Gnats or Nats?

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Tabitha

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How ever you spell it, how the heck do you get rid of them. I had a bruised banana in the kitchen 3 weeks ago & CAN'T get rid of the gnats. Just when I think they are kicked, they come back. I have tried the sticky fly paper stuff & just sneaking up on them w/ spray. I don't want to bomb my whole house, they are not awful, just a few but I can't seem to kick em,!
 

pepperi27

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Good luck darling. My sister went camping and came back with that or some type of little bug. Anywho they took three years to go away and finally be rid of them. You will have to get rid of plastic plants cause I think they hide there.
 

Panda

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I have no idea, but if you gifure it out, let me know. I've got them all over my place too.
 

Sunny

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Sorry to drag this post back from the dead but I have a solution for this! And I thought some people might be interested ... although maybe not this time of year?

For gnats, I put apple cider vinegar in a small glass dish and add a couple drops of dishwashing liquid to it. I stir a teeny bit and then let it sit in the area where the gnats are.
They go into it and don't come back out! Be sure to dump it out and refresh each day until they are gone. It usually just takes 1 or 2 days.

It MUST be ACV, cannot be regular white vinegar.

:)
 

Deda

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Buy one bottle of wine, preferably one that not too expensive. A nice pinot girs in a clear bottle is perfect.

Drink 1 or 2 glasses and leave the rest (about 2 to 3 inches) in the bottle sitting on the counter, close to where you notice the little buggy bastards.

They will be attracted to the fragrance of the wine and fly into the bottle and and drown in the left over wine.

After a day or two pour the bottle, with the bugs, down the drain, rinse and recycle.

Treat yourself to another (fresh and bug free) bottle of wine!
 
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I made some soap using neem oil and brought some up and put it near the sink. I noticed that I had far fewer gnats flying around there. The neem oil was at about 10% of my oils, so it was fairly stinky (meant for dogs or for people not too bothered by the scent to use as an insect repellent.)
 

rubyslippers

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When I get invaded by gnats, I usually drag out a can of flying insect repellant & spray the room. Don't want "junk" in my soaps or body lotions but out of desperation from the annoying little buggers I am willing to inhale the poison. :shock: Go figure!
 

djk17

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I am contemplating getting a wormery (for indoor composting) and on a forum I read that carnivorous plants will do the trick to get rid of the resulting gnats--several swore by the cobra lily.

For fruit flies I toss a few fresh basil leaves into the fruit bowl every day (I tear them a little to have the scent strong) and they are a deterrent.
Got to do the trick prior to seeing any though, as they deter but don't kill. In the past I have emptied my dried basil spice jar into the garbage just to stop the little buggers.

I love the wine idea :D

in the immortal words of Mr. Marx:
Time flies like an arrow
Fruit flies like a banana
 

carebear

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pour a bit of bleach in your drain just before you head to bed. don't rinse.
 
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