How to get rid of small midges: 85 photos and videos of the most effective remedies

House flies often appear in our homes in the autumn and spring. Agree that seeing small pests flying and buzzing around the house is not a pleasant sight. This article will discuss house midges, their types and methods of control.

Product revision

The simplest and most effective way to get rid of small midges in the kitchen is to audit perishable foods. First of all, you need to check the vegetables and fruits stored in the apartment.

When the fruits begin to deteriorate and rot, midges immediately appear. Spoiled fruits should be thrown away immediately. Fruits that are in normal condition should be stored in the refrigerator.

Check the cereals, they can also contain midges. This is especially true if cereals are stored in a damp place. Move all grains to a dry place. They shouldn't be rotten. For storage, use dry, hermetically sealed containers.

Description of the pest

Black midges are very small, dark-colored insects. Rarely are midges actually black as their name states. They have small legs and antennae. There are more than 100 species of black midges in nature. Rarely can these insects be found alone. They usually move in swarms. Some types of midges can bite humans, and some are completely safe for our health. Midges are most active in the morning, but this does not mean that they will stop bothering you in the evening or during the day. Some species are carriers of various microbes and diseases.

Midges in the kitchen and bathroom

We get rid of small midges in the bathroom - we clean pipes and siphons with effective detergents. If suitable means are not available, you can resort to traditional methods.

You need to pour baking soda into the sink, and then pour vinegar (you can use citric acid with water).

After the neutralization reaction (there will be active hissing with the formation of foam), rinse the sink thoroughly with running water.

This is also true for the kitchen sink.

Siphons need to be cleaned regularly - at least once a year. Thanks to this, you will maintain hygiene at the proper level, and midges will not appear.

Chemicals

If all of the above methods do not give the desired result and the number of midges in the room becomes catastrophic, “heavy artillery” enters the battle - ready-made means of varying degrees of toxicity and intensity of action. In the proposed list of funds we will move from less powerful to more active.

Repellents

The principle of operation of effective repellers is simple: a special strip impregnated with the active substance is placed in a tank. When the active composition begins to act, the midges either die or rush to leave the home. What you must do after using this product is to regularly ventilate the room well. Among the most popular are “Gardex” and “Breeze-Anti-Mosquito”.

Light traps (zappers)

Special electric traps are among a number of new devices for killing insects. The operating principle of the device is based on the enormous “love” of midges for light. The dipterans rush towards the soft light emitted by the lamp, fall on the internal metal mesh, which is always under voltage (safe for humans), and die. Such traps are quite easy to install, and their obvious advantage is the absence of chemicals.

Glue traps (industrial)

Sticky traps offered by the industry are among the most harmless and affordable means of insect control. They are best used in areas where food is prepared or stored. Velcro tapes should be unrolled and hung under the kitchen ceiling, the result will be visible the very next day.

Velcro, made on a flat surface, is great for killing insects in plants. The device is installed in the ground so that it does not interfere with the flower, and with an alluring aroma it takes on the entire “blow” of the pests. The best representatives of the drugs in this series include: “Flies Away”, FT 001 with an attractant and “Bros”, “Silvalure”.

There are Velcro that fold into the shape of a house, they are effective, they can be placed on shelves, near products, and they have an attractive, clean appearance (“Raptor”, “Aeroxon”).

Fumigators

Compact devices are designed to activate insecticides by heating (fumigators operate from an electrical network). The latter are part of the liquid that fills small reservoirs or special plates. A correctly selected product is designed for a specific area and will ensure the absence of midges in a certain area for a sufficiently long period of time (“Combat”, aquafumigator “Raptor”).

Aerosols

The use of aerosols requires mandatory compliance with all manufacturer's recommendations and compliance with safety precautions. Considering that the chemicals will work for a certain time indoors, it is worth taking care of children's things, toys and food. All of the above must be carefully packed or hidden.

It is important to remember that aerosols and sprays with insecticides can only be used in well-ventilated areas. It is better not to use such products in the children's room and kitchen; if necessary, then act with special attention and caution.

“Combat”, “Raid”, “Dichlorvos”, “Hexachloran”, “Chlorophos”, “Raptor” are some of the most effective means that are used against house flies. And, even if their modern analogues have a pleasant smell, we must never forget that the active substance of these drugs is poison.

Midges in indoor plants

Flowers and other indoor plants often harbor midges. There are several ways to get rid of small midges in flowers. A simple folk method is to stick matches into the soil. The heads must go into the ground.

Don't water the plants too often. This will lead to an increase in humidity, dampness will form, the roots will begin to rot, as a result of which midges will appear.

Another popular method is to sprinkle the soil with regular ground pepper.

Destruction of soil flies

If there are midges in flower pots, you can get rid of them by watering the plants with a solution of special preparations for soil pests. These products are inexpensive and can be purchased at a hardware store or at a large household goods supermarket, for example, OBI or Leroy Merlin. You can also go to the nearest flower shop and ask for the necessary product there.

