Midges are small annoying insects that are always present in a person's home and remind him of their existence at the slightest opportunity. It is especially unpleasant to encounter them in the kitchen, which is a storehouse for food supplies and a gathering place for all the inhabitants of the dwelling. Also, midges often settle at the root system of indoor plants and overpower pets - dogs and cats.
The method of fighting gnats, time-tested and people-tested, is the gnat trap. Unlike toxic chemicals, it poses absolutely no danger and is quite simple to manufacture.
A plastic bottle will help
An equally effective trap for midges can be obtained from the same plastic bottle, or rather, its halves. The cut off upper part should be inserted into the lower neck down. You will get a kind of funnel through which the midges will descend for food. For stability and tightness, it is recommended to glue the trap from the sides with tape.
The bottom of the container should be filled with fragrant products. It can be a few spoons of juice or jam, a couple of slices of fresh fruit, or some apple cider vinegar. After a short time, the contents of the bottle will begin to ferment, which is guaranteed to attract midges. A do-it-yourself trap for midges will help clear the room of intruders in a short time.
The bait is easy to make from a plastic yoghurt cup. It should be covered with cling film, in which several holes for midges should be made with a needle or a toothpick. You can leave your used tea bag or fresh tea leaves inside.
If you don't have sour fruit, vinegar, or any other remedy on hand, you can use a trap, which will require the following ingredients:
- plastic bottle 1.5 liters;
- water;
- sugar and yeast.
To begin with, you need to make the very design of the trap: cut the bottle with a knife at the point of its narrowing, and then fix the smaller part with the neck down to make a kind of funnel. The two parts of the bottle can be connected with tape.
In warm water, yeast and sugar are diluted, mixed thoroughly, poured into a bottle. Such a trap for midges in the kitchen with your own hands will attract midges for about one week, after which the bait liquid must be replaced with a new one.
Important! With the help of this design, you can remove not only from midges, but also from flies and even mosquitoes. ... Sticky tapes
Sticky tapes
The most common way to catch gnats is with sticky tape, which is sold at any hardware store. But you can make such tapes yourself.
To do this, you need to prepare:
- thick paper;
- castor oil;
- rosin;
- turpentine;
- sugar;
- water.
The first step is to create a sticky base for the trap. To do this, you need to make a syrup from sugar and water: mix an equal amount of water and sand, put on fire, wait until the syrup turns amber and cool.
While the syrup is cooling, the paper needs to be cut into strips up to 5 cm wide. After that, rosin, turpentine and castor oil are added to the syrup. After thoroughly mixing the mixture, you need to dip the strips of paper into it one by one.
The strips need to be hung anywhere, but the most successful places for catching insects are doorways and the space near the windows.In addition, they can be placed near lighting fixtures.
See the video below for reliable ways to get rid of midges.
Sometimes it is necessary to drive away annoying midges not at home, but, for example, in the country, or outdoor recreation. In this case, finding rosin and other components for the bait is quite problematic, but, nevertheless, there is a way out of the situation.
It is necessary to prepare the bait from any available products, on which midges usually flock - apple cores, banana peels. Place on the bottom of a wide jar, for example, from under caviar or canned food. Take the paper, roll it up with a mouthpiece and place the narrow end in the jar.
The only drawback of the trap is that it can give off an unpleasant odor. Therefore, you should not use it in a living room.
Simple solutions may well be effective, but if you want to create complex structures that will allow you to remove midges, you can use the guide to creating a trap from a fan and a light bulb.
The indisputable advantage is that it does not have a specific amber, unlike most methods. And, therefore, such a do-it-yourself trap for midges in an apartment is preferable.
For the construction you will need:
- compact fan;
- lamp;
- paper bag;
- gauze pouch.
You can use a fan that plugs into USB. It must be positioned so that it blows the floor towards the floor, and a gauze bag must be tied to it. Collapse needs to position a light source - for example, a table lamp. A paper bag with a cut bottom will fit between the lamp and the fan.
The principle of operation of the device lies in the fact that midges flock to the light, through a "tunnel" made of paper fall into the bag, and cannot get out of there because of the strong air flow.
Thus, the methods for getting rid of midges can be very different, and it is possible to assess the degree of their effectiveness only in a practical way.
Folk recipes
Traps are not always effective. They destroy insects for a long time. Folk recipes will help speed up the process of getting rid of midges. Midges do not tolerate odors:
- anise;
- eucalyptus;
- mint.
The essential oils of these plants are poured into an aroma lamp. After some time, the insects will leave the apartment.
The smells of some plants strongly discourage fruit flies, you can also use the essential oils of these plants
The smell of camphor will scare away midges. It is poured into a frying pan and heated, after which the frying pan is carried through all rooms. The pungent smell will scatter insects.
