Midges in the kitchen: how to get rid of folk remedies, midge trap

As a rule, midges appear in the kitchen in the summer, which indicates acceptable conditions for their reproduction and existence. They move briskly around the kitchen in numerous flocks, getting into packages of cookies, settling on fruits or vegetables, etc. At the same time, a huge number of them can be seen near the trash can or among house plants.

What to do in this case to get rid of annoying midges? It turns out that in order to get rid of such an unpleasant neighborhood in the kitchen, it is enough to arm yourself with a number of tips and recommendations.

Reasons for the appearance of midges in the apartment

Drosophila, as these small midges are called, prefer to feed on rotten plant matter, which indicates the presence of fermentation processes. These processes release corresponding odors into the air, which attract these insects. The desired food for these little pests is rotten fruits or vegetables, fermented juice, compote or unfinished beer. They prefer to lay their eggs in leftover food.

In addition, tiny insects are attracted to the smell emanating from a clogged sink or from a wet rag that has not been washed for a long time. Therefore, deteriorating food debris combined with high humidity is the fertile environment in which such insects feel very comfortable.

Quite often, midges can be found in flower pots where tea leaves are rotting, which some housewives use to fertilize indoor plants. But they forget to remove it from the flowerpots on time, and in combination with abundant watering, often unjustified, ideal conditions are created for the existence and reproduction of such pests. Such conditions attract not only midges, but also other insects, on whose vital activity the well-being of indoor plants may depend.

Prevention

To avoid problems in the future, you need to strictly observe hygiene:

Throw away trash on time.
Carry out a thorough cleaning of the kitchen at least once a week, wiping the kitchen furniture dry.
A good preventative procedure is to lubricate your kitchen cabinets with apple cider vinegar.
Keep flowerpots dry by removing fallen leaves and sprinkling sand on the soil.
Do not leave old tea leaves behind.
Do not store fruits in a warm place. They should at least be wrapped in paper or covered with a plate. After purchasing fruit, you must wash and dry it before storing it in the refrigerator.
You can put a fan turned on in front of the fruit basket - it will blow away the midges.
Keep your pets' food and drink bowls clean and dispose of kitten feces promptly.
It is better not to use organic fertilizers for indoor plants. Flooding soil in pots is unacceptable.
Old sponges, floor rags and mops should be disposed of promptly or machine washed in a hot wash mode.
If the house is located in a summer cottage area and there are fruit trees on the property, the midge may be entering through an open window. It is better to cover them, as well as ventilation holes through which fruit flies can penetrate, with mesh.

By carefully maintaining hygiene, you can get rid of any pests in the kitchen. If the house is clean and dry, the midge will not like it, and it will definitely go away.

It's nice to be and work in a clean kitchen. But even in apparent sterility, annoying insects can appear. It is impossible not to notice the midges scurrying everywhere, brazenly climbing and drowning in liquid food products. Every housewife has encountered these problems, but not everyone knows how to remove midges from the kitchen.

In this article we will look at the main places where insects appear in the house, the characteristics of midge varieties, chemical and folk methods of getting rid of them, and a master class on making fly traps.

Types of midges

Two types of midges may appear in an apartment, especially in the kitchen or in flowerpots:

Drosophila.
Soil midges.

All types of midges live and reproduce under accompanying conditions, when there is an abundance of spoiled food and moisture. And yet, fruit flies or, as they are also called, fruit flies, appear more often in apartments. Quite often they are called “wine”.

Midge larvae are located in the fruit pulp and, under favorable conditions, they begin to emerge. As a rule, housewives are often surprised at how quickly these tiny creatures appear, as if out of nowhere. Therefore, the more midges in the kitchen, the greater the likelihood of their mass appearance.

How dangerous are midges for humans?

