How to get rid of midges in the apartment. Special remedies against fruit midges

This sweet creature does not tolerate loneliness and does not come alone - fruit flies start up in flocks and arrange noisy parties in rotting fruits, stagnant water in vases, waterlogged houseplants. There they feel great, breed and multiply, lay eggs and tolerate your presence in their lives .... The appearance of these creatures does not mean at all that your house is not perfectly clean or that you are not clean. They have their own habitat, their own views on life, and you have nothing to do with it!

Important!!!

Drosophila - insects up to 4 millimeters in length, yellowish or brown in color with red eyes, which have a rather short life cycle- no more than two weeks - but their love of love and fertility can be envied. They live mostly in rotten plant remains, flowing tree sap, wine and beer must.

We are looking for the root cause

If outwardly everything is decent: garbage is taken out of the apartment regularly, there are no unloved fruits on the table that are not eaten as fast as favorite ones, no berry has rolled under the sofa, the legs of flowers donated a week ago are regularly washed under running water and the vase is often cleaned of plaque and mucus, and they are still flying - let's move on to the sewers and vents!

secret passages

Ventilation, plumbing, sewerage, heating and even basements- favorite places for the accumulation of flies - Drosophila.

The bottom line is that breeding centers - in accumulated stagnant water with the remains of waste products - are the most favorable environment for such insects. Heat a kettle of boiling water and pour, any of the offered in the store, punching agent water pipes from blockage. Proceed according to the instructions, just use boiling water instead of plain water room temperature- it will also relieve accumulations of fat adhering to the walls of the water drain. Repeat later procedure but no cleaner. Carefully inspect the external joints of the pipes and fittings, whether the fumilent has lost its elasticity, whether water oozes, creating a breeding ground for mold and midges.

Fly traps

The very first in the popularity rating for catching fruit flies is a home-made trap, consisting of a bottle with a narrow neck with sweetened water or the remnants of fermented compote, wine - they get inside easily, smelling a delicious smell, but it’s quite problematic for them to get out. Regularly change the contents of the bottle, lowering the prey into the sewer or, screwing it tightly with a cork, throw it in the trash, using a new container to replace the used one.

Advice

Baits, so to speak, “on live bait”, consist in placing rotting pieces of fruit or vegetables in a container covered with cling film with small holes. Intoxicated with a delicacy, the flies fall into the trap through the holes, and they can no longer get out. In the morning, change traps by getting rid of the fly corpses….

sticky plates stuck in flower pots and ribbons hung on the ceiling - inevitable death for small insects. Their weight, strength and size do not allow to get rid of the sticky mixture, impregnated with fruit flavors that imitate favorite dishes.

Use store-bought aerosols and sprays, chemical composition which are destroyed by flying "guests", sales consultants will always tell you: which of the arsenal is more effective, which is discontinued, and which will help the best. But you also need to go to them prepared so that you are not stuck with stale goods that no one has taken for years!

The advantages of such products are that they do not leave marks and quickly disappear. Actually, it is also a disadvantage of its kind. But unlike pastes and gels, which are then difficult to tear off and wash the stains after them, aerosols are better. Everything is relative…

If there are children in the house

If among your household there are small children and pets who cannot be isolated during the treatment with chemicals in aerosols to get rid of the annoying neighborhood of flies, improvised means in the form of apple (or white) vinegar with the addition detergent (liquid soap). Add a couple of drops household chemicals with lemon or fruit flavors vinegar, wine or compote - lowering the surface tension of the liquid with soap will prevent midges from remaining on the surface and they will drown. Put such "cocktails" in hard-to-reach places, away from children - on shelves, refrigerator, kitchen cabinets to avoid tasting.

Indoor plants - a breeding ground for midges

Midges in the soil of indoor flowers are not uncommon, and we offer to deal with this in the following ways: first of all, stop watering! Let dry the top layer of soil in which fruit flies store their eggs and larvae. Without moisture, they will die. If it is not possible to completely replace the soil in plants, remove upper layer. After processing the foliage soapy water, ideally lemon scented, leave for a couple of hours and rinse thoroughly with shower jets to avoid damage sheet plates plants. We remember the need for drainage in flower pots - they protect against excess moisture and rotting of the root system, which attract midges so much.