An easy way to catch gnats is to leave a beer bottle with leftover drink. The smell of yeast and hops will attract them, but they will not be able to get out of the container. Throw away the bottle.
Midges cannot stand the smell of tomatoes. It is enough to plant them in tubs and put them on the windowsills, and annoying insects will disappear.
Do-it-yourself trap for midges from a can
To date, there are a sufficient number of various products on sale that are designed to combat flies and mosquitoes. But not everyone has the financial and physical capacity to acquire and use them. In this case, do-it-yourself fly traps from scrap materials are suitable.
Insects cannot fly out of traps covered with cones
Flies are quite harmful and annoying insects. They are not only annoying, but also carry all sorts of infections. There are several ways to deal with them. One of them is to make a fly trap with your own hands. Below are the options for the traps:
- Velcro for flies. They can be purchased at the store, but if there is no money, you can make them yourself. To do this, you need a sheet of paper, rosin, castor oil and honey. In a water bath, rosin with castor oil is melted and honey is added there to smell.Then a sheet of paper is dipped into this mixture and suspended in places where flies accumulate. Flies fly to smell and stick.
- Liquid bait for flies. You will need a jar, a square sheet of cardboard and sweet syrup or honey. Pour syrup or honey at the bottom of the jar, it will serve as a bait. Roll up a funnel from a sheet of paper and lower it into the jar with its nose down. The hole in the funnel should be small to prevent flies from climbing back out. Flies crawl into the bait jar through the funnel and die there.
A do-it-yourself fly trap is an effective method of dealing with them. But there is a flower - a predator that eats flies. It is called - Dionea or Venus flytrap. It is named after the Greek goddess Dionea. The flower is quite unpretentious, so it is not difficult to take care of it at home. The soil for the flower should consist of sand and sphagnum moss in a ratio of 1/3.
You can feed 1 - 2 traps. The insect must be alive so that it can irritate the antennae of the flower, then it will close and begin to digest food.
Venus flytrap can eat a couple of insects a week
With the onset of warm days, the problem arises of how to get rid of mosquitoes. There are many different mosquito repellent sprays and ointments available. But if you do not want to spend your hard-earned money, then you can make a mosquito trap with your own hands. A homemade trap is also quite effective in destroying them. Many people know that mosquitoes bite in order to lay the larvae.
- We take a two-liter plastic bottle and cut off a third of the bottle from the neck. It turns out a cone.
- Cooking mosquito bait. Dilute 5 grams of yeast and half a glass of sugar in half a glass of warm water. Pour all this mixture into the cut off part of the bottle.
- Close the bottle from above with a cone down and fix it with tape.
- Be sure to wrap the bottle in foil or dark paper, as mosquitoes do not like light.
The principle of this mosquito trap is that the yeast begins to ferment and produce carbon dioxide, which is a great bait for mosquitoes. They fly into the bottle and die there.
We suggest that you familiarize yourself with: How midges breed in the kitchen
An effective trap can be easily built from a regular glass jar, inside which you should place products that attract gnats: a few slices of chopped banana or a couple of tablespoons of apple cider vinegar, into which you can add a few drops of kitchen detergent to ensure that gnats are attracted. The container must be covered with a lid, in which small holes are made using a nail, scissors or a small knife.
Responding to the aroma of the contents of the can, midges will fly in en masse, but they will not be able to get out. Instead of a glass jar, you can use a wide-necked plastic bottle. You can make several traps and place them in places where annoying insects accumulate: in the kitchen, near sewer hatches and vents.
The habitat of midges
Having found midges in the apartment, do not immediately destroy them. It is more expedient to follow the insects and identify the places of their greatest habitat. Midges prefer dirty and damp places. Therefore, before taking drastic measures to destroy midges at home, it is necessary to put things in order in the apartment. To do this, you need to carefully examine possible problem areas in the house:
- Inspect all kitchen cabinets and food storage shelves. So you can find what has deteriorated and caused the spread of pests. Midges can live in cereals, onions and other spoiled foods that pest larvae feed on. Put all perishable food in the refrigerator.
- Check the serviceability of sewage and water supply drains, as well as ventilation ducts.
- Change the water in the indoor aquarium and remove it from the pet in the cage, if any are present in the apartment.
- Earthen gnats, such as mushroom gnats, attack flower pots if the soil is overly moist. Other types of pests of indoor plants - scale insects and whiteflies - affect the green part of the flower.
Midges in the house
After general cleaning in the house using detergents and special agents, you can use an additional device called a midge trap to consolidate the effect.
Electronic trap
Building such a trap is not as easy as it seems at first glance. To do this, you need to have basic skills in working with electrical appliances. But if everything works out, such a trap can be used in an apartment, in a country house or in a country house.
