Greetings, dear ones! Summer is coming, which means the amount of fruits and vegetables at home will increase significantly! If stored incorrectly or for a long time, some fruits and vegetables begin to rot, we don’t have time to keep track of this and, as an option, nasty black midges appear.
Getting rid of them is not so easy. But I have prepared this article for you, from which you will learn how to get rid of midges in an apartment. Read!
Who among us has not encountered this problem? Midges appear suddenly in an apartment and are very annoying, annoying the residents with their presence. Some species - and there are a lot of them - can even bite. But the good news is that the methods of dealing with them are the same, and you don’t have to read a bunch of literature in order to determine which of their representatives you are fighting with.
Where do small midges come from in an apartment?
The very first thing to do is to establish the cause of the appearance of midges. Only after this can you begin to effectively fight them in the apartment.
Where they can come from is a mystery to many, because outside the window it can be any time of the year. The windows and doors are closed in winter, that is, there is simply nowhere for midges to fly in.
We list the main reasons for the appearance of these unwanted guests in your home:
Biologists say one of the most common reasons for the appearance of midges in an apartment is dirty fruits or vegetables brought home from the garden or store.
Long before they appear on your table, eggs were laid on the fruits, which are in a state of rest, remission, waiting for the fruit to begin to deteriorate and rot.
This is where their finest hour comes, because this is the main food for midges. Larvae emerge from the eggs, which very quickly turn into midges.
Their lifespan is very short, only about a day. But in the presence of an abundant nutrient medium, for example, rotting fruit, they multiply very intensively, which leads to the rapid filling of the room with these insects if measures to eliminate the outbreak were not taken in time.
A very common and widespread reason for the appearance of midges is also insufficient hygiene of the trash can and irregular garbage disposal.
There may be eggs in the leftover food lying in the garbage, and when rotting begins, they begin to wake up.
If the waste gets on the surface of the bucket itself, and is not noticed, this can also serve as the arrival of an army of small parasites.
You should also remember about such a place in the house as a living corner
There is always organic matter with traces of rotting there. For example, an aquarium with abundant algae growth and water that has not been changed for a long time, or a cage with a rabbit or other animal. Such places should always be clean so that insects do not have the opportunity to feed there and lay eggs.
Indoor plants can also cause abundant reproduction of midges
Especially if such a folk method of fertilization as tea leaves is used. Midges are very fond of tea and its remains.
Also, the cause may be high humidity in and around the pots, associated with abundant watering of indoor plants.
Well, the most mysterious place where midges appear, when it seems that everything around is simply licked and perfectly clean, is the water supply and sewage system
Pieces of food falling into the sewer can get stuck in the siphons of sinks and toilets and continue to rot there. This provokes the constant and uncontrollable appearance of midges throughout the house.
From all of the above, we can conclude that midges appear in the house precisely because of problems with the hygiene of the room and its communications.
Midges enter the house only with the help of a person who personally brings them into the house. Their further life and development depends on the cleanliness of the room in which they find themselves.
Means and methods of struggle
So, how to get rid of midges at home. The most effective method is the use of chemicals aimed at pest control.
- All items in the house that come into contact with food and water are treated. Sinks and washbasins are cleaned using anti-clog agents. They will prevent pollution from stagnating and decomposing. To clean the neck of the sink, use soda, slaked with vinegar, and then rinse with water.
- Special gels are applied to the surfaces of the trash can and sinks to prevent new larvae from appearing.
- The balcony is treated with aerosols and solutions. Popular ones include Raptor, Raid, Neo-dichlorvos. Chemicals repel flying “guests”.
- A mosquito fumigator is installed in the apartment. It will also cope with fruit flies. In the summer, you can use a simple way to get uninvited guests out. To do this, anti-mosquito plates are installed close to the glass. As a result of the thermal effects of sunlight, toxic substances will be released from it, poisoning insects.
- Flower pots are treated with Flycatcher or Grom-2.
Remember that chemicals are used only in ventilated areas. Otherwise, their use threatens to poison the entire family.
Prevention rules - how to prevent midges from appearing in your apartment in the future?
Preventing the appearance of midges in your home is very simple and clear. This -
Compliance with hygiene rules for residential premises
- Regular cleaning and trash removal.
- Regular cleaning of the trash can.