You can use one of the following midge repellents:

Fly eater;
Intavir;
Grom-2;
Bazudin;
Aktara;
Fitover;
Actillic.

If regular treatment of plants with chemicals does not help, you can take radical measures and get rid of insects by replacing all the soil in the pots. You will need to carefully remove the plant from the pot without damaging the roots, shake off the soil and rinse it (with water or a weak solution of potassium permanganate), throw away the soil from the pot, and rinse the pot itself thoroughly. It is important that there are no midges in the new soil either.

To disinfect the soil, you can leave it in the freezer for several days. The temperature should be low enough to freeze all the larvae.

Pets

Pets themselves do not cause midges. However, their habitats may be the cause. Therefore, you need to replace sand or other filler in time. In this place, putrefactive processes can begin, resulting in the formation of midges.

Pet feeding containers should be washed immediately. The remaining food begins to rot, causing midges to appear.

Midge traps

We get rid of small flying midges using homemade traps. To make this we will use a plastic bottle. Cut off the neck from it. It will serve as a funnel.

Insert the cut neck into the rest of the bottle so that the spout fits inside. Use adhesive tape to secure. You can throw bait into the bottle, for example, fruits that have begun to rot or a little jam.

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Interestingly, midges are very attracted to beer. Therefore, you can add a little drink to the trap. The midges will fly in through the neck, but they will not be able to fly back out.

After filling the trap, you should not disassemble it and reuse it; it is better to fill it with detergent and then simply throw it away.

Reproduction

Life cycle of the fruit fly Drosophila.

Like the entire Diptera family, they go through their life cycle in four phases:

Egg.
Larva.
Doll.
Imago (adult).

Moreover, all 4 phases are the same; the differences lie only in the timing of insect maturation, from eggs to adults.

To verify this, you need to consider each variety separately.

Drosophila

Its development cycle begins with the laying of eggs. To do this, the female chooses half-decomposed fruits or other products. Midge eggs, larvae and pupae are adapted to live in an aquatic environment. They have a special float chamber that helps keep them on the surface. One female is capable of laying about 400 eggs. Within 24 hours they transform into larvae. And by the end of the fifth day, it enters the pupal stage. After 5 days, a young Drosophila emerges from them, which in 8 hours will be a sexually mature individual.

Drosophila (appearance)

Whitefly

Its cycle consists of 6 stages.

Life cycle of a whitefly

In the first stage, females lay eggs on the upper leaves of the plant. The duration of this phase ranges from 11 to 22 days.
At the second stage, midge larvae emerge from the eggs, which are brown or black in color. At this time, they behave quite mobile, feeding on the juice of the leaves. The duration of this stage can be either 7 or 11 days.
By the beginning of the third stage, the larvae become motionless. This continues for about 5-7 days, while their size increases.
By the fourth stage they become even larger, but they are still motionless. This stage can be the longest, from 7 to 130 days. Its color and shape remain the same.
At the fifth stage, they turn into a motionless pupa. It is 2 mm long and oval in shape, while the color of the pupa is the same, black or brown. The duration of this stage ranges from 7 to 34 days.
At the last stage of development, the pupa turns into an adult, with a body length of 2 to 3 mm.

Sciarides

Sciarida

Reproduction of sciarids begins with the laying of eggs; the female does this in groups of 250 pieces. For them, she chooses moist soil or semi-decomposed wood. After 5-6 days, they become larvae, which actively feed within 2 weeks and turn into pupae. They stay in this stage for 4-5 days, after which they turn into adults.

Miracle Drosophila Fly

Geranium against midges

Geranium is an indoor flower. It is often kept in apartments on window sills.

The plant has a specific odor that is unpleasant to midges and many other insects. Therefore, you should just have a flower at home, at least one. It will get rid of midges and prevent their reappearance.

In addition, the plant helps fight moths.

Are such “neighbors” dangerous?

The Internet is full of information that midges are dangerous and should be carefully avoided and feared, since they carry an infection worse than mosquitoes. But we must understand that the most dangerous midges that are found in our country are located near swamps and reservoirs. The maximum she can do is bite like a mosquito. And the consequences will be similar.

Yes, in southern African countries mosquitoes and midges carry terrible diseases, and there you should be careful and use repellents in advance. Midges that have settled in the apartment for a short time do not pose any danger, except for a little stress due to their intrusive and shameless behavior.

Velcro for flies

Another way to get rid of small midges in the house is to use flypaper. Velcro flycatchers also help cope with midges.

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However, they are not suitable for all types of midges. Therefore, this method should be tested individually experimentally.

Traps should be placed both in open places just indoors and in closed spaces - in closets, wardrobes, etc.

However, the method will be effective only if the cause of the appearance of midges is eliminated. Otherwise, they will appear again, and you will only throw away used Velcro.

