Community Chat

[drizzellla]

I have been noticing the tiny gnats lately.

But I think the ones in our house are from a bag of bird seed that we bought.

We used to store the bird seed in the garage. The mice found the bags. So we moved them to the shed. The squirrels found the bags. They chewed through the Rubbermaid tubs. We bought a galvanized trash can. The squirrels chewed threw the wood on the shed.

We moved the bird seed bags into the house. They are piled by the back door close to the bird feeders. Has worked out well. Until a month ago. It seems one of the bird seed bags had tiny gnats. The offending bag of bird seed is gone but the gnats are still with us.

Next time we go to the feed store, I am buying a few fly paper hangers. Hope that works.

[occasionalrain]

I have black oil sunflower bird seed but my gnats have no interest in it.

I put a bit of sugar on the counter, a test, and a herd of them gathered there.

Some, not enough, have landed in the bowl of vinegar-sugar-soap, so  a Dyna trap is being delivered on Sunday. 

[kze]

In the past, I've put small bowls of vinegar on the counter to attract them.  Then I placed the sticky paper next to the bowls.  While checking out the vinegar, they landed on the paper.  Although some were in the vinegar, huge numbers were trapped by the sticky paper.  I had no idea there were that many!  The brand my local store carried was Tom Cat and I think they were intended for rodents so were super sticky.

[FranandZoe]

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@occasionalrain wrote:

I have black oil sunflower bird seed but my gnats have no interest in it.

I put a bit of sugar on the counter, a test, and a herd of them gathered there.

Some, not enough, have landed in the bowl of vinegar-sugar-soap, so  a Dyna trap is being delivered on Sunday. 

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Good luck.  I'd still use something in the drain to kill them and stop them in addition to the Dynatrap.

[Still Raining]

I have a little used bathroom which got swarms coming out the shower drain!  Go figure!

After I put all the products down there to clear and kill them, I covered the drain with one of those flat silicon pan lids.  Could lift and reapply as needed.  Showed them!  Then I threw it away.

[shoekitty]

Put out sticks of wriggly s spearmint gum. Open foil and leave them in cupboards and around. Or I sometimes use peppermint or spearmint  oil, I buy Amazon. Place drops On a piece of cloth or cotton around. They hate it.  It takes a few days. They won't mate, then die off and new gnats won't go near it

[goldensrbest]

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@shoekitty wrote:

Put out sticks of wriggly s spearmint gum. Open foil and leave them in cupboards and around. Or I sometimes use permit oil, I buy Amazon. On a piece of cloth or cotton around. They hate it

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Never heard of permit oil?

[jackiejenny]

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@goldensrbest wrote:

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@shoekitty wrote:

Put out sticks of wriggly s spearmint gum. Open foil and leave them in cupboards and around. Or I sometimes use permit oil, I buy Amazon. On a piece of cloth or cotton around. They hate it

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Never heard of permit oil?

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I think she meant peppermint oil. 

[occasionalrain]

@goldensrbest 

I knew what meant and so did you. I suspect auto correct changed it.

[shoekitty]

I went back and corrected it. It is spearmint. Darn autocorrect.  I also use spearmint oil.  Also raccoons don't like it either so we put in bottle and spray it where they come in   Lots of it. You have to repeat every couple days when you use it outside though. I got the idea from a book with natural cures. Some animals have odor detergents , has worked for me.  We doused old pine cones with a few tablespoons of the oil and placed in netted potato or onion bag. We placed on roof of shed where possums poop every night. Gone, and I think they left our yard.  No sign of them. Although I did love seeing them come to pond at night.