They forgot to take out the trash on time or didn’t notice how an apple rolled behind the kitchen cabinet and began to rot there, and now small and annoying fruit flies appeared in the house. They multiply quickly, some bite, spoil food and damage vegetation in the apartment. In short, they don’t give me peace. The question arises, how to get rid of midges at home. Fortunately, there are many effective methods; you can fight insects yourself without involving exterminators.
What causes midges to appear in an apartment?
Rotting organic matter serves as food for insects. Often these are vegetables and fruits stored at room temperature, potting soil, leftover food or pet food. To effectively get rid of midges in an apartment, you need to find out where they come from - if you don’t remove the cause, the problem will return again.
Midges appear not only in the summer, so it is necessary to constantly maintain cleanliness in the premises.
Having settled in the apartment, the midge actively reproduces. If you do not take action, insects will fill the entire apartment. Most often they accumulate in the kitchen, get into food, and crawl on dishes and food.
We look for and eliminate the source of midge formation
Surprisingly, small and annoying insects can appear even in empty apartments with tightly closed doors and windows. At first it may seem that they are all the same, but this is not the case at all.
By carefully examining an individual, you can establish its type, suggest the source of its appearance and eliminate it. Most often, the insects presented below appear in apartments.
Drosophila
Drosophila (midges from vegetables and fruits). Their source is dirty or rotting food, plant debris. They are often called onions - when this vegetable rots, they form instantly. In many fruits, their larvae are still at the formation stage, they are hibernating, and wake up when suitable conditions are created.
This problem is often observed in homes with cellars and basements, if the owner does not control the safety of his own harvest in winter. If parasites have infested cereals, you need to treat the cabinet in which they were stored. Keep in mind that they fly - do not open the package indoors
To prevent fruit flies from appearing in your apartment, you need to store food properly. Cereals, flour and vegetables should be kept in airtight containers, regularly checking their safety.
Gorbatka
Humpback midges, or sewer (basement) midges. Leftover food that ends up in the drains decomposes there. This leads to the appearance of midges in the apartment. A favorable environment (warm and damp) is created in the siphon or on the bends of pipes, and the individuals develop rapidly. Such parasites are dangerous, they bite, and it is difficult to remove them from pipes because it is almost impossible to get to the source (it can be within the entire riser of a multi-story building).
Mushroom midge
Fungus gnats in indoor plants (ground, soil). Insects appear when flowers are not cared for properly, for example, a housewife who wants to feed the crop uses infusions of banana peels, brewing tea with sugar or yeast. In this case, sciarids appear, causing problems not only for humans, but also for the plant, eating up its roots. Drying the soil helps get rid of flower midges.
How to get rid of midges on home flowers?
Sometimes you can see hordes of three types of midges on flower pots:
- Drosophila - fruit flies;
- sciarids - small flower mosquitoes;
- aleurodids - white-winged butterflies.
Their appearance can be caused by excessive watering and the use of organic fertilizers: dried tea leaves or coffee grounds, dried parts of the plant or its inflorescences, creating a putrefactive process.
In this case, it is possible to use chemical insect repellents and traditional methods. But the most important action is to stop abundant watering and cleanse the upper turf layer of rotting segments.
Indoor flowers can be treated using both commercial disinfection and protection products, which modern industry offers in a wide range, and folk ones: watering and spraying plants with solutions of salt, laundry soap or potassium permanganate.
Mechanical methods
Mechanical methods will help you get rid of small midges in your apartment. But we must take into account that they will be effective if the concentration of individuals is small. Use:
- Vacuum cleaner. It is enough to walk on surfaces in places where midges are localized. This will have to be done repeatedly. After completing the work, the device bag must be cleaned, otherwise it will become a source of problems. The effectiveness of the method is low, since some of the insects will scatter in different directions.
- Draft. Ventilation will help blow some of the midges out into the street.
- Smoking. Black midges react negatively to the smell of camphor, which is why it is used to smoke them. Camphor laurel leaves are set on fire and the whole apartment is walked around with them. The product smells unpleasant, but it is safe for humans.
A mosquito net helps prevent the recurrence of midges (they will not fly into the room from the street). It will not be possible to get rid of the individuals present inside the premises. On the contrary, when smoking and creating a draft, they must be removed so that the parasites can fly away freely.