- Siphon cleaning.
- Timely discarding of food that has begun to spoil.
Also, pungent and persistent odors are good for preventing midges. For example, the smell of garlic or geranium, camphor or incense, if they do not prevent the appearance of midges 100%, will significantly reduce the risk of their appearance.
These measures are guaranteed to rid your home of annoying, uninvited guests.
Source: colady.ru
Reasons for the appearance of midges in the apartment
Where do the midges come from in my apartment? - a question that worries many housewives. To answer it, we will analyze in detail what these flies are, how they reproduce and what they like.
Fruit flies are different - fruit flies do not live long, but it all depends on the living conditions. The cooler the environment, the longer the flies live. Therefore, in winter they live up to three months, and in summer, when the air temperature rises to 25 degrees, they live only 10 days.
Drosophila reproduce very quickly. At one time, flies lay up to 80 eggs.
They prefer fruits and vegetables, sweet juices, syrups and alcohol. Once in the nutrient medium, larvae emerge from their eggs - white worms 3 millimeters long. In a favorable environment, midges appear within 4 days, and after eight hours they are already laying eggs. Therefore, there are always a lot of them in the house, unless measures are taken to destroy them.
There are several features of these insects: Drosophila lay eggs under the skin of ripe fruits, so no matter how much the fruits are washed, the larvae are there.
To get rid of them you need to wash them with soap or pour boiling water over the fruits. They also feel good in sewers, which is why they are confused with sewer flies. Midges appear early in the morning, so it seems to a person that they come out of nowhere.
Drosophila can feed and reproduce on 400 different types of plants. It’s hard to even imagine how much this is. Flies prefer sweet and citrus smells and can even be attracted to the smell of air freshener.
If a fruit fly is deprived of food and habitat, it may fly away. But how long it can fly on its tiny wings remains a mystery. Fruit midges react well to sudden movements and fly away, so if you decide to catch them manually, be patient.
Because no matter how much you catch it, it will still fly away. It will be more effective to use traps. A dry environment is destructive for midges. She loves dampness and mold, and tolerates frost quite well.
Types of house flies
Fruit midges (fruit flies) may appear in your home. They will not bite or affect the human body in any way, but being in the vicinity of them will not bring anything good. There are other types of midges in the house, which have their own characteristics.
Description of fruit midge
At first glance, it is quite difficult to distinguish a Drosophila from another midge, but it has distinctive features that can be seen in the photo of the insect:
- small dimensions (up to 3 mm);
- oval body;
- low flight speed;
- a pair of wings and 3-4 pairs of paws;
- black, brown or lighter color.
Such insects lay eggs mainly on fruit and berry crops. When fruits or vegetables spoil, midges emerge from the eggs. For the human body, such neighbors do not pose any danger. However, they can accidentally enter the oral or nasal cavity and leave stains on the ceiling, textiles, and glass.
At what time of year are they most often hatched?
Fruit midges support their vital activity only at positive temperatures. This does not mean that midges cannot appear in the kitchen or other rooms in winter. Within a few days, the colony will grow to several hundred individuals, so it is important to start fighting insects when the first fruit fly is detected, even if this happened in late autumn.
How long do they live?
In a city apartment, midges live all year round. Depending on temperature indicators, there may be more or less. The more favorable the environment, the longer the insects will live. Average life expectancy:
- in summer at temperatures above 18°C - up to 3 weeks;
- at lower temperatures - up to 1.5 weeks.
At zero temperature the midge dies. In this case, a single contact with snow or ice is sufficient. If the midges have nothing to eat, they will die in a few days. The same goes for larvae.
Other types
The following individuals are often found in a home:
- floral (swarming in flower pots);
- sewer (live in kitchen and bathroom sinks);
- gnats (bite);
- whiteflies (lay eggs on the inner surface of leaves)
- water (active in areas with high humidity);
- clothes (inhabitants of the wardrobe).
Whiteflies
Causes of midges
Where do midges come from in an apartment? There are quite a few reasons for their appearance. The main ones are described below: Midges appear in the house if you do not sort out fruits and vegetables in time; rotten fruits are a good environment for their habitat and reproduction.
Dishcloths, floor rags and towels need to be washed frequently because dirt and moisture favor their proliferation. Sinks at home should be cleaned of food debris after each dishwashing, as decaying organic matter contributes to their appearance.