General diagram of the device of an electromechanical trap for flies and mosquitoes
For its manufacture, the following materials and tools are needed:
- paper bag of juice, milk, or kefir with a volume of 1 liter;
- thick wire;
- portable portable fan with batteries (you can use a car battery);
- a small 10-25 W light bulb or flashlight;
- gauze;
- glue;
- scissors;
- stationery knife.
Schematic representation of an electronic mosquito trap
- Using a clerical knife or scissors, you need to cut off the bottom and top from the paper bag.
- Install a fan at the bottom of the tank so that after turning it on, the air flow is directed downward. Secure the device with a wire.
- Cut mugs with a diameter of 0.7 m from gauze.
- Using glue, attach gauze to the bottom of the container to make it look like a bag.
- Make a hole on the top of the bag on both sides. Install a thick wire so that the handle comes out (like a bucket).
- Attach a light bulb or flashlight to such a handle using the same wire.
- Also attach a small metal wire loop to the handle to secure the trap in the desired location.
- Turn on the light bulb and fan. After that, install this device near a window or in another place where annoying insects appear most of all.
This trap for mosquitoes and midges works so that the pests fly up to it in a bright light, and the fan creates a stream of air that will help move the insects inside the gauze bag.
Wasp fly
Materials:
- hook;
- black assembly thread;
- foam (yellow and black);
- fly net;
- 2 molds for burning wings (one should be smaller than the other);
- a strip of raffia;
- dumbbell-shaped eyes;
- refined wax;
- black dabbing;
- rubber feet;
- vinyl antennae;
- varnish.
How to do:
- Burn out of synthetic material using molds, 2 large wings and 2 small ones.
- On a hook clamped in a vice, we wind the thread in the direction from the loop to the bend.
- At the bend, we wrap a strip of raffia and a strip of yellow foam (wide).
- We wind the foam in the direction of the loop (the turns should lie half on top of each other). We cut off the excess.
- We twist the raffia into a flagellum and wind it around the wasp's body.
- We attach a dumbbell (eyes) perpendicular to the fore-end, 2 mm from the loop.
- On the 1st turn of raffia from the head, we tie the rubber legs (rear). Here we attach a strip of black foam. We attach 2 more legs (front) between this strip and the head.
- We wind small wings next to the black foam, and large ones next to the eyes.
- We fix a yellow strip of foam at the loop. With an eight we wrap the eyes with it.
- We attach the antennae.
- We put wax and dabbing on the thread, make the insect breast.
- We fasten a black strip of foam with turns of thread in front of the dumbbell, then behind it. Cut off the excess part of the strip.
- We decorate the head with scissors and semi-knots.
- We twist the antennae with a burner.
- Apply varnish to the wasp's head.
A picture of the main stages of making a wasp fly can be seen here.
The fly imitates prey that is not part of the main diet of fish, but trout, chub, and grayling peck well on a wasp fly.
News. Poachers caught fish with forbidden bait!
According to law enforcement agencies, four men were detained on suspicion of poaching. During the arrest, the men had 237 kilograms of fish caught with them. The fish inspectors were surprised by the fact that the detainees had absolutely no poaching equipment (nets, electric shock, explosives, etc.). When asked how they managed to catch so many fish, the men joked "good bite"
But when inspecting personal belongings, one of the inspectors drew attention to the packaging with a foreign label. It contained a powdery substance of unknown origin.
After the examination, it turned out that the substance can have a very strong effect on fish due to the action of special enzymes. The main property of this substance ...
How to build the simplest trap
It is very easy to make a trap for mosquitoes and midges with your own hands from an ordinary plastic bottle, which can be used even in an ordinary apartment.
You also need to prepare the following materials:
- 150-250 ml of regular tap water;
- 10 g baker's yeast;
- 60 g granulated sugar;
- stationery knife;
- Scotch;
- a piece of paper, newspaper or foil.
This trap works by releasing carbon dioxide as a result of the reaction that occurs between the yeast and the sugar. It attracts mosquitoes and midges. Insects fly through the neck into the bottle, where they die after 1-2 days.
The manufacturing technology of this device consists of the following stages:
- Cut off the top of the bottle.
- Take the water that needs to be heated to 37-38 ° C. Dissolve yeast and sugar in it.
- Pour the prepared liquid into a container.
- Insert the previously cut part of the bottle inside the trap so that a kind of funnel forms.
- Wrap the container with newspaper, plain paper, or foil. Use scotch tape to fix the material.
- Examine the trap carefully to ensure that there are no gaps in the trap through which insects can fly out. Cover them with tape if necessary.
- Set up a homemade trap in a suitable location. It is best to do this near a lighting fixture - then the insects will flock into the bright light.
The service life of this device is 6-8 days. After this time, it must be replaced.
Fly trap
The most effective way to create an insect trap requires a bottle, bait, and a thick needle.
