We have some stupid gnats in our house. I have done the apple cider vinegar in a dish with a drop of Dawn dish soap. They like it b/c they all gather on the OUTSIDE of the dish. Why won't they just fly in there & die? I have even tried it with a coffee filter on top with holes poked in it...same result...they just sit on the top of it. I have put all of the fruit in the fridge and my drains are all cleaned out. What can I do to get rid of these nasty things?
Never heard of putting soap in it, I would imagine they don't like that. The other thing is unless you put plastic wrap on top the sides must be at least straight up and down or they can sip at the shore without drowing. In other words a bowl will not work, it must be a glass and not the sloping kind.
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Am I the only one who calls them bar flies?
I'm sorry for laughing... but you wrote that you had some stupid gnats at your house. Evidently you have the smart ones instead! Hope you get them taken care of soon!
Red wine. In a straight sided glass. Left out overnight.
White is okay, too.
Both need to be fresh aka not sour.
Make sure you've also cleaned out your drains (bleach or draino)
((Ever heard the phrase: Catch more flies with honey than vinegar? Wine blows them both out of the water.))
The vinegar trick works, but it takes a while. I have had a bit faster results with leaving out beer or wine. But recently, I was even frustrated by that. So I cut up some fruit and stuck it in my oven. I left the door open for a while. When most of the fruit flies seemed to be in my oven enjoying their fruit buffet, I closed the door and turned on my oven. Presto...no more fruit flies.
You do need to find the source or they will keep coming back. In our case, we have a few neighbors new to composting and they are attempting to learn the right mix of greens and browns to keep bugs at bay.
If it's those tiny black gnats, then this might not be the right answer for you.
But, if it's fruit flies...This is easy and ALWAYS works for me: put some "bait" (piece of banana, tomato, strawberry, or whatever) into a disposable cup. Cover with plastic wrap secured by a rubberband. Poke a small hole in the center of the plastic wrap with a toothpick. Set the cup wherever you have fruit flies.
The fruit flies find their way in but, for the most part, can't find their way out (or maybe they just don't want to).
put clear cellophane on top of the glass, tightly. THEN poke holes in the cellophane (plastic wrap). The fruit flies/gnats fly in, and then can't find the holes to get back out.
Otherwise they'll just sit and drink your wine/vinegar and fly back out.
I always have the same problem. What I do is keep the mixture where it is and put a fly trap RIGHT above it! Gets 'em every single time!
Also, check your plants. If they aren't fruit flies, they may be in your potted soil. We had a problem with them at work and eventually they realized they had to put sand on top to get rid of them.
We just do the cider vinegar w/no soap and fruit flies go away very quickly. I have never ever heard of gnats being effected by vinegar though. Did you google how to get rid of them?
I mixed orange juice with vinegar and put it in a tall glass, made a funnel out of paper with the hole being large enough for them to be lured into the juice, but small enough so they can't find their way out. Maybe about the size of a dime.
That got rid of most of them. I even caught some near the bottom of the funnel or in the glass but not submerged in the juice and i would shake the glass a little and get them to fall in. Try the funnel, it should work.
Good luck, those things are annoying!
Go to a grocery store and get a little thing that looks like a piece of fruit and it has a liquid to pour in it and they fly in and are trapped. Sorry I can't think of the name of it. They are similar to the ones in the link here only not glass. http://www.plowhearth.com/product.asp?utm_source=bing&...
They work really quickly and they do trap the fruit flies. I got mine at Price Chopper if you have one of those near you. You can also search for 'fruit fly traps' and find other sites to order them from.
Liquor attracts gnats very well. Tall glass of wine, you can add apiece of fruit like apple, cellophane on top, rubberband around glass, 2 or 3 holes in cellophane, no more gnats. Try and find where they are coming from or you will just keep getting them. Good luck.
Use a ramekin. 1/4 cup or so of apple cider vinegar. Two drops of dishwashing liquid (something like Dawn that really cuts grease. Environmentally friendly stuff probably won't work). Swish it around so the dishwashing liquid is mixed in.
If you have fruit flies, and not gnats, it should work like a charm. I was catching 20-40 of the little suckers a night. The carnage was a sight to behold!
Try using just apple cider vinegar without dish soap. You could even put a small piece of fruit in it to make it more appealing. Definiately cover it so the fruit flies can go in but not come out. The will go on top and the sides finding a way to get in, but once they are in they really can't get out.
It could be that the dish is too shallow. Try using a votive holder or small glass.