Leaking pipes are a favorable environment for fruit flies, as they love dampness and mold. Therefore, even a small leak can provoke the appearance of a whole horde of nasty midges. Bottles of wine and various syrups should be kept tightly closed, because fruit flies love sweets.
The reason for their appearance may be that the trash can is not taken out. The result will be a horde of annoying midges in your home. Many people wonder why they appear, despite the cleanliness of the apartment. No matter how much you clean, they can fly in from the street or through the ventilation.
Therefore, it is necessary to take care of mosquito nets on windows and ventilation ceilings. Midges can appear not only in the kitchen, but also in the bathroom or toilet. A wet rug or poorly washed bath will suffice.
Pots with indoor flowers are also a favorable habitat for annoying midges if there is constant humidity there. To avoid their appearance, you should cover the ground around the plant with decorative stones or granite chips.
Source: hozuyut.ru
How to deal with insects in the kitchen
Midges in a room where food is prepared daily are an undesirable event that requires urgent action. Flying insects worsen the mood of all people living in the house, fly into plates of food, and leave traces in all rooms. You can fight small midges using home and professional methods.
Thorough inspection
Identifying the factors that influenced the spread of midges is the most important task, since only the destruction of the source of active reproduction and development of insects will allow us to lose their company for a long time. Before getting rid of midges in the kitchen, you should carefully consider the food. It is important to make sure that there are no midges in the soil in which the flowers are planted, as well as in washbasins and drains not only in the kitchen, but also in the bathroom. It is a thorough inspection that will help identify the habitats of flies.
Homemade traps
The use of traps is a way to effectively combat flies. Types of devices that can be made at home:
- PET glass. Place a slice of rotten fruit and a couple of tablespoons of juice on the bottom of the container. The top of the glass is covered with polyethylene, holes are made in it through which midges can penetrate. They shouldn't be too big. At night, the glass should be placed in the kitchen, and in the morning a midge will be found in it, which climbed into the glass for the aroma of the bait, from where it was not able to get out.
- From glass containers. The bait is placed in the container in the same way. Then you need to twist the paper funnel and position it so that its widened side matches the circumference of the jar, and the narrow side does not reach the bottom. The flies will fly in, but they won’t be able to crawl out.
- From adhesive tape. Midges stick to the sticky layer and cannot detach.
- From a detergent-based solution. Juice or nectar is poured into any container, which acts as a bait for insects. You should also add a little dishwashing gel there. Midges that fly into the container will drown in the resulting solution.
- Made from paper soaked in a special liquid. This effective method causes some inconvenience, since sheets that are soaked in a special solution are hung everywhere. Preparation: 3 tbsp. sugar, 6 tbsp. Mix ground black pepper with 500 ml of milk. Midges will be attracted to this mixture, and then they will die.
- A mixture of milk and formaldehyde. 10 tbsp. sweetened water, 2 tbsp. formaldehyde and 6 tbsp. milk are mixed in a bowl, which is then placed in the room with the midges. Insects die from contact with such a solution.
Description of mechanical methods
If you have neither the time nor the desire to make traps, you can use mechanical methods:
- Through ventilation. Air currents will carry insects outside.
- Vacuum cleaner. Everywhere where insects sit needs to be vacuumed. They will end up in the bag and will not be able to fly back out. But the container with dust must be shaken out or thrown away, because it is also an ideal breeding ground for midges.
- Camphor. You should heat the frying pan and pour the crushed preparation onto it. The fumes will spread throughout the house and the midges will die. This product is absolutely safe for adults and children, as well as pets.
- Aromatic oils and incense. Most of all, insects cannot stand the smell of cloves, patchouli, and verbena.
- Installation of mosquito nets on windows.
Camphor
Chemicals, their types and methods of use
Chemical compositions must not only be highly effective, but also be safe for all people living in the house, especially children. There are many products on store shelves, the use of which guarantees the destruction of midges:
We recommend:
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- Aerosols. Before removing midges from an apartment in this way, it is important to hide all toys, children's things, and food so that chemicals are not sprayed on them. Directly during use, it is worth closing all windows and doors in the room, and after achieving the desired effect, it is important to ventilate it for a long time and often.