The bottle is filled up to a third with the bait and then closed with a lid. The needle or awl is heated with a lighter and holes are made in the bottle through which the midges will penetrate.
Despite the apparent simplicity of the design, it is very effective. The midges enter the bottle, attracted by the smell, and cannot get out. After one week, the trap should be replaced by wrapping it in plastic and discarding it.
See the video below for how to make a gnat and mosquito trap.
Funnel trap
If you have neither a thick needle nor an awl at hand, you can slightly change the designs without detracting from the degree of its effectiveness. This DIY bottle trap is especially effective when using sticky bait, such as syrup, or any liquid with a sweet or sour flavor.
To create a trap, you need a one and a half liter plastic bottle. It is necessary to cut it off with a knife along the narrowing line, remove the cap from the top and fix it with the neck down into the larger part of the cut bottle. You can use tape to fix it if the structure does not seem strong enough.
Once the bottle is filled with bait, it becomes an effective insect trap and quickly gets rid of the problem.
Funnel made of paper
As a funnel, not only the top of the bottle can be used, but also paper, for example, a regular newsprint rolled up in a cone. In this case, it is not at all necessary to cut the bottle: the cone can be placed in its neck.
Important! So that the opening of the cone is small, and there are no cracks and gaps at the location of the neck of the bottle. You can also use scotch tape for this.
A bottle fly trap is convenient in that it can be fixed anywhere, put on a flat or hung. If midges live in the entire apartment, it is necessary to make a trap for each room in order to remove all insects at the same time.
Making a bottle trap
Mosquito and midge traps
DIY mosquito trap
Fly trap
Red wine for gnats
Small glass or plastic containers are an effective tool for catching gnats, which should be filled by a third with red wine, a product that these insects are not indifferent to the smell.
Add a couple of drops of liquid soap to this and mix gently. In a short period of time, the midge trap will attract thousands of insects. Insects will land on the surface of the wine and get stuck in it.
The midge trap is only part of the fight that needs to be carried out in a comprehensive manner. Various sprays are effective against annoying insects. It is enough just to spray the product directly on insects and in their habitats. This is an instant way to get rid of both midges and other unpleasant insects (flies, mosquitoes).
Depending on the intensity of the drug, it may be necessary to vacate the treated area by its residents for several hours: you need to give the chemicals time to evaporate. Before using the spray, you should carefully read the label to ensure that the product is safe for pets.
Types of indoor midges
Depending on the location of the taste preferences, Drosophila are subdivided into several types.
1. Food
... This type of fruit flies prefers to settle in products (cereals, vegetables, food waste). They can be of different colors, most often you can find burgundy and black colors. The easiest way to get rid of this type of midges, all that is needed for this is to regularly monitor the cleanliness of the room, that is, remove the garbage bucket, crumbs from the table, and so on in time. Often, after general cleaning in the apartment, this type of midges disappears.
2. Wages
... This type of fruit flies, as a rule, settles in stale things, and these can be not only ordinary clothes fruit flies, but also larvae. Getting rid of them is quite difficult, it is much easier to prevent their occurrence. To do this, you need to put a few tablets with the smell of lavender, dried nut leaves, or special insect fragrances sold in hardware stores in the cabinet.
Electric insect killers
For people who do not have time to make homemade products, but want to quickly and effectively get rid of the flying gnat, there are electric fly traps. These devices are made of a metal case with a fireproof plastic coating, and have several UV lamps, the bright light of which attracts insects.
On the way to the lamps, the flies fall on the grid, through which the current flows, and immediately die. The conductive element is protected by an additional coarse mesh to prevent accidental contact with a person or pet.
Such devices also help to get rid of mosquitoes and midges.
Pest killer
Electric device for the extermination of flying insects. Two 20W ultraviolet lamps act as bait. A metal mesh that conducts current passes near the lamps. The trap is designed for flies and mosquitoes. For the correct functioning of the device it is necessary:
- set the trap on a flat surface;
- connect to the AC mains;
- make sure that moisture does not get on the device;
- periodically clean the dead insect tray.
Vegetable oil method
How to get rid of house gnats? Insects that live near a trash can or near a drain pipe can be fought with sunflower oil. It is recommended to pour the liquid into the kitchen sink.
For insects, falling into such a trap has disastrous consequences: the midge will be completely covered with a viscous liquid, will not be able to move or reproduce, and as a result will simply die. This method is very effective, especially if applied repeatedly.
We suggest that you familiarize yourself with: Where are the midges in the apartment and how to get rid of them?
Street fly trap
Such a tape is effective against all types of flies, but especially omnivorous and herbivorous species come across it well. Other winged insects, including mosquitoes and midges, stick to the tape, in large part because they choose to rest on it. Knowing about the preferences of flying insects to sit on ceilings and chandeliers, it is better to hang sticky tapes at the top of rooms.