Countless numbers of these tiny creatures move around the home at high speed. They are found either next to the trash can or next to indoor plants. If you leave a few grapes on the table, they will immediately appear above them. Many owners practice storing fruits and berries on the table, in fruit vases, which naturally attracts fruit flies, as the fruit quickly begins to deteriorate. At the same time, it is not difficult to imagine what they could leave on food if their route of movement intersected with a trash can, bathroom or toilet. The result of their vigorous vital activity may be contamination of fruits and other food products with various fungal or infectious diseases.

There is only one conclusion: it is necessary to take all measures to ensure that these little parasites no longer exist in the apartment. If you don’t fight them, they will multiply to such an extent that it will be very difficult to fight them. Despite this, the matter will have to be brought to its logical conclusion. Who would like to see swarms of insects moving around the kitchen or throughout the apartment? They won’t even let you eat in peace!

How to GET RID OF DROSOPHIL flies at home?

How to get rid of onion midge

The onion midge infests in onions. This happens due to improper storage of vegetables in bags or sealed packaging, where they begin to become damp and rot. If insects start flying out of them, then you need to sort through the food and throw out all the spoiled ones. You can get rid of onion midges, which tend to multiply quickly, using pine needles or cotton wool dipped in essential oil, which should be left next to the vegetables. If there are too many insects, then you should use household fly traps and midges.

Rules for getting rid of midges in an apartment

There are many ways to get rid of midges in an apartment, but first you should carefully analyze everything to find out the reason for the appearance of such insects in the kitchen. As a rule, they are attracted to food and moisture, which they need so much. If such paths for existence are blocked for the midge, then it will disappear on its own without wasting effort or money.

If there are a lot of insects, then you will have to help them so that they quickly leave the apartment alone. In this case, you can use primitive traps, special solutions or aerosols.

10 basic rules that will help get rid of annoying midges:

First of all, you should put things in order in the kitchen by storing all food products in special containers, and some in the refrigerator.
Make sure that there are no uneaten food items, as well as unfinished juices, tea, beer, etc. left on the dining table.
Do some general cleaning, especially in the kitchen and bathroom. At the same time, it is necessary to thoroughly wipe or wash all cabinets and shelves on which food was stored, carefully removing their remains.
Regularly and promptly remove garbage from the trash can, washing it afterwards with a cleaning solution.
Wash all rags in the bathroom and kitchen, and also check the sewage system and water supply system for leaks.
Use a “mole” to clean the sewer, depriving midges of an unpleasant but attractive smell for them.
Clean kitchen furniture from dirt and grease, which also attracts such insects. We should also not forget about the area adjacent to the kitchen furniture.
If you have ornamental plants in your apartment, you need to familiarize yourself with the features of their care. It is possible that they do not need abundant watering and they suffer from it. At the same time, it is better to replace the top ball of soil and not practice watering them with tea leaves, or remove the used tea leaves in a timely manner, preventing it from rotting.
For greater efficiency, it is better to wash all flower pots, as well as their trays. In the future, dirt should not be allowed to accumulate here.
Midges are also afraid of attentive housewives who carefully monitor all areas where such insects may appear, leaving not the slightest chance for them to have comfortable conditions.

How to get rid of fruit gnats

To get rid of eggs, you need to find a source of breeding and food for flies, and then close it in a bag and immediately take it out of the house. As you know, fruit flies lay eggs in fruits and vegetables, but not only that! Any place where there is food and moisture can attract insects. In general, if you can’t find the source, look for it in non-obvious places. Here are some search tips:

If you keep compost for indoor plants in your kitchen, then you should take a closer look at it.
When was the last time you cleaned out a trash can? Even if you throw away your trash bag regularly, the container itself can be a source of problems.
Vinegar, beer and wine also attract insects. Think, maybe there’s an open bottle with a smelly liquid lying around somewhere?
Mushrooms, cereals and cheeses are far from being fruits or vegetables, but even the midges do not disdain them.
A clogged kitchen sink is another potential breeding ground for insects.
Look for any wet sponges, rags or mops that have been left behind.
Sometimes the cause of midges can be a sweet liquid that has flowed into the base of the headset, kitchen drawer, under the refrigerator or other places.

