae of the gnats hence, inhibits their growing population.
2. Honey Trap
- Sugary foodstuffs are also considered as the main source of attraction to the gnats.
- Take a piece of yellow plastic and apply some honey over it, the fruit flies will get magnetised towards it and get trapped.
How Does It Help?
- Repeated usage of domestic gnat trap lowers the occurrence of the fruit flies in your kitchen.
3. Place The Plants In A Different Pot
- Generally, the aged mud possesses maximum amount of dampness within it. Replace your plants carefully into some fresh container; make sure you do not damage the roots.
- Fill the new pot with fresh soil.
How Does It Help?
- Clean soil will prevent the frequency of the gnats.
4. Apple Cider Vinegar
- You can simply pour an apple cider vinegar in a bowl or just fill it in the Mason jar and place the funnel on top of the jar.
How Does It Help?
- The aroma of the apple cider vinegar attracts the fruit flies towards the bowl or the jar.
- Once they enter the liquid, they expire immediately.
3. Fruit Trap
- Gnats are crazy about Bananas, so you can simply chop this fruit into slices and place it into a small sized bowl.
- Now prepare a solution of water and dish wash liquid in a large sized bowl.
- Place the small bowl in the large bowl and finely cover the arrangement with a cellophane tape.
- Make some pores on the tape so that the gnats get a route to enter the trap.
How Does It Help?
- As Banana is their favorite fruit, the gnats will easily get attracted towards the trap.
- The solution prepared in the large bowl will help in killing the gnats.
4. Bleach
- Keep a practice of cleaning your kitchen sink once a week with the help of bleach.
- Do not pour water for few hours after you rinse the sink with bleach.
How Does It Help?
- Bleach possesses the strapping oxidant that kills bacteria.
5. Vegetable Oil And Ammonia
- The scent of the vegetable oil present in the sink of your kitchen attracts the fruit flies towards the sink.
- Once they get collected in the sink, intersperse ammonia over them.
- Make sure you rinse the sink properly and use it after few hours only.
How Does It Help?
- Ammonia is very unsafe and can kill even humans, so it tends to kill the gnats too.
6. Tobacco
- Including human, tobacco is also injurious for the gnats.
- Place the tobacco extracted from 2-3 cigarettes and place it in one dish.
- Put the dish near the kitchen sink.
How Does It Help?
- Tobacco attracts the gnats towards it.
- As it is harmful to them, its effect will immediately kill the fruit flies.
7. Lavender Oil
- Soak the sponge in lavender oil and place it on one plate and put that dish near the kitchen sink.
How Does It Help?
- The sweet fragrance of the lavender oil will give a call to the fruit flies and soon they will get trapped into it.
- You can sprinkle the solution of water and dish wash liquid on the gnats to kill them.
8. Yeast
- Place some yeast in a bowl and place it near the kitchen sink.
How Does It Help?
- Gnats similar to the bacteria feed upon the yeast, so this can easily trap them.
9. Fly Paper
- Prepare a yummy sugary meal for the fruit flies.
- Make the mixture of ¼ cup of maple syrup and 1 tbsp of brown sugar and blend it properly on a piece of brown paper.
- Hang this paper somewhere in your kitchen.
How Does It Help?
- As you all are aware now that the gnats get fascinated towards the sugary foodstuff, this trick will easily help you out for trapping the fruit flies.
10. Jam And Jelly Trap
- When the jam bottle gets empty, add ¼ of water in it and steer it well.
- Make enough large holes on the lid of the bottle so that the gnats can enter the trap easily.
How Does It Help?
- Sweet aroma of the jam will attract the fruit flies towards the trap.
- After entering the jar, gnats will die within some period of time.
What Has To Be Done After The Gnat Bites?
- Immediately wash the exaggerated area with the help of soap and water.
- Evade scuffing and itching on the affected area, this can boost the swelling.
- Apply ice or some cold metal over the pretentious area.
- You can also intake medicines like antihistamines or NSAIDs.
- You can even immediately apply the Tiger Balm over the bite.
- Use the peel of banana to rub over the bite.
- If you face the itching problem, apply some calamine lotion.
Do’s And Don’ts
Do’s
- Keep your kitchen clean.
- Rinse the utensils immediately after the use.
- Wrap the foodstuff properly. Discard garbage time to time into the bin.
- Prefer storing fresh fruits and groceries inside the refrigerator.
- Dispose of the rotten foodstuff immediately.
- Clean the wet dishes properly with the dry cloth or as an alternative, you can cover them with the cloth.
Don’ts
- Do not leave the residual foodstuff in the kitchen sink.
- Do not let your sink get jammed by water.
Have a hygienic life ahead! Hope you will get some relief of gnats after following this article..!
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