To make adhesive tape you will need:
- Thick paper, cut into long strips 4-6 cm wide. A loop should be attached to one end of the strip, for which it will be convenient to hang the trap.
- Rosin - 200 ml.
- Castor oil - 100 ml.
- Turpentine - 55 g.
- Granulated sugar - 4 tbsp. l.
- Water - 4 tbsp. l.
Syrup must be boiled from water and sugar, bringing it to a yellowish brown color. When the syrup cools a little, add rosin, turpentine and castor oil to it, mix everything thoroughly. Then saturate strips of paper with this mixture and hang traps in places where flies accumulate most - in the kitchen and veranda, above the entrance to the house and window openings, in the toilet.
The ribbons will attract flies with their smell, as well as the opportunity to sit on a surface that is comfortable from the point of view of insects. These devices remain sticky for a long time, so you need to change them as they fill up with insects.
The above composition of the sticky bait is very effective, but if there is only sugar in the house of all of the above, you can get by with sugar syrup. The main thing is to make it so thick that the flies stick to it well.
This trap is effective against dung and blood-sucking flies, mosquitoes and other gnats. You can place it in the local area, next to the street toilet, chicken coop, barn.
How to do:
- Take a 1-5 liter metal can, for example, a paint can. Make a large window-shaped hole on its side with a knife or scissors for metal, and close this window with a fine-mesh metal mesh. Secure the mesh with wire.
- Fix a low-power light bulb on the lid of the jar, bring the electric wire out. Use an extension cord if the outlet is far away.
- Prepare a poisonous solution to kill flies: in 100 ml of water, add 3 g of agita or another insecticide for flies, a few drops of ammonia and lactic acid. Treat the entire body of the trap with this solution, and put a piece of meat inside.
Lactic acid mimics the body odor of humans and animals, thereby luring flies. The meat that has been spoiled after a while will also give off a smell attractive to flies. And in the composition of agita there are substances that attract flies - pheromones.
The light bulb will additionally attract insects at dusk. They will sit on the body of the trap and receive a lethal dose of poison.
Tape trap (homemade)
This tape is very easy to make with your own hands. This trap will help to collect all the insects that appear in the apartment or on the street.
Adhesive tape preparation
To make adhesive tape, you need to use the following materials and tools:
- a piece of thick paper;
- 100 ml castor oil;
- 200 ml of rosin;
- 55 g turpentine;
- 4 tbsp. l.granulated sugar;
- 4 tbsp. l. water.
To make such an adhesive tape, you must adhere to this technology:
- Boil a syrup from water and sugar. It should be thick enough and turn yellowish-brownish.
- When the syrup has cooled down a little, add other ingredients to it - castor oil, rosin, turpentine.
- Apply the prepared mixture to thick paper.
- Place the trap near a window or doorway.
Flies on a homemade ribbon
This device will attract insects. They will flock to the smell of sweet syrup. When the tape is full of small pests, replace it.
Declare War on Aliens Housekeeping
... This mixture is sprinkled on the habitats of cockroaches. Once in the insect's body, alabaster hardens, turning into gypsum, and the cockroach dies. Try cockroach traps, which you can make yourself: a sticky adhesive mass is applied to thick paper in the form of a circular closed strip 2-3 cm wide. Food bait is placed in the center of the circle. Traps are laid out at night in places where cockroaches are concentrated; during the day, traps with adhering cockroaches are destroyed. Spread the wormwood sprigs in the places where the longhorns have settled. The smell of bay leaves and fresh cucumber peels is guaranteed to repel cockroaches. These enemies of the human race do not tolerate the smell of red and black elderberry flowers (small bouquets can be placed in the kitchen). In the villages of central Russia, they are fighting the misfortune, hanging on the wall ...
Discussion
Thank you for the article! True, I have just brought out cockroaches about a week ago. Hooves are no longer audible when the lights are on
Moreover, it was somehow unexpectedly fast for me. In total, Kombat bought 5 traps and placed them around the house. The cockroaches scattered in horror, apparently
two-tails sort of eat cockroaches. So, it seems that now we will have to endure them instead of red and mustachioed ones :) 08/31/2008 18:04:46
Fighting midges in shells
Small inhabitants of drain pipes, together with larvae and eggs, can be killed with ammonia. This product should simply be poured into a sink and left for several hours to be effective. It is worth remembering that the drug is toxic to humans, therefore, before using the sink again, make sure that the ammonia has dissolved.
Baking soda will help to escape from indoor midges, which you need to pour into the drain and pour a glass of vinegar. The foamed mixture must be left for several hours, after which the pipe must be rinsed with running water.
How to get rid of fruit gnats
To get rid of the eggs, you need to find a source of breeding and food for the flies, and then close it in a bag and immediately take it out of the house. Fruit flies are known to lay eggs in fruits and vegetables, but not only! Any place with food and moisture can attract insects. In general, if you can't find a source in any way, look for it in non-obvious places. Here are some search tips:
- If you keep houseplant compost in your kitchen, you should take a closer look at it.