- Fumigators. The product is highly effective in combating not only midges, but also mosquitoes, flies and other insects. Operating principle: under the influence of high temperatures, a plate or liquid in a reservoir attached to the device releases insecticides into the air. The disadvantage of this method is that the effect will not be achieved earlier than after a few hours; the midges will be completely destroyed only after 6 hours.
- Light traps (Zapper). Such devices are capable of electrocuting midges and other insects. Cons: high price, noise during operation, significant dimensions, consumption of large amounts of energy.
Repellents
- Repellents. An effective remedy for fighting insects is used very easily: a strip soaked in a special composition is placed in the tank, and the midges leave the home or die. This method requires regular ventilation of the apartment to avoid harmful effects on the child’s body and pets.
Traditional methods
Means by which you can poison flies:
- Garlic. This product is most effective in controlling insects living in flower pots. A clove of garlic needs to be cut into several slices, then placed directly into flowerpots. The midge will leave its habitat.
- Carnation. Many chemical compositions against insects contain this spice in their composition. Just pour a few clove flowers with water, bring to a boil and simmer for a couple of minutes. The room will be filled with a pleasant aroma for humans, but the midges will leave the home.
- Geranium. Keep this plant in your house; insects cannot stand its smell.
How to get rid of small midges in an apartment
Unfortunately, even the most meticulous housewives can become victims of hordes of annoying midges.
It is important to understand that these creatures are not as harmless as you might initially think: such proximity can even lead to allergies.
If you discover that midges have appeared in your apartment, you shouldn’t delay eliminating them: that’s why you need to figure out how to deal with them in advance.
Reasons for appearance
First, it is imperative to find out the reason for the appearance of midges in your home. So, where do midges come from in an apartment?
In fact, there can be quite a few reasons for the appearance of these unwanted guests, especially in the warm season: spoiled vegetables and fruits, garbage not thrown out in a timely manner, food debris accumulated in drainpipes, dirty feeders or animal toilets, stagnant water in the aquarium or in flowers.
If you are confident in the impeccability of your cleaning, do not exclude the possibility of a “raid” of midges from your neighbors. So, let’s draw conclusions and get started on how to get rid of small midges in an apartment.
How to fight
The good news is that midges can be defeated using simple mechanical methods and folk tricks. You don’t need to spray toxic insecticides around the house and you don’t have to remember about the well-deserved insect fighter - dichlorvos: The easiest and most accessible way to fight insects, no matter how funny it may sound, is a vacuum cleaner.
Carefully walk with it through places where pests accumulate and, having mercilessly sucked them in with the device, empty the dust collector away from the house.
If small midges in your apartment have infested indoor plants, you need to insert several matches into the pot with the sulfur head down, and also stop fertilizing the flowers with tea.
It is also recommended to spray the plant with a weak solution of potassium permanganate. Making midge traps is an effective control method. For example, you can make a funnel from a plastic bottle or use a yogurt cup, at the bottom of which put a piece of spoiled fruit, a drop of jam or honey.
After collecting the “catch”, dispose of the vessel. An alternative to sweet bait can be a small amount of alcohol. You can use ready-made traps - sticky tapes, placing them closer to the places where midges swarm.
If the place where midges appear is your bathroom, then the best and easiest way is to pour jam syrup into the bathtub. As soon as the midges flock to the sweets, quickly wash them off with a hot shower. Then don’t forget to clean the bathtub, wipe the floor dry and pour boiling water over all the drain holes.
Prevention
To avoid stepping on a rake again, it is recommended to follow a number of preventive measures. First, place mosquito nets on the windows, thereby limiting the possibility of midges entering from the street.
Secondly, do not forget to throw out garbage in a timely manner and sort through fruits/vegetables, sift cereals and flour. You can protect yourself from these parasites in the kitchen by placing walnut leaves or lavender-scented tablets in your cabinets.
Thirdly, wash the aquarium and animal food plates more often. Don’t forget to change the litter in your little brothers’ toilets on time and keep their bedding clean.
Fourthly, do wet cleaning in the apartment more often. This is especially true for hard-to-reach places: under the refrigerator, behind the stove, between tables.
Fifthly, make sure your plumbing is in good working order to avoid unwanted moisture stagnation.