The most effective method presented is smoking. Camphor, when used correctly, helps get rid of midges in an apartment in 2-3 procedures.
There are several different methods to consider:
Chemicals for controlling midges
Chemicals are highly effective and are often used to control insects indoors, helping to get rid of onion, flower and even sewer midges. Insecticides suppress their activity, but they must be selected carefully, especially if there are pets or small children in the apartment.
Aerosols
Sprays and aerosols are used to kill winged insects indoors. The room in which the midges live is treated and left for 3–4 hours, and ventilated upon return. It is undesirable to stay indoors after spraying; fine particles of the spray contain poison that can enter the respiratory tract.
When spraying an aerosol or spray, wear personal respiratory protection.
Fumigators
A fumigator used to kill mosquitoes will help you quickly get rid of midges in your apartment. It is enough to leave the device plugged in in a room where parasites live for 12–16 hours. Due to the fact that the chemical reagent only affects adults, the procedure will have to be repeated 3 days in a row.
Light traps
The device is called a zapper. Light traps help effectively get rid of large flies and small midges that are active from spring to autumn. The peculiarity of the device is that it shocks the midge with electricity and immediately destroys it.
Repellents
Repellents can repel and kill insects, and they can be used even in cases where the type of midge is not identified. The products are effective against all insects. Most often they are presented in the form of a narrow strip with an adhesive base. It is enough to hang the repellent on the contaminated area, and the midge will die under its influence.
Chemicals are recommended to be placed outside residential premises.
Where do fruit flies come from?
Small parasites appear in residential areas for various reasons:
- Due to insufficient wet cleaning.
- In the presence of a nutrient medium (spoiled fruits, vegetables, berries).
- Entering a room through open windows and ventilation openings.
The life cycle of Drosophila is short - they live no more than 10 days.
It doesn’t really matter how long the midge lives, its spread is determined by its ability to reproduce. The egg-adult cycle takes 2 days. On the second day of emergence, an adult female is capable of laying up to 400 eggs, implanting them in the pulp of the fruit. The front sight is small in size - on average 2 mm, but sometimes grows up to 5 mm.
Also read: How to deal with indoor midges in flowers?
The housewife often finds a cluster of insects in the trash can, on the kitchen table, in the bathroom, in places where damp rags are stored, in the sink drain and in flowerpots with indoor plants. In places where cleaning equipment is stored, in vases with flowers (if the water does not change for several days), in secluded corners where a piece of fruit is lost, colonies of fruit flies quickly appear.
Where do insects come from in an apartment where periodic wet cleaning is carried out according to all the rules? Drosophila can implant eggs on the surface of unspoiled fruits. Such fruits do not give themselves away; you can simply bring them home from a store or market.
It is impossible to see the places of implementation immediately. Only on the second day may small spots appear on the skin of the fruit. By this time, the larva has already penetrated the pulp and will soon pupate.
Plant predator - Sundew
To avoid the spread of annoying insects, wash the fruits and be sure to pour boiling water over them. If this is not done immediately, adult fruit flies may appear within 2-3 days.
Eating contaminated fruits does not pose any particular danger to humans. Sometimes digestive disorders may occur. But such cases are rare.
Drosophila are annoying parasites that can quickly spread throughout an entire apartment or house.
Remember! Simple rules will help prevent the appearance of fruit flies in your home.
Use of folk remedies
Folk remedies help get rid of midges in your apartment. Their advantage over chemicals is safety. All described components are natural and absolutely safe for all residents of the apartment, including pets.
To help get rid of midges:
- Tomato. It is enough to place flowerpots with potted crops on the windowsill and periodically wipe the leaves of the plant to release the aroma. The method helps to get rid of fruit flies in the apartment.
- Carnation. Boil 5 spice inflorescences in 200 ml of water. Thanks to the aroma spreading throughout the premises, the parasites will quickly fly away. Keep the liquid on low heat for 2 hours.
- Garlic. Used if midges are found in flower pots. A clove of garlic is cut into small cloves and inserted into the ground, left for 24 hours.
These products have a repellent effect on midges, and they tend to leave the room as soon as possible. Keep in mind that they do not kill insects, so you need to leave the window open.
