Gnats are an umbrella term for those obnoxious flying insects that swarm and thrive in your home, especially in areas with lots of moisture, like the soil of indoor plants. Gnats are generally harmless to humans but pose dangers to your plants as the presence of gnat larvae can stunt their growth.
Fortunately, one of the most effective home remedies involves an inexpensive and readily available household item, the Dawn dish soap. Below is a detailed guide on how to get rid of gnats with Dawn dish soap.
Table of Contents
Ways to Remove Gnats With Dawn Dish Soap
What to prepare
- Bowl/container, with the size depending on how big the gnat infestation is
- Dawn dish soap
- Apple cider vinegar
Step 1: Pour apple cider vinegar into a bowl
You are going to make a homemade gnat trap by luring these pesky bugs, especially adult gnats, with apple cider vinegar or some sweet syrups, as they are attracted to sickly sweet and fruity scents.
You should first identify which areas of your home are infested to estimate the amount of gnat solution you may need. You may fill up more containers of this gnat trap DIY for different areas of your home.
Step 2: Add unscented Dawn dish soap
This solution made of vinegar and dish soap for gnats is effective as the white vinegar acts as a lure for the gnats with its sweet scents. Then, the sticky and thick soap traps and drowns the pesky bugs.
It gets rid of the bugs in plants naturally as it does not involve any pesticides or chemicals harmful to plants.
Step 3: Place the dish soap gnat trap
Place the fungus gnats dish soap near the areas where you see gnats. Those places are often the kitchen and bathroom drains, garbage cans, or plant pots, etc.
After placing the container, you simply need to wait.
You need to replace the gnat solution in the container once it is filled with drowned gnats and repeat the process until all the gnats in your home are killed. This may take two or more days, depending on how big the gnat infestation is.
Helpful tips/FAQs
What are gnats attracted to?
- Gnats, while vexing, are non-biting flies that are generally attracted to sweet and fruity scents. They are usually seen swarming flowers, vegetables, and scented perfumes/soaps, as they typically produce ambrosial scents.
- Fungus gnats, which are gnats that commonly infest the soil of potted plants, are generally attracted to moisture and organic compounds found in soil.
How do you get rid of gnats with Dawn without vinegar?
It is possible to get rid of gnats inside your home without using vinegar, as it is only a placeholder for any liquid that exudes fruity and sweet scents. A red wine and dish soap gnats solution is just as effective as a white vinegar and dish soap solution.
You can also use sugar and sweet syrup as a white vinegar/apple cider substitute if you don’t want to waste wine.
What is the fastest way to get rid of gnats in your house?
Like many, I often find gnats in my potted plants and the kitchen. From my experience, the fastest way to get rid of gnats is by using a gnat trap DIY to catch gnats.
You may also use a spray bottle as an alternative and fill it with white vinegar and Dawn soap as home remedies to get rid of gnats.
You can directly spritz these annoying bugs with the gnat solution and watch them drop like flies.
Does dish soap kill gnats?
Dish soap does not directly kill gnats on its own. Liquids like vinegar need surfactants like dish soap to break their surface tension and drown insects.
Due to the fruity scent of this gnat solution, it lures the gnats and causes them to get stuck and die in the solution because of the dish soap.
How to prevent gnats from infesting your home?
Prevention is always better than cure, as the popular saying goes. To prevent your home from another gnat infestation in the future,, you should do the following:
- Stop overwatering your plants, as it creates a moist environment and a perfect breeding ground for gnats to reproduce and larvae to feed and damage plant roots.
- Make sure to dehumidify your home occasionally and not to let rotten fruits and vegetables sit on the counter for too long, as their scents are attractive to gnats.
- Lastly, always dispose of your trash quickly and responsibly, so rotten and moist food waste won’t attract insects into your home.
- Do not leave dirty dishes out for too long without washing, especially ones with sweat and fruits.
Conclusion
One of the simplest home remedies for gnats is a gnat trap made with white vinegar and dish soap solution, as it exploits the gnats’ natural affinity to fruity scents and drowns them in the solution due to the stickiness of the Dawn dish soap.
The affordability and availability of Dawn dish soap also makes this gnat trap very cost-effective. This marks the end of my guide detailing one of the many ingenious ways on how to get rid of gnats with Dawn dish soap.
Read more other gardening tips:
- Tips to repot a snake plant.
- Best time to repot jade plants.
- Ways to till a garden without a tiller.
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