Source: beyklopov.ru
Preventive actions
Getting rid of annoying insects is much more difficult than preventing their appearance. Preventive measures that will help prevent the problem:
- regularly throw out garbage and keep the trash can clean;
- wash the sink and clear the pipes of blockages;
- If food spoils, immediately take it out of the house;
- light incense or incense, since midges do not like strong odors;
- regularly clean trays, cages, and bedding for domestic animals;
- install mosquito nets on the windows, which is especially important in the warm season.
Preventative measures must be observed at all times. If the living space is clean and tidy, no insects are afraid.
Not a single housewife would be happy about the appearance of indoor midges in the house. You can poison uninvited guests yourself very quickly, the main thing is to eliminate the source of their appearance and subsequently maintain cleanliness in the room and promptly get rid of spoiled food products. Compliance with simple preventive measures will prevent the proximity of insects.
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Fighting onion midge: best methods
Midges are small flying insects with two wings that happily settle in human homes and feed on plant foods.
In fact, the onion midge consumes not only onions, but also settles on other fruits, berries, and vegetables that are not stored properly in the apartment. There are several species of midges that live on plant products, and most often these are Drosophila (fruit flies) and soil flies.
You should not think that, apart from aesthetic harm, such small insects do not interfere with humans in any way. Even small midges are carriers of diseases. In people prone to allergies, their bites can cause severe skin reactions and swelling.
These insects lay their eggs on food, the larvae emerge from them and immediately begin to feed intensively. Midges stain furniture, walls, and can even fly into a person’s mouth and nose.
Here are the main signs of midges that most often settle at home:
- Size – 1-3 mm
- Oval body
- Slow flight, not like a regular fly
- Six legs, two wings
- Yellowish, brown, black body color
ATTENTION: Whatever species the onion midge belongs to, in a very short period of time its colony will become numerous, because these pests reproduce extremely quickly.
Ridding houseplants of midges
Various indoor plants are often targeted by midges. We wrote more about the destruction of midges on flowers in this article. Here are some effective ways:
- Water the soil in pots with a weak solution of potassium permanganate , but it should not be too concentrated, otherwise there is a risk of burns to the root system.
- Watering the soil with a water solution with added soap.
- Watering the soil with garlic solution. To prepare it, you will need to turn 3-4 medium-sized heads through a meat grinder and fill with a liter of clean water. The product settles for 4-5 days, after which it is used to treat the soil.
- Burying orange peels in the soil.
- Place matches in the pot so that the sulfur head is in contact with the soil during subsequent watering. Once the sulfur is completely washed off, new matches must be used.
- Place 2-3 garlic heads , cut into pieces, in a pot.
- Sprinkling the soil with wood ash is a comprehensive measure that not only removes insects, but also fertilizes the soil.
Sweet midge trap
Where do midges come from?
Despite their small size, insects can fly considerable distances, so they can end up in any apartment. They get to new housing in different ways, here are the main ones:
- Insect eggs may be present on vegetable and fruit products that were bought in a store, at the market, brought from a dacha, or taken from friends.
- It is possible that one or a couple of individuals accidentally enter through a window or door, after which they lay eggs and “start” the reproduction process.
- Pests also enter through ventilation from neighbors.
- To reproduce, insects need a nutrient medium - warm, rotting foods, spilled juices, pieces of plant food lying around, used tea bags, sewerage with an abundance of plaque. Female small flies can also lay eggs on the bedding and food of pets, for example, when their cages are rarely cleaned. Midges love wet, unwashed kitchen rags and napkins.
Midges from onions breed especially well, because if stored improperly, this vegetable begins to rot quickly. Many housewives have onions in a dark, warm place, wrapped in a plastic bag, and this is an ideal condition for them to rot.
Therefore, midges on onions multiply at tremendous speed, and will soon fly throughout the kitchen in dozens and hundreds.
What to do if you find onion midges?
How to get rid of onion midges is a paramount question, and you need to start solving it by finding a place for their active reproduction. The main thing is to leave pests without food and a breeding ground for their offspring. The procedure will be as follows:
- Throw away spoiled onions, carefully sorting through all available vegetables.
- Place the onions in the refrigerator without signs of rotting or spoilage, placing them in small portions in plastic bags.