"Dangerous" shopping

Carefully inspect vegetables when buying in the market and in supermarkets. Hundreds of tricks of unscrupulous sellers lead to the fact that we only at home, having unfolded a bright wrapper or packaging, see stale or rotten root crops, sometimes containing rot and insect larvae already inside. Be careful! Don't overpay for defective goods, nor suffer with midges, getting rid of them long time- we think it was not included in your plans! Review vegetables in bags and nets purchased with high quality, but stored for a long time due to not eating - they can deteriorate due to timing, storage conditions and temperature environment. Make a regular inventory of vegetables, remove wilted leaves, spoiled root crops.

Conclusion:

It is easier to prevent the appearance of midges than to get rid of them, therefore, remembering the elementary rules of hygiene and household rules, we do not allow their appearance, we store fruits in special caps from flies and midges - and we live happily ever after!

It can be a real disaster, as they multiply very quickly. BUT favorable conditions for this, fruits and vegetables stored at home can become.

The female lays her eggs while still on the growing fetus, so you bring it home with future midges. Room temperature is the ideal environment for egg maturation. Therefore, if you do not want to meet these insects at home, store fruits and vegetables only in the refrigerator.

Even if you regularly maintain cleanliness in the apartment, midges can appear in the bin, on the stored onion, and even in drain pipes, due to a piece of food stuck there. Or they can just fly to you from neighbors.

So, let's consider how to get rid of midges in the apartment, if they did appear. The first step is to find the source of their appearance. Look around everything hard-to-reach places not only in the kitchen, but also in the rooms. Maybe somewhere a piece of spoiled food was lying around or potatoes began to rot. After the discovery of the source, it is necessary to eliminate it urgently and sprinkle this place with a chemical preparation.

If midges fly out of the sink, then you need to open hot water and try to wash off the remnants of food along with insects. For best results, use a plunger.

If midges have settled in the kitchen, you can use a very simple and proven method: make special baits for them. To do this, take a small jar, put a piece of spoiled fruit in it and close it tightly. Make several small holes on the surface of the film. After a while, the midges will begin to flock to the smell and climb into the jar, but they will no longer be able to fly back. Then just fill a jar of water, flush them down the drain and set the trap again. Do this until they disappear completely.

Is there one more enough effective method how to get rid of midges in the apartment: using a vacuum cleaner. Turn it on at full power and catch them. Then we take out the bag and shake it away from the house.

If midges live in flower pots, then a weak solution of potassium permanganate should be diluted and watered with all the flowers in the house. You can also buy a special remedy for midges and treat the place near the pot.

In order for the insects to disappear completely, it is necessary for several days to take care of the perfect cleanliness in the house. Garbage should not linger in the apartment for a long time. The trash can needs to be washed hot water and be sure to dry. If there are animals in the house, do not forget to clean their bowls. Don't leave in the sink dirty dishes and wet rags. Do not keep food on the table. Clean out all the dirt, wash every corner. Only in this case you will not leave the midges any single chance for survival.

And now let's look at how to get rid of midges in the apartment if they settled on the balcony. If you don't have a mosquito net, be sure to put one up so you prevent them from coming in from the street. If this does not help, you can try to treat the balcony with some chemical agent such as dichlorvos. But do not forget about your own safety, as this remedy is very poisonous.

Folk remedy how to get rid of midges at home

Smoking out. We take the crushed camphor and pour it into a hot pan. When steam appears, take a frying pan and go around the whole apartment at a slow pace. Midges do not tolerate camphor smoke, but it is safe for humans.

Compliance with all of the above rules will help keep your apartment clean, comfortable and beautiful.

Drosophila (fruit, fruit) flies it is difficult to call a direct enemy of man. They do not directly harm the health and life of people. Rather, they are enemies of fruits and vegetables, grocery stores, shops and inexpensive cafes. However, they can seriously annoy any connoisseur country rest and even a city dweller. Everyone who has come across these small strange insects, knows: they are not so easy to force to leave the house. First, it is never clear where they come from! Secondly, for the complete destruction of fruit flies, you need to use a whole system of methods and means. And many people are sorry to waste their time and effort on this “system”. So they live for many months and even years side by side with Drosophila. Today we will talk about how to get rid of midges in the apartment.

Our portal knows how to save energy in this struggle and achieve complete freedom from insects. We will tell you not only about preventive methods known to many, but also select best traps for fruit flies!

How to distinguish fruit flies from other midges?