- When was the last time you washed your trash can? Even if you regularly throw away the garbage bag, the container itself can be a source of problems.
- Vinegar, beer, and wine also attract insects. Think, maybe there is an open bottle with a smelling liquid lying around somewhere?
- Mushrooms, cereals and cheeses are far from fruits and vegetables, but even midges do not disdain them.
- A clogged kitchen sink is another potential breeding ground for insects.
- Look for damp sponges, rags, or a mop that are stuck.
- Sometimes the cause of midges can be a sweet liquid flowing into the base of the headset, kitchen drawer, under the refrigerator or other places.
Now you should hide all the products in the kitchen to deprive the fruit flies of food and breeding grounds.
- Hide fruits, vegetables, jams, sweets and other delicacies of midges in the refrigerator or close them in tightly closed containers.Do not leave ripe fruits outside the refrigerator until the problem is resolved.
Theoretically, this measure may be enough to kill the midges, but this process will take from 10 days (in the warm season) and up to 2.5 months in winter. Therefore, to get rid of midges in the kitchen quickly, you need to set up traps.
Funnel and bait traps are a simple folk method that works 100%. The principle of operation is simple - flies are lured into a container with a small hole with the smell of bait, but they cannot fly back. Leaving such a trap in the kitchen in the evening, in the morning you will find a whole swarm of insects inside it.
How to make a trap:
- Take a glass jar, vase or any other container with high sides and put / pour bait on the bottom, for example:
- Berries or a slice of fruit, like a pear or a banana.
- A couple of spoons of jam.
- A little apple cider vinegar.
- Roll an A4 sheet or any other paper into a cone, fix the tip with tape and cut it off if necessary, then insert the resulting funnel into the jar. By the way, the most effective trap will be made of yellow or orange paper, which will seem to the midges as citrus - the safest treat from their wasp enemies.
- Place one or two of these traps in high-risk areas - for example, near a sink, trash can, flowerpot, if fruit flies are in there.
- After a few hours, pour warm soapy water into the jar (without removing the funnel!) To drown the caught insects. Let the solution sit in the jar for a couple of minutes and then pour out the contents.
- If you cannot catch all the fruit flies at once, repeat the procedure until the trap is empty. In addition, we recommend repeating the procedure 8-10 days after a positive result, because a "new generation" of midges can grow from the eggs left somewhere.
The photo below shows other types of traps with the same principle of action. As you can see, instead of a paper funnel, you can use a kitchen funnel or a plastic wrap perforated with a toothpick (a plastic bag will do as well).
By the way, both the jar and the funnel can be made from a plastic bottle. To do this, it must be cut into two parts, so that the part with the neck is shorter, then insert the resulting funnel into the jar with the neck down and, for reliability, fasten the trap with tape as shown in the photo below.
Take note of the following tips to prevent the reappearance of fruit gnats in the kitchen:
- Keep your food covered, preferably refrigerated.
- Try to throw out your trash every day, especially if you throw in pits and pieces of fruit or vegetables. Also, do not forget to wash the trash can itself once a week, and in the summer even 2 times a week.
- Get rid of other potential breeding grounds for fruit flies in a timely manner. Old sponges, rags, damp mops, and any other items you use to clean up may contain midge eggs. Throw them away or wash them in the washing machine hot.
- Clean the sink drain regularly.
We suggest that you familiarize yourself with: How to get rid of fruit flies in the house?
Effective control methods
If insects enter the apartment from neighbors, you need to put grilles with a mosquito net at the exit from the ventilation shaft. If there are gaps and crevices, they must be removed with silicone. If the risers in the bathroom are not sealed tightly, this problem can be removed with polyurethane foam or cement mortar.
Destruction of midges from indoor plants
How to get rid of? If insects occur, it is necessary to reduce the amount of watering so as not to create dampness. Stick a few matches into the ground, heads down, or sprinkle with ground pepper on top.
To destroy the larvae and eggs of pests in the soil with house plants, you need to treat it with a solution of potassium permanganate, then spray the soil with an insecticidal preparation against insects.
Smells that repel insects
Many types of insects, including fruit flies, are intolerant of certain scents:
- ylang-ylang;
- vervain;
- patchouli;
- anise;
- carnations;
- basil;
- lavender.
The smell of geranium scares off midges, you can grow the plant on a windowsill next to other flowers.
Another effective one is camphor alcohol.It is poured onto a hot baking sheet for evaporation. The pungent smell will scare away insects. It is advisable to leave the room for a while and ventilate it.
Homemade traps
It is quite simple to make, you can get by with the materials at hand.