Help from essential oils
Essential oils are used to combat food flies. Parasites cannot tolerate the following odors:
- patchouli;
- carnation;
- anise;
- verbena;
- eucalyptus;
- garlic;
- lemon;
- basil.
A few drops of the aromatic composition are dripped into small containers and placed throughout the apartment. If there are few midges, they will disappear. If there is a high concentration of parasites, the premises are sprayed with water with the addition of essential oils.
Making homemade traps and reviews
Homemade traps will help you quickly get rid of midges in your apartment. They can be made from the following materials:
- Glass jar and napkin. Take a container with a volume of 0.5–1 liters and make a funnel out of a paper napkin (its length should be 2 times less than the height of the jar). Place bait (fruits, vegetables) at the bottom of the container. Insert the paper into the container and secure the edges with tape. In the morning, you can get rid of the midges by opening the trap outside or filling the container with water.
- Plastic bottle. Place bait at the bottom of the container and leave it open overnight in a room where there are a lot of midges. In the morning, cap the bottle and throw it away.
- Saucer with killer bait. A special solution is poured into the container. It is prepared from 250 ml of milk, 3 tbsp. l. sugar and 1 teaspoon black pepper. Midges will fly to the smell of milk and sugar and die after tasting the delicacy.
- Duct tape. Use double-sided tape to cover the surfaces in the room where midges live. Within a few days, the insects will stick to the tapes and can be removed.
- Brew trap. It is enough to leave a little beer or kvass in a glass, and in the morning simply pour the liquid down the drain. The living creatures will drown in the drink.
- Detergent solution. To get rid of midges in an apartment, prepare sugar syrup. It is poured into disposable containers and a few drops of dishwashing detergent are added. In the morning it is enough to remove the dead midges.
- A plastic bag generously smeared with liquid honey will help get rid of midges in your apartment. The insects will flock to the sweetness, stick and will not be able to fly away.
See the actually working method:
Reviews from people who have used homemade traps to combat annoying parasites confirm their effectiveness.
Elena Petrovna, 67 years old:
“For many years I have been using the bottle method - I pour in sweet syrup, and in the morning it’s in the trash. I try to throw out spoiled food in a timely manner and take care of indoor plants, but midges still appear from time to time.”
Anton, 50 years old:
“I accidentally discovered that flowers attract midges to beer. I just leave the rest of the unfinished foam in a mug on the table, they fly there themselves, and then I pour it out.”
Prevention methods
Preventing the appearance of midges is easier than getting rid of them, so you should follow the basic rules:
- Keep your house or apartment clean, regularly throw out garbage and leftover food, and wipe the kitchen table.
- Store cereals in airtight containers, and vegetables and fruits in the refrigerator.
- Clean the sewer siphon once a month using special disinfectants.
- Prevent plant products from rotting; promptly dispose of them in the trash if spoiled.
- Place pelargonium on the windowsill in the kitchen. Insects do not like the smell of this plant, so the risk of their appearance will be reduced.
- Install mosquito nets on the windows to prevent midges from getting into the room from neighbors.
- Residents of the first floor or owners of their own houses should check the integrity of the flooring. Midges can enter the house through small openings.
Homemade traps are highly effective, but it is better to use them when the number of insects is small. If there are a lot of midges in the apartment, traps will have to be installed repeatedly over several days. This must be done without interruption, otherwise it will not be possible to reduce their population.
Keep in mind that it is very difficult to get rid of midges in an apartment, because they multiply quickly. The fight against insects should begin when the first individual is identified, otherwise within a day their number can reach hundreds.
Tell us, were there similar insects in your apartment? Recommend in your review the most worthy option of struggle. Your comments will help other people facing this problem. Share the link to the article on your social networks - the publication will be useful to many. And save the site to bookmarks so as not to lose it.
Prevention of wine midges
In order not to fight wine midges in the house, you need to follow simple rules of prevention.
To prevent their occurrence will help:
- regular ventilation;
- periodic audit of stocks of fruits and vegetables with the removal of spoiled specimens;
- timely removal of the trash can;
- periodic cleaning of sinks and siphons;
- moderate watering of indoor plants;
- wet cleaning of the premises as necessary;
- caring for pet cages and aquariums.