People often don't know how to tell fruit flies from sewer flies, biting forest flies, fungus gnats, and other insects. Some even believe that they are all the same creatures. In fact, there is a difference. It lies in the degree of danger of insects, their habitats, the rate of reproduction, as well as in the "favorite dishes" of these creatures:

1. If flies fly out of the sink in the kitchen or bathroom, then these are sewer flies (flies). They seem "fluffy" due to the dark hairs that densely cover their torsos and wings. Read the material on getting rid of these flies.
2. If you notice that little flies swarm in your indoor flowers, and the plants themselves began to wither, the mushroom mosquitoes are to blame! They need to be destroyed as soon as possible - find out why and how to do it right in our instructions.
3. If any insects fly out of your wardrobe or from kitchen cabinets - unfortunately, this is a wardrobe (room) or food moth. These pests can cause much more damage than a spoiled mood. We have already encountered this problem and analyzed in detail best practices and means of getting rid of moths.
4. Some annoying midges strive to get into your eyes or have already bitten you at home - and did it hurt? If these are not mosquitoes, and there is a reservoir near your house, then these are probably single gnats that have flown into your house from the street, and there is nothing to be afraid of. But if they continue to attack your home, then it's time for an intensified fight - choose the best means in our review "How to get rid of midges: the best traps, sprays and other means"
5. If the flies settled and breed on spoiled fruits and vegetables, fly over fermented alcohol or sweets, then this is exactly Drosophila - fruit flies, otherwise known as fruits. We will tell you in detail about getting rid of them in this material.

The fruit fly is one of the most harmless creatures on this list. It is classified as an insect harmless to humans. It just breeds way too fast. And also - little by little it spoils fruit plantations and homemade food supplies ... So we still won’t be “friends” with her. We will fight and for this we will get to know the “fruit tree” better.

So, by "fruit flies" we mean dozens of species of insects that have similar qualities. This is a small midge, the size of which is from 1 to 3 mm. It can be recognized by its oval, bulbous body and slow "drunk" flight. There are many kinds fruit flies, ranging in size from one to two millimeters. The color of their "carcasses" can be different: more often it is dark yellow and brown shades. Slightly less often you can meet black and orange midges. They have 2 symmetrical neat wings and 6-8 legs.

Drosophila fruit flies lay their larvae only on a nutrient surface. Most often, these are sweet foods like fruits, vegetables, aromatic cheeses. Most of all they "value" the fruits citrus plants. Scientists have recently found out that there their eggs are not touched by the main exterminators of fly-wasps-riders. The larvae “travel” around the “tasty house” and in 10 days turn into adults. Before that, they are almost invisible to humans: eggs and larvae quickly disguise themselves as the color of the fetus. And only at the very beginning, whitish "seeds" 0.5 mm in size can be seen with the naked eye. By the way, due to invisibility, people more often bring spoiled nursery fruits to their apartment directly from the store. And only then fruit flies appear in their homes. They show up and start to annoy.

Are fruit flies dangerous? What do you need to know about them?

We will immediately answer the main question about any domestic midges. NO, fruit flies don't bite humans! They simply have nothing to do with it ... Moreover, many experts say that they do not tolerate harmful pathogenic substances at all. Although, theoretically, fruit flies can turn into a carrier of infection. But, apparently, this does not happen often in their lives ( fruit flies they don't travel much and don't live that long).

Why are Drosophila dangerous to humans?

1. Of course they are enemies food production and catering outlets. In rooms where a lot of food is stored, especially ripe fruits, flies appear quickly. As a result, food products are physically damaged. In some cases, they are ignored. And sometimes the goods come in complete disrepair. As a result, large transcontinental fruit carriers suffer serious losses every year. Small businesses are also suffering. The owners of restaurants and green shops are simply tormented by how to get rid of unattractive insect nests.

2. They harm not only huge warehouses, but also small cellars with products.. Farmers and winter stockers find midges in flour and sugar sacks, in potato stores, and on tomatoes and oranges laid out on verandas. The presence of larvae in these fruits does not bode well for their owners and consumers. The sanitary situation here will deteriorate until the owners get down to business.

3.The moth is simply bored. She flies into the mouth, nose and eyes ... stains the wallpaper and snow-white curtains ... frightens guests and small children. In general, this is an unpleasant neighborhood.

