A couple months ago I woke up one morning, blew my nose, and there was one in the snot. I about had a fit, then went to war in earnest.
myfrecklesareportals
I snorted one by accident the other day 😭. I sprinkled diatomaceous earth EVERYWHERE.
That90snina
I’ve noticed how like a glass of red wine will attract them as well. I like watching them droooown lol
Chigabytes
Mosquito dunks!
Wise_Tumbleweed_1551
Diatomaceous Earth.
MikeCheck_CE
Gnat infestation generally means overwatering/insufficient drainage.
Putting those plants in an inner nursery pot, then on your other pot so one drains into the other will help aerate your roots and prevent fungus building up which attracts them.
Tokedout01
Love those, I have a bunch of different ones. Although every now and then a spider gets caught on em and I feel kinda bad for em.
3yl
No joke – I don’t have major issues with gnats. If I have a problem with the plants, it never lasts more than a couple days at most.
That said, for some effing reason, there is always a gnat at my desk (home office where I sit for 12+ hours a day). ALWAYS. EVERY DAY. Do I have food sitting around? No. Crumbs? Maybe, but I vacuum just in case. No carpet, just laminate. Clearly, it’s not the same gnat, because I kill it. Then it resurrects (or a friend is tagged, who knows) and boom, it’s back again. They NEVER fail to fly up my nose, or in my mouth, or land on my hand. I wish I could explain how much it drives me nuts. I have two of the stupid little gnat traps on my desk – nothing. But there will be a gnat up my nose by the end of the day, I’m sure. [It’s so bad that I dug out an old blood testing kit to see if my blood sugar was high or something, thinking maybe they could smell it? Yes, it sounds nuts, but they’re making me this way.] I have yellow sticky things on my mic stand and on the back of my monitor and I sit and wave them through the air when I’m waiting on my computer for something. (The yellow stickies have zero gnats. Because they only want my nose or mouth.)
bagelhacker
Sundew plants!!! It’s so satisfying.
FireMama420
Get some BT or mosquito dunks and KILL. THEIR. CHILDREN. 🙂
The BT (active ingredient in the dunks) goes after the larvae of the gnats. Good to use in conjunction with the sticky traps. I hate these b@stards.
uname-doesntcheckout
If you can, buy mosquito bits and a blue light trap.
The bits will kill larvae in the soil, and the light trap will catch the adults that tend to fly off from your plants.
That said, you’ll likely see fewer fungus gnats soon anyway since cooler weather means your plants will need less water (assuming you are in the US).
This is really the only way to effectively get rid of those little bastards.
OnePie9464
Cinnamon in the dirt. Bugs don’t like Cinnamon.
Next-Wash-7113
I potted all my plants in fresh soil and covered everything with a half inch of sand. I have not seen a gnat in six months and no more of those yellow sticky traps.!
growing_weary
Try “Mosquito Bits”. You sprinkle it on the soil and water it in. It kills the gnats and the larvae. And, if you have standing water anywhere it will keep mosquitoes from breeding there. It’s life-changing.
throwaway24689753112
Nematodes
Resident-Distance322
OMG your money tree is BEAUTIFUL. How did you do that!
roosterjack77
Valar morghulis
PeengPawng
😭😝💖
Sharktooth134
I think that’s the most annoying part about those pests, like they have all the space in my apartment yet CHOSE to just be in my presence flying around me like I’m a piece of 💩.
kirakiraluna
Do you want some natural predators? Because my geckos will absolutely eat them out of the house
_allycat
They always try to fly in my nose. 😭
Zestyclose-Ad6428
I’ve been dealing with this since I was a child. I was told they like blue eyes. No one should ever pull a gnat body out of their eyeball. Gah! 😖
100_HOLLOW_001
I’ve somehow not seen a gnat in months despite doing nothing but letting all my plants dry out for a bit to try and get rid of them. Seeing posts like this make me realise how lucky I am lmao
MasterExploderr
I’m new to having houseplants but the first one’s I got ended up a breeding ground for gnats. All I did was wet some paper towels with isopropyl alcohol and lay them on top of the soil for a few minutes and hit any others on the leave with a quick swipe of the alcohol and it fixed the issue right away!
CorrectIndividual552
I had a terrible infestation. I used diluted Mosquito Bits liquid concentrate. I added yellow sticky traps to a few pots to capture the adults at the same time. If you just use sticky traps you’re not killing the larvae in your soil.
I haven’t seen another fungus gnat since. Ever.
eikkaj
A combo of mosquito dunks and a couple cape sundews has kept my house at peace
graudesch
I always had way more success with these sticky things when I placed them in a way where they don’t stand upright and instead try to cover as much soil as possible to make it as hard as possible to pass by without getting catched. And yes, always go nuclear with them, don’t use two or three and instead place them by the dozens. This is war!
mandyvigilante
Collective punishment is forbidden by the Geneva convention
_larsr
Yellow sticky cards catch the adults, which feed on nectar and are basically harmless to plants. If you want to get fungus gnats under control, you have to kill the larvae in the soil either using mosquito bits, beneficial nematodes (Steinernema feltiae), or with pesticide granules or a drench. Each adult fly can lay 100s of eggs. I know it feels good, like you are doing something, but yellow cards do almost nothing to actually control fly populations.
Pink131980
I try not to kill animals of any kind, but when two gnats at work flew up my nose, it was war.
(They smell like citrus when they get squished in your nose. So mad I know that.)
DrPhrawg
Just get BTI (mosquito bits)
LadyWolfWater
…surely it’s more effective to put the sticky trap in your eye rather than on the plants that are so far away? 😏
PinNo4836
When making lunch, I had a gnat land on the mustard I just squeezed onto a slice of bread for a sandwich…threw the whole slice away. I am now about to go to war with them…STICKY TRAPS AND DIATOMACEOUS EARTH EVERYWHERE!! 🔥🔥🔥🔥
RedsDelights
THANK YOU for this post!! My gnat problem is escalating and I am a baby green thumb (first time plant mama) so I am so grateful for these suggestions !