- If it is not possible to put onions and other root vegetables in the cold, they should be stored in boxes with sawdust, or, as a last resort, in well-ventilated fabric bags.
- Remove all fruits, especially citrus fruits, out of reach of midges.
- Throw out garbage on time, at first - 1-2 times a day.
- Wash dirty dishes immediately after eating.
- Limit the access of insects to water - they also need it for life. To do this, you should close all taps so that they do not drip, leave sinks dry, do not store water on the table, and thoroughly dry clean dishes.
- Remove and clean siphons a couple of times a week and use disinfectants to clean the sewer system.
- Wash your pets' cages regularly and prevent food residues from being left there.
IMPORTANT: If there are plants in the apartment, they also need to be cleaned, because insects can settle on them for lack of other food. You should reduce the frequency of watering and stop pouring tea leaves on the ground. If necessary, you can spray the flowers with a weak solution of potassium permanganate.
Location
The most common habitat for midges is, of course, flower pots. But the list doesn’t end there, especially if we’re talking about fruit flies that can eat garbage.
They can be in the drain hole, next to the toilet if it is leaking, and even behind the kitchen stove.
Finding a source of fruit flies is not easy, but it must be done, because otherwise the fight against them will drag on for a long time.
Kitchen - favorite room
If there are midges in your apartment, then first of all you should go to the kitchen. It is here that a warm and humid atmosphere is often maintained, which small insects, flies, and flies love so much.
Of course, if there are whiteflies or sciarids, then you should look in potted flowers. But if we are talking about fruit flies, then you will have to do a general cleaning in order to find the pest.
It could be a small piece of apple that fell under the table, or a piece of eggplant that fell out of the frying pan, fell behind the stove and spoiled there.
The main “danger spots” where you should look for annoying pests:
- window sill - often housewives put the finished dish on the windowsill to cool, or washed fruits, since there is no more room. Fruit flies will be happy to flock to such delicacies. And of course, the windowsill is a place where flowers often stand, which means all kinds of midges can settle here;
- sink - if you do not wash the sink thoroughly, then over time a greasy coating will form, which fruit flies will also be happy about, since, in their opinion, this is a delicacy. Another reason why they may appear at the sink is a clog in the filter or siphon. Pieces of food fall into the drain hole, but do not go further into the sewer and begin to rot. This is where the aroma appears that attracts midges. And the most banal reason is that they flew in from their neighbors;
- bulk products - due to improper storage of bulk products, such as cereals, flies, nuts, tea, midges can appear there. Moreover, we are not talking about home storage, but specifically in production or in a store - somewhere standards were violated;
- fruits and vegetables are the most obvious place to look for unexpected guests. Midges either come home with purchased products, or fly to their rotten smell.
Yes, there are many places in the kitchen where flies can live. But if you maintain cleanliness, it is almost impossible to meet annoying guests.
Bathroom - dampness is a joy
Another place in the apartment where a warm and humid atmosphere is maintained is the bathroom. Flies, of course, prefer the kitchen, but if there is nothing to profit from there, then you can fly through the water supply to your neighbors and feast on them.
If midges appear in the bathroom, this does not mean that the hostess is a slob. Yes, midges are attracted to unsanitary conditions, but there are many other reasons for their love of the bathroom:
- puddles forming on the floor due to leaking pipes;
- dampness;
- sewer pollution;
- poorly cleaned toilet:
- expired body care products.
And if there is a window in the bathroom, near which there is a flowering tree or a trash can, then there will definitely be no end to midges in such a room. It is best to avoid placing potted flowers in the bathroom, since the ever-damp soil can become moldy and serve as a luxury apartment for midges.
How to make midge traps?
Onion midges sometimes multiply on such a scale that simply getting rid of rotting vegetables does not bring proper and quick results. In this case, the hostess will have to take a number of more radical measures to get rid of uninvited guests. How to make baits with your own hands where insects will die? Here are good ways:
- Take a 0.5 liter plastic disposable glass, throw a piece of fruit into the bottom or pour a little sweet juice (compote). Wrap the glass in cling film, making several small holes in it. Leave the trap in the kitchen overnight, quickly put the glass in a tight bag in the morning and take it out of the house.
- Pour juice into the bottom of the jar or put overripe fruit, cut into slices. Cover the top of the jar with a paper funnel, placing its narrow side inward. Leave the jar on the table at night, pour water into it in the morning - all the midges will die.