Several variants:
- Take an empty plastic bottle, cut off the neck. Insert the cut-off neck into the resulting funnel, nose down. Put bait on the bottom (rotten fruit, jam, some beer or wine). Once in the bottle, midges cannot get out.
- Pour some apple cider vinegar into a glass jar. Make a paper funnel (preferably yellow) with a small hole, tape it to the jar. The smell of vinegar will attract insects and trap them. Another way to use apple cider vinegar is to drip it into a bowl and wrap it in a multi-hole bag.
Industrial glue traps
You can buy ready-made preparations against fruit flies:
- Raptor;
- Aeroxon.
The principle of the traps is simple. They contain a sticky liquid bait that attracts insects. Getting on the sticky surface, midges can no longer get out. Use according to the instructions on the packaging.
Chemical methods of destruction
To combat midges, sometimes they resort to help (aerosols or solutions). Such funds can only be used in rooms that are well ventilated. Before spraying surfaces, all food must be taken out or hidden in airtight containers.
Flying insect repellents:
- Raptor;
- Combat.
A mosquito fumigator can be used to remove gnats from the premises. It is enough to plug the device into the network at night. Such the method is ineffective against insect larvae and eggs.
Folk remedies
Proven recipes:
- Put the horseradish root in a transparent bag and do not close it. After a while, the midges will leave the apartment.
- Put a bag of banana peels or pieces of rotten fruit in the kitchen. When a large number of midges gather in one place, close the bag and take it outside.
- Leave some compote in a cup overnight. Cover it in the morning and put it in the microwave for 1 minute. The midges will die.
Save your favorite plant
Many species of midges are found in the moist soil of indoor plants. To save a green pet, first of all, you need to stop watering at least until the soil dries up by 2 inches. This action will help dry the larvae of midges and their eggs, thus ensuring the death of the latter. However, a lack of water can be detrimental to the flower itself, which will begin to fade.
Resuming watering will revive the plant, but may again attract annoying midges. Therefore, it will be effective against such insects to use a homemade spray from water and a lemon-scented dishwashing detergent. The soap mixture must be sprayed onto the plant and soil, leave for a couple of hours, and then rinse with clean water.
To prevent midges from starting up in flowers, it is recommended to adhere to the following recommendations:
- Do not water the plants too often. After all, a humid environment for midges is ideal for existence and reproduction. Therefore, when watering, the soil should not be wet, but slightly damp.
- The indoor pet should be provided with good drainage to avoid stagnant water.
A midge trap is the best way to get rid of winged pests
This device will help eliminate mosquitoes on the street or near utility rooms.
Old paint can trap
- Take an old paint can and cut a large window into its surface.
- Cover the hole with a stainless steel mesh that can be attached with wire.
- Install a low power light bulb on the bottom of the container.
- Treat the body of the homemade device with agita solution (3 g per 100 ml of liquid).Also add a little ammonia and lactic acid to this mixture.
This unit will attract pests with the help of light. After the insects sit on the metal mesh, they will die from the chemical mixture.
Imagine the following situation: you notice that there are little annoying midges in your house. They constantly fall into the plate with food, suddenly fly out of the drain holes and nightstands, and you are also tired of carefully examining its contents for the presence of midges before taking a sip of coffee from a cup.
As soon as a place is found, a thorough cleaning must be carried out. It is there that the larvae live, which eventually turn into new midges. However, even after eliminating the cause, the gnats hatched from the larvae continue to fly indoors. Of course, if you deprive them of food, they will soon disappear.
For this, you can, for example, use various chemicals, but they can have a detrimental effect not only on midges, but also on all living things in the house, including animals and houseplants.
A midge trap is exactly what is needed in this situation. This kind of gadget can probably be found in stores, but why spend the extra money if it's easy to make yourself?
Method 1.
Pour a few tablespoons of apple cider vinegar into a glass jar and cover it tightly with a lid. Previously, several holes should be made in the lid using a knife or scissors.
It is important that the holes are slightly larger than the midge itself.
If necessary, you can use any other container instead of a glass jar. The main thing is that its neck is wide enough. Midges will flock to the smell of vinegar and fall into a jar, from which they can no longer get out.
The jar must be installed in the place where the accumulation of insects is greatest. You can easily replace apple cider vinegar with regular vinegar or lure winged pests with a slice of rotten fruit.
Method 2.
To bring it to life, we need the most common plastic bottle, the top of which should be cut off, turned over and reinserted in such a way as to form a funnel.
The seam will be clearly visible between the cut edges. It must be sealed with tape so that not a single midge gets out of there. At the bottom of the bottle we place any delicacy of midges. This can be vinegar, rotten fruit, sweetened water, jam, and more.
After a few days, you will notice that a fairly large number of midges are trapped. Do not remove it until you completely get rid of intruders in your home.
Method 3.