4. They hurt and not yet harvested . Gardeners and owners garden areas near the house they know that the midge can easily “undermine” the fruits of your plants on the street. The twin brothers of domestic fruit flies will just as willingly populate your favorite apple trees, tomatoes, eggplants, apricots and peaches with their children. Perhaps the damage from them will not even be noticed by the human eye and stomach. But who wants to eat fruits stuffed with insect larvae? By the way, to avoid this, you can use natural pyrethrum-based garden insecticides - for example, the safe Bona Forte spray.

The situation is complicated by some specific features of these insects.

Do you know that:

1. fruit midges extremely prolific. The female Drosophila for one ovipositor leaves offspring of almost 20 insects. Moreover, they begin to multiply within 8 hours after birth. By the way, experts warn: the larva turns into an adult fly in 8-10 days. This is non-stop.
2. They lay their eggs directly under the skin of ripe or overripe fruits.. True, the heroes of this article cannot bite through too dense a “skin”. Therefore, they almost do not settle in whole watermelons, melons, etc. Everything soft is preferred.
3. "Fruit" are able to lay offspring in decaying organic matter. Therefore, they settle in sinks with clogged drains along with sewer flies. Hence the confusion between the two.
4. The midge is born early in the morning. A person is sleeping at this time and may not notice how hordes of insects appeared from the emptiness in his house.
5. Taste preferences fruit flies are democratic utterly - usually it's fruit. The Tephritid species alone feeds and breeds on 400 plant species.
6. They also enter the house through open windows and entrance doors . The midge loves to live in one location, but still it can make very serious flights on its weak wings if it is deprived of food. This is the basis of the simple principle of fighting fruit flies: leave them without a nutrient medium ... and they stupidly fly away!
7. In nature, there are natural baits for midges. These are manure and lake water, spicy and sweet smells. Flies are even attracted to air fresheners if they smell like orange, lemon or cherry. If insects have not yet appeared in your house, it is better not to overdo it with these smells. And they will definitely come.
8. Fruit flies are slow but attentive. They capture fast movements well and fly away. Therefore, when hunting midges, move smoothly, like a Japanese ninja.
9. The midge loves moisture and does not like dry surfaces.. She is almost not afraid of severe frost and loves alcohol.

Now that you know everything about them, it's time to talk about how to get rid of midges in the apartment. Personally, we believe that fruit flies do not need to be killed. After all, they are not set against a person, and the harm from them is accidental. True, to bring them "bloodless", you need to spend more time. But for those who do not have time to wait, there are more drastic measures. We will talk about those and others below.

How to get rid of midges in the kitchen: basic rules

The most important trump card in the fight against fruit flies is cleanliness. The appearance of minor foci of activity of these insects is eliminated for one or two. The main thing is to find the source of their distribution and destroy it. But if the midge lives in your house all the time, then you need to resort to a whole system of destruction. She combines preventive measures and cleaning methods.

Here are a few items that are included in this "system":

• Find the source of distribution and destroy it. Do not spare food: just one rotten apple can spoil your whole vegetable store. Moreover, the product must be completely disposed of. Not just wash or throw in the trash - but immediately take it out of the house. It is advisable to ventilate and moisten the "captured territory".
• To quickly get rid of midges in the kitchen, destroy the nutrient which can become the "new home" of midges. These are scraps of food, raw meat, rotten fruits and simply overripe fruits. Do not store food in warm open places. Cover them with at least a plate or thick paper. Regularly clean the sink of organic residues.

• Any sweetish, sour and winey liquid in an open vessel or bowl is the best bait for mosquitoes. Wash glasses after drinking juices, wash dishes with leftover honey and tightly cork wine bottles.
• After such a general cleaning" take care of the little things. To get rid of midges, regularly wash the rags with which you wipe the dishes and wipe the washed fruit. Wash your floorcloth. Clean the kitchen table from crumbs, sticky stains and any dirt. Remember about gas stoves: their surface must be scrubbed with special tool at least once a week. Take out the trash regularly! On the second or third day, you already fall into the risk zone. Especially in summer.
• Create natural midge barriers in your home e. Do not open the window for a long time or hang small mosquito net. Put the fan in front kitchen table or fruit storage areas. It will blow away and destroy insects. Even with a weak "breeze" they will not be able to land on the "bridgehead".

How to get rid of midges in the apartment: folk methods

On the Internet, we also found some "folk methods". Their effectiveness is difficult to verify, so we decided to simply list the most original tips.