Now you should hide all the food in the kitchen to deprive fruit flies of food and breeding places.

Hide fruits, vegetables, jam, sweets and other midge delicacies in the refrigerator or close them in tightly sealed containers. Do not leave ripe fruit outside the refrigerator until the problem is resolved.

Theoretically, this measure may be enough to kill the midges, but this process will take from 10 days (in the warm season) and up to 2.5 months in winter. Therefore, to get rid of midges in the kitchen quickly, you need to set traps.

The fruit fly or fruit fly does not tolerate clean rooms. This figurative definition suggests that before you take on detergents and dichlorvos, you need to clean up the kitchen. You can get by with folk remedies, but a few simple tips will help you get rid of fruit gnats without unnecessary effort and avoid the appearance of new insects:

The source where the insects have appeared should be discovered and destroyed.
Clean the kitchen thoroughly, especially if there are pets or children in the house.
Garbage must be taken out daily and the trash can must be washed regularly.
Place all food in the refrigerator or store in airtight containers.
The area near the sink must be kept clean at all times.

The use of chemicals against midges

Is it worth fighting midges in the kitchen with chemical insect control products? Most likely not, but in the bathroom, they can be destroyed with the help of Dichlorvos. At the same time, care must be taken to ensure that the midges do not return, creating unfavorable conditions for them to live and reproduce. You must always remember that results can only be achieved through an integrated approach.

As a rule, chemicals are used when they cannot be dealt with using conventional methods. And so, it is better to use folk remedies, which are safe for everyone living in the apartment.

Appearance of a fruit fly

Tomato tops - a means to repel small flies

Drosophila are attracted to rotting leaves and moist substrate, so they often hover near pots of indoor plants. Insects can also be caused by contaminated soil. To prevent them from multiplying, it is necessary to calcine the soil in the oven. It is recommended to promptly remove rotten and fallen leaves and not to pour water into the ground.

Four ways to deal with fruit flies:

Small insects cannot stand the pungent smell of tomato tops. To get rid of fruit flies, you can grow seedlings on window sills.
Camphor is an effective remedy for small flies, since they cannot tolerate the smell of this product. To kill annoying flies, you need to pour camphor into a frying pan and heat it on the stove to maximum temperature until steam forms. Next, walk with it throughout the house so that the aroma spreads throughout all the rooms.
Essential oils of basil, anise, and eucalyptus can repel fruit flies. To scent a room of 15 m², the product consumption will be 5 drops.
At the dacha near the house, you can plant myrtle, eucalyptus, tansy or geranium to repel pests.

Now let's talk about how to get rid of flies in the kitchen. The first thing you need to do is to carefully sort out your food. First of all, this concerns stocks of vegetables and fruits. Spoiled fruits should be discarded immediately. It is recommended to store the rest in the refrigerator. Also, before getting rid of flies in the house in the kitchen, check the cereals and, if necessary, pour them into dry, sealed containers.

If small flies appear at home, how to get rid of them? You can use a vacuum cleaner, humidifier or ultrasonic repeller. The effectiveness of all these remedies is questionable, but it's up to you to decide. Experts recommend getting rid of flies in your apartment using traps. The classic option is adhesive tape.

Liquid bait. To get rid of flies at home, pour juice, wine, beer or sweet syrup into a deep bowl or cup. Insects flock to the treat and simply drown. More sophisticated versions of such traps can be found on our website.
Plastic bottle with bait. If you don’t know how to get rid of small flies in the kitchen, just take a one and a half liter bottle and poke a couple of dozen holes in it with an awl. Place a banana peel or other sweet product inside. In a day, the container will be literally filled with insects that have flown in to find a pleasant smell, but have not been able to find a way back. You can also use a sealed plastic bag to get rid of small flies at home. The principle is the same.
Glass jar with bait. If there are small flies in the kitchen, you can get rid of them by constructing a simple structure from an empty transparent container with the remains of the product inside and a sheet of paper. From the latter you need to make a funnel, the wide part of which corresponds to the diameter of the neck of the jar, and the narrow part - no more than 1-2 cm.