35 Comments
i’m about to do the sameeee thing.
A couple months ago I woke up one morning, blew my nose, and there was one in the snot. I about had a fit, then went to war in earnest.
I snorted one by accident the other day 😭. I sprinkled diatomaceous earth EVERYWHERE.
I’ve noticed how like a glass of red wine will attract them as well. I like watching them droooown lol
Mosquito dunks!
Diatomaceous Earth.
Gnat infestation generally means overwatering/insufficient drainage.
Putting those plants in an inner nursery pot, then on your other pot so one drains into the other will help aerate your roots and prevent fungus building up which attracts them.
Love those, I have a bunch of different ones. Although every now and then a spider gets caught on em and I feel kinda bad for em.
No joke – I don’t have major issues with gnats. If I have a problem with the plants, it never lasts more than a couple days at most.
That said, for some effing reason, there is always a gnat at my desk (home office where I sit for 12+ hours a day). ALWAYS. EVERY DAY. Do I have food sitting around? No. Crumbs? Maybe, but I vacuum just in case. No carpet, just laminate. Clearly, it’s not the same gnat, because I kill it. Then it resurrects (or a friend is tagged, who knows) and boom, it’s back again. They NEVER fail to fly up my nose, or in my mouth, or land on my hand. I wish I could explain how much it drives me nuts. I have two of the stupid little gnat traps on my desk – nothing. But there will be a gnat up my nose by the end of the day, I’m sure. [It’s so bad that I dug out an old blood testing kit to see if my blood sugar was high or something, thinking maybe they could smell it? Yes, it sounds nuts, but they’re making me this way.] I have yellow sticky things on my mic stand and on the back of my monitor and I sit and wave them through the air when I’m waiting on my computer for something. (The yellow stickies have zero gnats. Because they only want my nose or mouth.)
Sundew plants!!! It’s so satisfying.
Get some BT or mosquito dunks and KILL. THEIR. CHILDREN. 🙂
The BT (active ingredient in the dunks) goes after the larvae of the gnats. Good to use in conjunction with the sticky traps. I hate these b@stards.
If you can, buy mosquito bits and a blue light trap.
The bits will kill larvae in the soil, and the light trap will catch the adults that tend to fly off from your plants.
That said, you’ll likely see fewer fungus gnats soon anyway since cooler weather means your plants will need less water (assuming you are in the US).
This is really the only way to effectively get rid of those little bastards.
Cinnamon in the dirt. Bugs don’t like Cinnamon.
I potted all my plants in fresh soil and covered everything with a half inch of sand. I have not seen a gnat in six months and no more of those yellow sticky traps.!
Try “Mosquito Bits”. You sprinkle it on the soil and water it in. It kills the gnats and the larvae. And, if you have standing water anywhere it will keep mosquitoes from breeding there. It’s life-changing.
Nematodes
OMG your money tree is BEAUTIFUL. How did you do that!
Valar morghulis
😭😝💖
I think that’s the most annoying part about those pests, like they have all the space in my apartment yet CHOSE to just be in my presence flying around me like I’m a piece of 💩.
Do you want some natural predators? Because my geckos will absolutely eat them out of the house
They always try to fly in my nose. 😭
I’ve been dealing with this since I was a child. I was told they like blue eyes. No one should ever pull a gnat body out of their eyeball. Gah! 😖
I’ve somehow not seen a gnat in months despite doing nothing but letting all my plants dry out for a bit to try and get rid of them. Seeing posts like this make me realise how lucky I am lmao
I’m new to having houseplants but the first one’s I got ended up a breeding ground for gnats. All I did was wet some paper towels with isopropyl alcohol and lay them on top of the soil for a few minutes and hit any others on the leave with a quick swipe of the alcohol and it fixed the issue right away!
I had a terrible infestation. I used diluted Mosquito Bits liquid concentrate. I added yellow sticky traps to a few pots to capture the adults at the same time. If you just use sticky traps you’re not killing the larvae in your soil.
I haven’t seen another fungus gnat since. Ever.
A combo of mosquito dunks and a couple cape sundews has kept my house at peace
I always had way more success with these sticky things when I placed them in a way where they don’t stand upright and instead try to cover as much soil as possible to make it as hard as possible to pass by without getting catched. And yes, always go nuclear with them, don’t use two or three and instead place them by the dozens. This is war!
Collective punishment is forbidden by the Geneva convention
Yellow sticky cards catch the adults, which feed on nectar and are basically harmless to plants. If you want to get fungus gnats under control, you have to kill the larvae in the soil either using mosquito bits, beneficial nematodes (Steinernema feltiae), or with pesticide granules or a drench. Each adult fly can lay 100s of eggs. I know it feels good, like you are doing something, but yellow cards do almost nothing to actually control fly populations.
I try not to kill animals of any kind, but when two gnats at work flew up my nose, it was war.
(They smell like citrus when they get squished in your nose. So mad I know that.)
Just get BTI (mosquito bits)
…surely it’s more effective to put the sticky trap in your eye rather than on the plants that are so far away? 😏
When making lunch, I had a gnat land on the mustard I just squeezed onto a slice of bread for a sandwich…threw the whole slice away. I am now about to go to war with them…STICKY TRAPS AND DIATOMACEOUS EARTH EVERYWHERE!! 🔥🔥🔥🔥
THANK YOU for this post!! My gnat problem is escalating and I am a baby green thumb (first time plant mama) so I am so grateful for these suggestions !
Good luck, OP!!