• Vacuum cleaner. Dozens of users love to hunt midges with a vacuum cleaner. A spectacular tool (you feel like a hunter or a killer robot), but ineffective. The next day, you still have to hunt for a young midge. Although devices like this portable vacuum cleaner for sucking mosquitoes for ~580₽ they continue to be popular - it's at least fun, well, there will be fewer midges.

• Atomizer and humidifiers. More reliable remedy. Insects really can't fly with wet wings. True, here you have to correctly adjust the humidification mode. Yes, and dried insects will return to your kitchen again.
• Ultraviolet and ultrasonic traps. The midge flies not very willingly on light "zappers", but it flies. But the effect of ultrasound against them has not yet been proven. Personally, we doubt the effectiveness of such funds.
• adhesive tape . To be honest, it is ineffective against midges. They will fly on Velcro only if it smells like their favorite food. Smell strongly. Or if you put the appropriate bait next to it - about it.
• "Home Repellents". Different people brag about the effectiveness of the repulsive aromas of horseradish, mint, cloves, laundry soap, vanillin ... True, some of these funds were included in the list " folk methods"of the methods of combating "biting" midges and mosquitoes. And these are slightly different insects. However, you can try - after all, we are talking about very cheap means

How to make a fruit fly trap: 3 best homemade fruit fly traps

Homemade homemade traps for fruit flies are very different from traps for sewer flies, mosquitoes or large flies. We have already said that duct tape against these critters is a bad option. You need to catch them in special ways.

Below we will tell you about the three most popular homemade traps. They all work on a similar principle: insects are attracted to the structure by an attractant, and then they cannot fly out in any way.

1. "Banana trap" for fruit flies. Fruit midge is very similar to minions :). They are just as small, yellowish and very fond of bananas. This similarity must be taken advantage of. Put the banana peel in the empty plastic bottle or even a package. Poke holes in the container with a toothpick or small needle, and then place it closer to the habitat of insects. In a day or two, a significant part of their population will fly there. And they won’t be able to fly out - in their chaotic flight they simply won’t find holes. After all, midges fly to the smell of an attractant, and springs " fresh air"They don't know how to track. Caught midges can be killed or released into the street.

2. Liquid trap. There are several liquid trap recipes on the Internet. In the simplest cases, the authors of these developments recommend simply pouring a mixture of syrup and honey, or beer, wine and juices into a deep plate. Very often, just wine vinegar is poured there. Like, insects will sit on the "water" and drown in it. But we advise readers to complicate this construction. Pour a mixture of white wine and coriander seeds into a bowl (you can use just wine or balsamic vinegar). Put in the peeled fruit. And cover the top with plastic wrap. It remains only to make holes in it with a fork or a toothpick ... and the liquid trap is ready. Flies will sink faster with such a transparent "ceiling".

3. "Trap-cone". First find an empty glass jar and then put something "appetizing" in it. For example, a piece of rotten fruit or a midge's favorite orange. Place a sharp paper cone in the neck of the jar. As a result, insects will again be able to fly into the jar, but will not be able to fly out. The number of the catch and its behavior can be monitored visually.

Choosing a ready-made trap for fruit flies

If you don't want to mess around with sugary and sticky liquids and keep rotting fruit in your house in glass jar, then you should pay attention to branded traps against fruit midges.

For example, on BEAPCO 6-Pack Drop-Ins Fruit Fly Traps. A set of six compact transparent traps designed specifically for fruit flies, which costs from 700₽. If you believe the description of the product, then the action of each trap is enough for about a month. It is easy to calculate that one set in this case should be enough for 6 months of continuous use.

The traps also come with a non-toxic liquid chemical. So it can be replaced with wine or Apple vinegar. The BEAPCO operating principle combines the advantages of liquid and conical traps: flies fly into the plastic box through a cone-shaped hole, and there is no way back for them. They don't die from poisons, they just stay trapped. But, unlike bulky "homemade", they can be placed throughout the apartment and not be afraid of leaks, turning or bad smells.

According to user reviews, by the fourth day of use, fruit flies literally fill the trap. One user writes: “I set 3 of these traps and after a day 2 of them were completely filled with fruit flies. You can't even imagine how many there were... After 1-2 weeks, not a single one flew. All in all, it works."