If you're thinking about how to get rid of small flies in your apartment, but don't want to deal with all that sticky stuff, you can buy a trap at the store. Modern manufacturers offer a large selection of effective solutions in a wide range of price ranges.

We talked about what to do if small flies are found in the kitchen. How to get rid of insects that live in other rooms of the apartment? Let's start with the bathroom. If your sink is constantly swarming with midges, it means the pipes are clogged. For cleaning, you can use both folk remedies (for example, soda with vinegar and water) and store-bought preparations.

Now, how to get rid of small flies in an apartment if they have chosen pots with plants. First of all, you should stop watering for a while. Eggs and larvae develop only in moist soil. The soil has almost dried up, but are there still small flies in the apartment? You can get rid of them by using special chemicals.

Folk remedies for fighting midges in the kitchen

Based on natural ingredients and other substances, you can prepare effective formulations that can cope with the main task - getting rid of annoying insects. And although they are not as effective as chemical ones, their use is justified in most cases.

Remedies for midges in the kitchen:

Fight with camphor oil. To do this, you need to take a frying pan and heat camphor oil in it until a strong smell and smoke appears. After this, go around the apartment, dousing it with smoke with a pungent odor. As a rule, after such a procedure, all the midges disappear somewhere.
Midges, like many other insects, cannot tolerate the strong aromas of some plants, such as tansy, lavender, wormwood, etc. It is enough to place small bouquets of these plants in the kitchen and other rooms. This will help get rid of annoying midges. At the same time, you need to remember that a plant such as tansy should not fall into the hands of children.
If you light a candle with a pine or spicy aroma and walk around the apartment, lingering a little in each room, then these little “terrorists” are unlikely to like it, and they will begin to look for other places to live.
Essential oils of many plants repel midges and are very effective. These include citrus fruits, lavender, ylang-ylang, patchouli, etc. At the same time, it is enough to add a few drops to the container of the aroma lamp so that the midge can feel who is boss in the house.
If you take a few pieces of peeled garlic and chop them, and then put them in lids and place them in places where insects like to accumulate, this will also help expel tiny pests from the apartment.

Homemade midge traps

Despite the fact that such traps can be made in about 15 minutes, their effectiveness cannot be compared with the costs, since it is obvious. In addition, you don’t have to deal with toxic substances or plants, spending time preparing or purchasing them, which also requires spending money.

How to make homemade traps:

You can catch midges with a beer or wine bottle, filling it with fermented juice or leaving some beer in the bottle. You need to wait until a lot of insects have collected in the bottle, after which, with a sharp movement, the bottle is closed with a cork and thrown out into the street.
You can catch it with a plastic bag filled with rotten fruits or vegetables. At the same time, the bag needs to be covered a little, leaving space so that midges can get to the food. After the entire swarm has flown into the bag, it must be closed with a quick movement and tied. All that remains is to throw the bag in the trash.
The presence of plastic bottles allows you to make a super catchy trap. It is better to take a bottle with a capacity of 1.5-2 liters. After this, the upper conical part of the bottle is cut off and inserted back into the bottle with the narrow part with the neck. The result is a container with a funnel. Jam, beer, sweet syrup are poured into the bottom of the bottle, or rotten foods are placed. The midges will be able to get inside the bottle, but they will not be able to get out of it.
A jar trap works on the same principle. Take a jar with a capacity of 0.5-1 liter and cover it with cling film. The top layer of the film must be stretched, after which small holes are made in the film, but sufficient for midges to crawl through. At the bottom of the jar you can place the same thing as at the bottom of a plastic bottle - slightly spoiled vegetables and fruits, as well as fermented juice or compote.