In this case, you should use a yogurt glass. Put a tea infusion or a used tea bag inside. The glass is covered with cling film, in which several holes are made with a toothpick. This trap will operate in a manner similar to that described in the first method.
Method 4.
And this method repeats the one in which a plastic bottle is used. Only in this case, red wine with a distinct odor is poured into the bottom of the plastic container, as well as a little soap solution. The latter will not let the midges, which decided to eat wine, get out of the bottle.
Method 5.
This method is suitable for those people who did not have any of the above at hand. But in every home there is necessarily at least one plastic bag, which should be used.
Put the bait in the bag and leave it open. As soon as you notice that there are enough midges in the bag, you need to tie it up very quickly. Of course, this method of catching midges is not as effective as all the others, however it helps.
Midges are small annoying insects that are always present in a person's home and remind him of their existence at the slightest opportunity. It is especially unpleasant to encounter them in the kitchen, which is a storehouse for food supplies and a gathering place for all the inhabitants of the dwelling. Also, midges often settle at the root system of indoor plants and overpower pets - dogs and cats.
The method of dealing with gnats, time-tested and people, is the gnat trap. Unlike toxic chemicals, it poses absolutely no danger and is quite simple to manufacture.
note
If you keep compost for indoor plants at home, then you need to take a closer look at it: it is usually an excellent breeding ground for these insects. Many growers use this method of preparing fertilizer. Grass growing in pots, tea leaves, eggshells and much more are collected in a small box. Garbage container. Even if you regularly discard the bag, there may be a breeding ground for the flies on the walls. Beer and wine, apple cider vinegar - these liquids attract insects like a magnet. If an open bottle is lying around somewhere, they will definitely appear. Almost any food can be a source of reproduction.
Mushrooms, cereals, dairy products, cheeses, if they were stored improperly, can easily become the object of attention of fruit flies. Clogged damp sponges and rags, mops - all this is a source of moisture important for gnats. If the source was never found, the insects may have come from the street. Or, some nutrient liquid (jam or syrup) has been spilled into an inaccessible place behind the countertop.
This is the first answer to the question of how to get rid of flies in the kitchen. How to destroy the nest? It's very simple: put it in a bag and take it away from home.
Preventive measures
To avoid the appearance of midges in the kitchen, you need:
- do not leave food unpacked on the kitchen table;
- promptly dispose of product leftovers;
- keep kitchen supplies in hermetically sealed containers and lockers;
- keep fruit in the refrigerator. Thus, they will not overripe and attract hordes of insects to the house;
- do not leave dirty dishes in the sink, as the source of attraction for midges are food debris adhering to it;
- cover the dish dryer with a clean and dry kitchen towel;
- cover the trash can, blocking the midges from an important source of food;
- regularly clean the trash bin by wiping the inside and outside with bleach;
- do not leave bags full of garbage overnight.
Reasons for the appearance
The fruit fly most often flies around the apartment with the onset of heat. The abundance of food, favorable living conditions allow fruit flies to actively reproduce, the number of insects increases dramatically.
Penetration routes:
- with vegetables and fruits from the supermarket or from the garden (inside peaches, apples, cucumbers, the larvae enter the dwelling);
- through open windows;
- with soil taken at a summer cottage for planting indoor plants;
- on animal fur. With frequent rotting of food in a cat or dog bowl, Drosophila larvae receive enough food and multiply quickly.
The risk of an invasion of annoying midges increases several times when the following factors are identified:
- poor home hygiene, mountains of dirty dishes in the sink;
- the habit of leaving leftover food in the plate, do not immediately wipe the table;
- old tea leaves left in the teapot also attract fruit flies, gives them a lot of food and a breeding zone;
- accumulation of bottles from under sweet soda, juice, remnants of wine and beer in containers not thrown away in time;
- excessive watering of indoor plants, water not only in the flowerpot, but also in the pan;
- addiction to traditional methods of plant fertilization, for example, watering with a dormant tea brew.Tea leaves rot, attract tiny insects;
- if the house is in perfect order, the kitchen shines with cleanliness, then the midge flies to the fruit, beautifully laid on a plate;
- the likelihood of an invasion of small flies increases if the hostess is used to keeping bunches of grapes, bananas or fragrant peaches outside the refrigerator;
- a bucket of garbage not taken out in time, rotten apple peel, potato peelings, tomato peel, sour borscht are the favorite food of fruit flies.
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Useful Tips
Beware of humidity, comfortable for mass reproduction of midges, is required not only for indoor plants, but also throughout the house. To prevent the appearance of such insects, all damp areas must be wiped with bleach. Rags and towels should not be left wet. In order to prevent the spread of moisture, mats and rugs are recommended to be placed in direct sunlight.
An important factor in a comfortable and calm life, without the presence of extraneous insects in the house, is cleanliness.