True, a small group of users believe that the branded attractant acts worse than natural ones. But they love the box. Diana writes: “In the first month, nothing was caught, although these midges were buzzing everywhere - the trap was empty. But when I poured vinegar into it, these little flyers began to fight over who would fly inside it first. So the container itself is cool.”

known trap TERRO Fruit Fly Trap T2500 certainly cannot be blamed for the fact that, in addition to fruit flies, she can lure and beneficial insects- butterflies and moths will not get into it. The trap is designed specifically for "fruit insects" - it is even made in the form ripe apple. That would bite! In all respects, TERRO Fruit Fly Trap resembles BEAPCO. "Apple" is also hermetically sealed, smells good and keeps "alive" for 30 days. It has the same problems and the same benefits. And only the formula of the attractant changes here - it's just tinted apple cider vinegar.

But these are not all options - fruit flies can be eliminated using sticky traps. But not the usual yellow sticky tapes, to which we are so accustomed, but special sticky sheets, which come with an effective bait liquid (usually it is still the same vinegar mixed with other ingredients). Pay attention to German trap "Aeroxon" for fruit flies - for only ~490 ₽ you will receive as many as 2 traps that will help you eliminate flying flies. On the sticky sheets apples and oranges are not just depicted - this way you can additionally attract the attention of fruit midges!

Some users complain that all such traps simply do not work. But maybe it's not about them, but about the wrong definition of a pest? After all, we wrote above what to confuse different types small insects in the house is very easy. If the flies are not attracted to the bait in the trap, it is possible that they are simply not fruit flies, but, for example, sewer or “mushroom” flies.

Let's find out what needs to be done if the flies turned out to be completely fruitless.

Getting rid of fungus gnats in indoor plants

If you notice small midges in pots with indoor plants, then most likely it is mushroom mosquitoes. Here are a few steps to get rid of these pests:

1. Stop watering your plants- eggs and larvae of fungal mosquitoes can live and develop only in moist soil.
2. Use chemical or biological insecticides for tillage in pots. You can use chemicals based on bifenthrin, cyfluthrin, permethrin and lambda-cyhalothrin or natural ones - nematode worms or a special strain of live bacteria B.t.i (Bacillus thuringiensis ssp. israelensis). The latter can be purchased as loose granules or pressed discs.
3. Purchase sticky traps for adult flying mushroom mosquitoes.
4. Adjust the watering regime to prevent waterlogging of the soil. Otherwise, this is a direct road to the return of mosquitoes!

If flies fly from the sewers

Well, if your flies have chosen a sink or other parts of the sewer as their home, then clean the bathroom or kitchen, throw out the trash, eliminate standing water sources and feel free to buy pipe cleaning gel, like Invade Bio Drain Gel- 1 qt. It contains orange oil and bacteria that dissolve living organic matter, destroying both sewer midges and their "children". Gel from Invade does not contain harsh chemicals and can be used as a spray (use a spray bottle for this purpose).

If the blockage cannot be broken through with organic means, use effective chemicals that will cope with any blockage - and thereby destroy the nutrient medium for breeding sewer flies. Proved welldrain cleaner and sewer pipes Flat "Gel Turbo" for ~240₽ - judging by the reviews, it cleans really quickly!

Let's summarize

To be honest, the fruit midge is not the kind of insect that should be tackled with chemistry. To get rid of midges in the kitchen, we recommend that you choose industrial or homemade traps, as well as keep your home clean and tidy. So you will not only destroy the generation of midges, but also save yourself from reappearance this small pest. And finally, a couple of valuable tips:

• Do not leave organic waste in the house for a long time, especially in summer. If you leave somewhere, be sure to throw it away - even one left in a bucket banana peel will definitely result in fruit flies in a few days.
• When buying fruits and vegetables, check them for integrity and freshness.- rotten fruits can become a home breeding ground for fruit midges.

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The appearance of numerous small midges in the apartment causes a lot of anxiety. These insects are characterized by an incredible reproduction rate, so it is advisable to start looking for methods of getting rid of them at the first sign.

Causes of insects in the house

Before embarking on the fight against midges, it is necessary to imagine what causes their appearance.

You can bring eggs with contaminated fruits, berries, vegetables. When the fruits begin to rot, larvae appear. Their growth is very fast. After five days, these are already pupae, and after another five days, adult insects fly around the apartment.

Before looking for means to destroy midges, it is necessary to establish the place where they fly from:

• bin;
• an aquarium if the water is rarely replaced in it;
• a cage with a hamster, guinea pig, rat and other animals;
• bowls with leftover cat or dog food;
• potted flowers, especially if the remains of tea leaves are poured under them;
• stagnant water in flower pots and pallets;
• leftover food stuck in the siphons.