The easiest way to get rid of midges at home | Life hacker

Folk remedy

So you've noticed a swarm of tiny insects in your kitchen. First, identify the place that attracted them. If it's a plate of fruit, sort it out, wash it and throw away any that have spoiled. You already know where midges on fruit come from; most likely, you brought them from the store. Cover the plate with a napkin or, better yet, put it in the refrigerator.

The trash can must be urgently taken out and washed with powder so that the smell does not remain in it

The sink drain should be filled with cleaning liquid or a solution of soda and vinegar.

There are very effective folk recipes on how to get rid of small midges in the kitchen. Let's take a closer look at them.

A person can use many methods to combat annoying insects, and most of them are based on the use of improvised means. So, how to get rid of midges at home, several options.

Remedy 1: Fresh Horseradish Root

The fruit fly does not like the pungent odor of this plant. If you place pieces of horseradish on shelves and cabinets, the flies will panic and seek refuge. Leave the window open for them.

Remedy 2: camphor oil

If there is an aroma lamp in the house, pour camphor into it and place it indoors. You can simply heat the oil in an iron mug over a burner. You can use essential oils of fir, eucalyptus, clove, lemon and lavender with the same effect.

Remedy 3: smoke

If you have tobacco, juniper pine, incense or fir cones on hand, light it in an ashtray. Close the door to the kitchen, but don't forget to open the window. The smoke will drive away the midge.

Remedy 4: Vinegar and Soapy Water

Add a glass of warm water, a little dishwashing liquid, apple cider vinegar and sugar. Instead of vinegar, you can add wine. The smell will be similar to the favorite delicacy of insects. Cover the top of the glass with vacuum film and make a small hole. The midge will rush into the trap and drown. Place these traps in places where insects gather.

Remedy 5: wormwood and wheatgrass

A decoction of wormwood or wheatgrass weed is sprayed in places where fruit midges appear. By the way, this method will also save you from mosquitoes in nature; apply the composition to exposed areas of the body.

Remedy 6: vanillin

Vanilla aromas are very appropriate in the kitchen, but fruit flies do not like them. Sprinkle vanilla bean solution around the kitchen or place vanilla sticks on the shelves.

Remedy 7: Garlic

Crush a few cloves of garlic and soak in water for a couple of hours. Use the prepared tincture for watering plants.

Remedy 8: Geranium

Place a couple of pots of geraniums on your kitchen windowsill. The fly really does not like this fragrant flower and will avoid your kitchen.

We have studied options on how to get rid of midges using folk remedies. Household chemical stores offer chemicals in aerosol packages and various types of Velcro to combat midges.

Tool 9: Velcro

Simple and safe means for people. These are simply tapes with a layer of glue on which insects sit and stick. This tape, strewn with the corpses of flies, does not look very pretty, but it works very effectively. The main thing is to place it in a place where you won’t accidentally touch it, or your cat or dog won’t fall into such a trap.

Remedy 10: Aerosol insecticides

These chemicals can be harmful to people and pets, so they are sprayed in an unoccupied area. Don't forget to cover the aquarium if you have fish in your kitchen. After spraying the chemical, the doors to the room are closed, and after an hour the kitchen is thoroughly ventilated. Popular products include Raptor, Dichlorvos, Deta, Raftamid, Cobra and Moskitol.

You can also get rid of midges using store-bought products. Most industrial products can be purchased in stores, but they have a chemical basis and their use is undesirable - allergic reactions are possible (they are poisonous for humans and animals) and more serious consequences. The most popular, common aerosols are Reid, Dichlorvos. To kill insects in flower pots, use Aktar or Grom-2.

