gnat

How To Get Rid Of Gnats – Gnat Pest Control

All gardeners are well aware of gnats swarming their garden and sometimes even your houseplants. These insects love to invade areas where there is a lot of water and humidity. Depending on how many overwatered plants you have, there’s a good chance that you’ll attract gnats to your home. However, there are some methods you can try to limit the number of gnats that you have to deal with on a daily basis. Luckily, gnats cannot do immediate or significant damage to your plants. Although, if you do not deal with them and let them spread, they could ultimately destroy your plants over a long enough time period. In this article, we explain how to identify and how to get rid of gnats at home as well as in the garden.

Finding The Source Of The Gnats

Usually, gnats are prone to swarming swampy, damp, humid areas. There may be a particular spot in your house or in your garden that is getting too much water on a daily basis. Not only is overwatering plants a bad idea but it also attracts unwanted visitors such as gnats. Gnats are typically pretty small and look similar to mosquitoes. Gnats, however, love to target the roots of plants and will eat them away entirely the more they breed in the soil. A single female can produce several generations of larvae in just one season. If enough gnats are able to hatch, they can devour entire root systems causing a plant to turn yellow in color before wilting away completely. They also love to swarm gardens and households during the cold seasons. Depending on where you live, gnats are drawn to wherever it rains the most.

How To Get Rid Of Gnats

A good first step on how to get rid of gnats is by making sure all of your houseplants have a way to easily drain water. Allowing your plants to breathe through the damp soil without turning your pots into miniature swamps. Check the soil to see how dry it is and water it accordingly as to not overdo it. The wetter and swampier the pot is, the more of a perfect breeding ground it is for gnats. The same goes for your garden, you do not want to overwater to the point where it’s a pond. Remember also to keep your compost bin or pile away from your house or garden. Gnats, as well as a lot of other unwanted pests, will swarm your compost. Another tip is to not use soggy potting soil. Any soil you use should be able to drain and not retain water for long periods of time.

If you’re desperate and want to try to revive a lost plant, you might be able to by repotting the plant. Carefully wash the roots of the plant before planting it again in soil that is gnat-free and in a new uninfected pot. This will give the plant a last chance to rejuvenate itself. If you want to salvage the original infected pot, wash it in a weak bleach water solution. This will effectively kill any remaining larvae and eggs in the contaminated pot.

Useful Products To Look Into

If watering isn’t the problem, then you may have to resort to some simple products from the store. Sticky fly paper ribbons are usually a good tool to use for small pests like gnats. This product is also great for catching other unwanted visitors that may want to find a home in your potted plants or garden. Some people like to use hanging electrical bug zappers. Although this does kill a lot of bugs, it can also kill bugs that you actually want to keep alive. However, entirely up to you to decide how you want to get rid of your pest problem. If you have to go nuclear, we recommend using a product that isn’t full of harmful chemicals and toxins. Instead, we recommend using neem oil, which is a friendlier product used to help with pest control while maintaining the health of your plants.

Hopefully, this information helps you with how to get rid of gnats in your house or your garden. There are pests everywhere, but this just means that you’re doing something right! The more organic your household and garden are, the more it’s going to attract unwanted visitors. The best thing to do is be prepared for whatever happens next!

Cody Medina
Small Scale Farmer
Hi there! I'm Cody, a staff writer here at The Garden Magazine and a small-scale farmer living in Oregon. I've been gardening most of my life and now live on a quarter-acre farmstead with chickens, ducks, and a big garden.