Physical methods for the destruction of midges

There are simple ways to help fight the midge invasion. Having checked all the places in the apartment, and having determined that these insects fly out of the sink drain, it is necessary to thoroughly rinse the pipes by opening hot water at high pressure. This will destroy the larvae and eggs. To finally solve the problem, you should eliminate a possible blockage by using a plunger, or using special tools. In the future, control flushing of pipes with hot water is regularly carried out.

A small amount of midges is easily caught with a vacuum cleaner. It is enough during daily cleaning to pay attention to the presence of flying midges and quickly eliminate them. If there are no household members in the house, you can use the method that involves the use of camphor. Since midges cannot stand its smoke, pour enough crushed camphor into a preheated frying pan and go through the rooms with it, opening the windows.

A weakly concentrated solution of potassium permanganate will help to cope with midges that have populated flower pots. It is enough to pour a clod of earth on them and spray the plant. If necessary, the procedure is repeated after a week. Helps to reduce the number of insects ash, which is mixed with the soil. With an excessive number of flying midges, you will have to transplant the plant, throwing out all the infected land. The roots and the pot itself are washed with a light pink solution of potassium permanganate, and then the flower is planted in fresh soil.

Pouring a dishwashing detergent diluted in water into a spray bottle, you can spray it when flying midges are detected. Due to the sticky composition getting on them, the ability to fly is lost, as the wings stick together. This gradually leads to a decrease in the number of insects.

A variety of ways to deal with annoying midges will be successful if you first eliminate all sources of dampness, put fruits and vegetables in the refrigerator. Check stocks of cereals and stock up on special containers with lids for storing them. After such measures, sticky tapes will help get rid of annoying insects. Since new midges will no longer appear, such a measure will be enough to deal with them quickly enough.

Homemade traps

After the source of the appearance of midges has been established and measures have been taken to eliminate it, all that remains is to get rid of flying individuals. For this, traps are effectively used, placed in the apartment in places where they will be inaccessible to children, and will not interfere with adults in their daily activities.

There are several varieties of such traps designed to deal specifically with adult flying insects.

• A plastic bag is taken into which overripe pieces of a banana or green apple are placed. Gradually, midges gather, attracted by the smell of treats. When there are enough of them, you need to quickly tie the bag and throw it away.
• The next type of trap is made from a plastic bottle. The upper part is cut off from it by about a quarter of the total length. Several holes are made in the lid, large enough for the midge to crawl through. Any fruit bait is placed on the bottom, then the cut off top is attached to the bottom with a lid down. After filling with midges, the trap is thrown away with them.
• You can arrange plastic cups with bait in the house, into which a paper funnel is attached. It should have a small hole at the bottom, and the upper part is glued to the glass with tape.
• It is also possible to collect flying midges into a trap in the form of a plastic cup with the remains of compote, covered with cellophane on top, in which several small holes are made.

All these methods allow you to completely get rid of midges within a few days.

Folk remedies

A variety of folk remedies that involve the use of available substances do a good job with the invasion of midges.

• You can spread out in several places in the house small open bags with chopped horseradish placed in them, the smell of which midges do not like.
• Small containers are placed in the apartment, into which a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar and a little liquid detergent used for washing dishes are poured. The midges are attracted to the smell of vinegar and sit on the bait. The thick consistency of the detergent composition does not allow them to take off.
• If you leave a glass of yogurt with a small amount of beer poured into it overnight, then in the morning there will be a lot of drowned midges in it.

There are also unusual folk tips on how to get rid of the midge in the house, which has chosen flower pots. It is recommended, for example, to stick ordinary matches into the ground with their heads down or sprinkle it with ground pepper.

Midges do not like the smell of geraniums, so it is advisable to grow this flower not only for the sake of beautiful buds, but also as a prophylactic against annoying insects.

Chemical preparations against midges

If simple remedies, tested by different people, do not help, you can turn to chemical preparations. You need to purchase them in a specialized store. Before proceeding with processing, the instructions are carefully studied. The apartment should not have children, the elderly, animals.

To protect yourself, you should wear a thick robe with long sleeves. You will also need gloves, a respirator, glasses, a scarf. It is convenient to use an aerosol that is sprayed not only in the air, but also in places where the larvae may be. Then the windows are closed in the house. After a few hours, the room is thoroughly ventilated. Of course, not all rooms can poison midges with chemicals. For example, for the kitchen, this method is not recommended.

