Getting Rid of Gnats in 2 Days - A Top Tip

Nobody likes to talk about pests.  Most of us prefer to believe that they just don't exist, but sometimes - through no fault of your own - you end up with an infestation.

A couple of weeks ago, I ended up having to deal with a swarm of gnats.  I didn't like the idea of spraying my kitchen with dangerous chemicals to get rid of them, so I started to think a bit outside of the box for an organic solution.

I racked my brain for a few hours when I remembered that gnats are naturally drawn to rotting fruit.  This lead to the following safe and easy solution.

Here's all you need: 
1 bottle with a plastic lid
A drill
A 1/8 inch drill bit
1/3 cup apple cider vinegar (or wine vinegar)
A few drops of dish detergent

Drill 3 holes in the plastic lid.  The holes don't have to be exactly 1/8 inch, but you want them to be approximately gnat sized so they can get in but have trouble getting out.

Put 1/3 cup of wine vinegar or apple cider vinegar in the bottle.  It HAS to be apple cider or wine vinegar.  White vinegar won't work as well. 

Drip a few drops of dish detergent into the vinegar and screw on the lid.  Gently agitate the liquid (don't shake it, you want to avoid soap bubbles).

Place the bottle in a problem area and watch your gnats disappear.

When the gnats are gone, just toss the whole bottle in the garbage (or dump the liquid in the toilet and recycle the bottle).

Why does this work?  As I mentioned, gnats LOVE rotting fruit.  Wine/Cider vinegar is essentially rotten fruit juice, so they go nuts for it.

Gnats can also walk on water.  Adding dish detergent to the vinegar reduces the surface tension of the liquid, so when they land on the vinegar, they sink into the murky deep rather than harmlessly walking on the surface before flying away.  Since the gnats can't resist the alluring odor of eau de vinegar, they all disappear into the bottle rather quickly.  My swarm was almost totally gone in 24 hours and completely gone in 48.

This trick will probably work for house/fruit flies, but you'll need a bigger holes in the bottle.


.