- Pour water into a flat plate, drop a little citrus-scented dishwashing detergent into the water. The insects will land on the water, but will no longer be able to take off.
You can also get rid of flies using medications. Nowadays, any store sells special adhesive tapes and sheets to which harmful insects quickly stick. It is not recommended to use aerosols and other chemicals, because their residues can end up on the table or in food, causing harm to humans.
But ventilating the apartment and mechanically removing pests using a towel through the window, or sucking them up with a vacuum cleaner will definitely not do any harm and are perfect as one of a set of measures to combat midges.
DIY traps
Traps that are effective against mosquitoes and regular flies are completely ineffective against fruit flies. But even an old woman can have trouble. Try to get rid of fruit flies by making a “trap” with your own hands using one of the algorithms described below. The operating principle of all three traps is identical. The insect is lured inside the vessel by an attractant - a substance of synthetic or natural origin that forces the fly to move towards it. Once in the vessel, it becomes the final refuge for the flying beast.
Banana
Peculiarity. The smell of banana is one of those aromas that no fruit fly can fly past. And if the fruit is slightly rotten, even more so. To organize a “trap” you will need a piece of banana (along with the peel) and an empty plastic bottle with a lid. In a couple of days, a large number of insects will penetrate inside the bottle, but the flies will not be able to fly back out. They are unable to detect the smell of fresh air, unlike the aroma of an attractant.
What we do
- Using a gypsy needle and a thimble (so as not to prick your fingers), we make many holes in the plastic vessel.
- Inside the bottle we place bait - a piece of banana.
- We close the vessel with a lid and leave it in the kitchen or other place where the midges were noticed for about a day or two.
Liquid
Peculiarity. This trap works better than any aerosol, and there are a great many options for its preparation. Some suggest filling the trap with sugar syrup. Others use regular wine vinegar. Our version is more complex, but also more effective. To implement it, you will need cling film, a deep stainless plate, a tangerine or orange, as well as other food products (coriander and white wine).
What we do
- Pour some white wine into a plate and add a couple of pinches of ground coriander.
- Place the peeled orange directly into the liquid.
- We cover the fragrant “installation” with cling film, forming a kind of dome out of it. We secure the edges of the film to the sides of the plate.
- Using a toothpick or a sewing needle, we make multiple holes in the stretched cling film through which the flies will penetrate into the trap.
Cone-shaped
Peculiarity. The orange left over from the previous experiment can also be used to create a cone trap. You will need a liter jar, citrus bait and a regular sheet of white A4 paper. The principle of operation is the same: a fly flies into the smell, but cannot find a way out.
What we do
- Place an attractant at the bottom of the jar.
- We roll a sharp cone out of paper with a small hole at the peak.
- Insert the cone into the jar with its spout facing down.
In addition to fruits, white midges may appear in the apartment due to dampness. They, like fruit flies, are greedy for unsanitary conditions and leftover human food. Especially if this food has already spoiled a little. Another common annoying pest is the onion midge, which breeds in rotten fruits of the onion vegetable. As in the case of fruit, the primary measures to prevent the problem are general cleaning, eliminating rotten vegetables and fruits, and organizing proper food storage.
If not a single remedy for midges in your apartment has helped you, it makes sense to contact the sanitary service. Specialists, “armed” with the necessary paraphernalia and chemicals, will cope with any task. They organize and implement comprehensive insect extermination and will provide a guarantee for the work done.
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How to prevent the reappearance of pests?
To prevent insects from settling in your house or apartment again, you need to take measures to repel them. Thus, onion midges cannot tolerate the smell of pine needles and basil. Therefore, you need to purchase essential oils of fir, pine, and basil, soak cotton wool in them and place them in places where vegetables are stored.
Insects do not like the smell of clove seasoning - it can be stuck into citrus fruits that are stored outside the refrigerator. Midges also react negatively to the aromas of ylang-ylang, patchouli, and verbena oils, so they can be dripped into aroma lamps and used regularly.
Midges also cannot stand the smell of camphor, which, by the way, is absolutely not harmful to humans. Preventing the appearance of midges is not difficult, but it is effective, and an unpleasant neighborhood will most likely not happen to them.
Source: gdeklop.ru