The final stage after the final disappearance of the midge is a general cleaning. It is important to rinse all hard-to-reach places, make sure there are no leaks. Stock up on enough containers with lids for storing cereals. If there are animals in the house, it is necessary to clean the cages daily, wash the bowls.

Video: How to make a mosquito and midge repellent

More than a thousand varieties of midges have been identified in the world. Some of them annoy animals, plants, while others - such as midges in an apartment - interfere with residents. If you ask different people what the midges prevented them from, you can hear completely heterogeneous opinions:

• they end up in my tea;
• a cat chases after them and breaks the curtains at the same time;
• they climb into the eyes and ears of our children;
• they bite painfully;
• they spoiled the leaves of my plants;
• they carry the infection;
• I love cleanliness, and midges are a sign of indoor pollution.

These people are united by the desire to quickly remove annoying insects and no longer contact them.

The owners of apartments, faced with the appearance of hordes of small flying insects, are often perplexed: where do midges come from in their home? And the next logical question for them is: how to deal with them? It is clear that in order to bring them out, you need to find a place from where they appear, and destroy not only the flyers themselves, but also, if possible, their larvae. Consider the main places in the apartment where these "annoyers" can huddle and multiply.

Depending on the type of midges, their places of settlement differ. Midges can start in the kitchen, bathroom, in a living or green corner. Kitchen midges love rotten fruits or vegetables, soaked cereals, wet rags, and plumbing blockages. Indoor unwanted guests occur in places of insufficient hygiene of pets (rabbits, fish) or in a humid environment created by excessive watering of cultivated plants (flowers). Pay attention to two mutually unifying points: no matter where they appear in the apartment, there are two factors everywhere - dirt and dampness.

Housewives, accustomed to perfect order, may object that they don’t have such a “disgrace” in their apartment, but midges still appear. Then where do they come from? There are moments that are difficult to track and control. These include: pieces of food (fat) stuck in the sewer drain, small leaks from the refrigerator or trash can, contaminated soil for flowers, cereals soaked or infected already in the warehouse, intensive growth of blue-green algae in the aquarium. Accordingly, it will be possible to remove midges if it is correct to determine the source of its penetration into the house. If we analyze all the places where midges come from, the most common of them are:

• spoiled fruits or vegetables, cereals;
• irregular removal or insufficient hygiene of the bin;
• "blooming" water in the aquarium, dirty and damp living area;
• flower pots (especially if your favorite fertilizer is tea leaves);
• plumbing, ventilation shafts.

Now that you have learned where the nasty Diptera come from, you can begin to answer the question of how to get the midges out once and for all. It makes no sense to fight them if the place of their appearance is not clearly defined. Only after finding the cause can the "enemy force" be completely destroyed. In Soviet times, there was only one remedy that was applied to all insects that annoyed residents - Dichlorvos. However, it was inconvenient and even dangerous to fight with it. There are now more humane methods to kill flyers without inhaling chemical fumes.

The fight against kitchen midges consists in the timely removal of garbage, the removal of rotten food, hanging sticky traps (including inside kitchen cabinets). It is also necessary to keep all washcloths clean and dry and to periodically pour grease and blockage remover into the sink. In the absence of such, ordinary soda is suitable, poured into the sink hole in large quantities and filled (slaked) with vinegar. In addition, all cereals are reviewed and sorted out, and the shelves are wiped with a soapy or vinegar solution. Flying small fry can be caught in homemade traps: a bottle with a narrow neck with unfinished juice or a leaky glass covered with polyethylene with rotten pieces of fruit.

It is not so easy to remove flower midges that spoil the leaves and root system. First you need to reduce the watering of the plant to a minimum, remove the remnants of the tea leaves, if it was used for "feeding". Then stick 4-5 matches into the pot with the sulfur head down and spray the leaves with a weak solution of potassium permanganate. If such a “folk” remedy did not help, continue to fight insects using insecticides for the soil: Thunder, Agravertin, Fitoverm, Karbofos, etc.

Other types of midges can be removed with the help of thorough cleaning, washing the aquarium, changing the drainage in a living corner. Various pungent and persistent odors help to fight room midges: garlic, camphor, incense, citrus. They "refresh" the air in any place where midges appeared. Remember that the most proven remedy is the elimination of humidity and keeping the room clean.