Trap

Instead of buying expensive and not always effective household chemicals, you can make your own midge traps. The creation process does not require any special technical skills, and the devices themselves are absolutely safe for home owners and pets. Here are three of the simplest recipes on how to get rid of annoying insects in the kitchen:

A jar or bottle with a wide neck is suitable for use. You need to pour a little apple cider vinegar inside (you can add a little banana for bait), and close the neck with a lid with small holes so that the midges can get inside. The bait helps to catch the insects, and they die in the vinegar.
The plastic bottle is cut so that the upper part does not reach the middle of the resulting container. The neck is fixed upside down with tape. Wine vinegar or compote, which has begun to sour, is poured into the bottom of the bottle itself, with a small amount of liquid soap. You need to place traps throughout the house.
How to deal with midges in the kitchen, what to do if you don’t have any containers on hand? You can use an ordinary plastic bag. You need to put a piece of fruit or vegetable trimmings in it. When a large number of midges have collected inside, the bag is simply thrown away.

The easiest way to poison midges in the house is with proven folk remedies. A growing tomato on the windowsill, boiling clove oil, camphor vapor, verbena will help - all these smells repel midges from the house. An empty soda bottle left in a room overnight will attract most flying insects around the house. You can also try using traditional methods of catching midges: using a vacuum cleaner and sticky tape.

Preventive actions

To reduce the risk of such insects appearing in your apartment, it is enough to use a number of tips. For example:

Monitor the proper sanitary condition of the kitchen and the apartment as a whole.
Do not leave leftover fruits or vegetables on the dinner table.
Store vegetables and fruits exclusively in the refrigerator.
Immediately throw away rotten fruits and vegetables, not in the trash, but immediately outside.
Keep dishwashing sinks and washbasins in the bathroom clean.
Care for indoor plants correctly, avoiding overwatering in pots, and also often removing the top layer, replacing it with a fresh one.
If numerous flocks appear in the kitchen or apartment, immediately analyze the reasons for their appearance and then solve the problems.

If you carefully study the information presented in this text, then getting rid of midges in the kitchen is not at all a difficult task. And it is not necessary to immediately resort to the use of chemical control agents, especially since their use in the kitchen is generally undesirable. It is enough to get by with folk methods of struggle, making primitive but effective traps for this. But the most important thing is to keep your home clean, leaving no chance for the existence of many pests that are not as harmless as this midge.

Midges often appear in kitchens in apartments or private houses in the summer. As a rule, this happens due to the carelessness of some housewives who provide such an opportunity for insects.

Prevention of occurrence

Getting rid of midges is definitely more difficult than preventing them from breeding in your kitchen. To prevent small flies from tormenting you in the future, follow our recommendations:

Empty your trash can regularly, especially if it contains various fruit or vegetable scraps.
Wash your trash can every time you throw out a bag. Especially if the bag is torn and leaking, do not leave the growing medium in the open for fruit gnats. Wash it, then install a new one. The cabinet under the sink also needs regular preventative cleaning.
Check and close bottles with aromatic liquids: vinegar, wine, juice, compote, beer.
Cover leftover food with a lid and put it in the refrigerator or cupboard; do not leave open plates on the table. Keep not only fruits closed, but also cereals and dairy products.

Advice! Instead of cling film, you can use reusable silicone soft lids or eco-friendly wax napkins - they preserve the freshness of food and reliably protect against midge attacks.

Remove dishes from the table and wash them immediately after eating. Get rid of clogs in the sink if you have such a problem - insects can live, feed and breed in plastic pipes.

Important! To make sure that midges live in drain pipes, glue a film coated with honey on the inside to the outlet hole. If after 1-2 hours you see midges on the trap, it means the problem is in the sewer system. To remove midges from this part of the apartment, simply boil soapy water and pour it into the pipe.

Dry kitchen sponges and rags well, do not leave them to sit.
Remove or throw away immediately if you find rotten, spoiled food - rotting garbage is a real paradise for pests. The same goes for spilled liquid.

Keep the dining table, countertops, and sink clean every day. Now you know the most effective ways and can get rid of small flies in the kitchen in no time. Good luck!