Bloodsucking

Insects of this species feed on blood and can infect people with serious diseases:

Bed bugs

A common blood-sucking insect of the bug species, order Coleoptera. Ectoparasite of humans and warm-blooded animals. An insect with a body size of 4-8 millimeters. It has a color ranging from light yellow to dark brown. Leads a nocturnal parasitic lifestyle. It feeds exclusively on blood. Average life expectancy is 1 year. Habitat: pillows, mattresses, cracks in the floor and under wallpaper. It does not cause harm to people, only in some cases there are allergic reactions to the bite.

Mosquitoes

The common mosquito (blood-sucking) belongs to the family of dipterous insects, a polytypic species. It has body sizes from 3 to 7 millimeters. Most species are yellow in color. And in this blood-sucking species it is mostly gray, less often brown. Leads a parasitic lifestyle. Females feed on plant sap and human blood (for eggs), and males feed exclusively on plant sap. The lifespan of the female ranges from 43 to 57 days depending on air temperature and nutrition, while the male lives only 19 days. Habitat: damp places and marshy areas.

Fleas

Small blood-sucking insects of the common flea family. They lead a parasitic lifestyle. Body length is from 1 to 5 millimeters. The color is dark brown. They feed exclusively on the blood of warm-blooded animals and humans. The lifespan of a flea is several months. Habitat – larvae live and lay in carpets, behind baseboards, in cellars and basements, in soft toys.

Very small insects are ectoparasites. The order is lice eaters. They lead a parasitic lifestyle. They have body dimensions of 4-6 millimeters. They feed exclusively on the blood of the host. Life expectancy is 38 days. They live on birds, mammals and humans. There are two types of lice in humans: pubic and head lice, which live exclusively on hair. They are carriers of typhus and relapsing fever.

Preventive measures

In order to prevent the formation of midges in an apartment or house, you need to take preventive measures and follow some simple recommendations:

maintain an appropriate level of hygiene in the home;
Do wet cleaning more often, wash furniture surfaces and floors;
do not forget to throw away garbage, it is the most common cause of midge formation;
At least once a year, clean all siphons in the house, this applies to both the kitchen and the bathroom;
Get rid of spoiled food in a timely manner. It’s impossible to eat them anyway, but midges are guaranteed to appear.

For preventive purposes, you can resort to persistent pungent aromas. For example, midges are afraid of geranium and camphor.

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They also can't stand incense, but be careful, many people don't like the smell.

The smell of garlic also actively helps fight midges. Naturally, odors cannot completely eliminate the likelihood of midge formation, but they do a good job of minimizing this likelihood.

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.

Photo tips on how to get rid of small midges

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An integrated approach to solving the problem

So, get ready to learn the perfect fighting tactics that will help you in the kitchen in just three steps! Just remember: it is better to use all three approaches in a comprehensive manner, otherwise the war against midges may drag on.

Depriving flies of a nutrient medium

This point is the most important. If you are too lazy to carry out the whole range of events and want to choose one thing, choose this item: without it, the other two will definitely not work. We have already established that these little brown flies are infested because there is enough food for them in your kitchen. So, our task is to make sure that there is no more food left.

Don't throw food scraps directly into the bin: even after rinsing, sticky juice will remain on the sides, and the smell will attract flies. The same goes for the table on which the berries were lying: it must be wiped down immediately! It is better to wash dishes that contained vegetables and fruits right away: by putting such a plate in the sink, you send the fruit flies an invitation to dinner, which they will certainly smell very quickly.
It is clear that taking out the entire bucket after you have eaten a couple of cherries is not very convenient, so we recommend collecting the pits, skins and tails in a separate bag. It’s best to take it out immediately after a meal, but if you’re lazy, you can tie it in a few tight knots and throw it in a bucket. The main thing is that this bag has no holes, otherwise in the couple of days while the bucket is standing in the kitchen, a whole swarm will breed there.
Do not leave fruits and berries, as well as their remains on the table: put the first in the refrigerator, the second in the trash using the above method. The adult will smell the nutrient medium and lay eggs instantly, and the larva will appear within a day. That is, it is enough to forget about fruit for just a day for the situation to get out of control.
It will be impossible to fight midges if there is a hidden nutrient medium in the kitchen: a grape rolled under the refrigerator, a rotten cherry thrown past the trash, or a potato skin that fell behind the countertop. You need to carefully look through all the corners and check whether there is anything there that can be considered food by flies.
These small midges are less interested in vegetables: it’s not for nothing that they are called “fruit”. But if onions, carrots, beets or potatoes begin to rot, fruit flies will not hesitate to use them. Go through your vegetable storage, even if it's just a couple of carrots and onions in the drawer under the sink.
Even if you don't have the habit of cleaning fruits and vegetables in the sink, waste may have gotten into the drain from the dishes. Pour boiling water over the pipe to destroy the potential nutrient medium, and also clean the pipes with any commercial product to get rid of the blockage.

If you do all this, the fruit midge will not be able to find food and a place to lay eggs. Adults will fly away in search of more comfortable conditions.

Physical destruction of adults

Performing these steps is useless without eliminating the breeding ground, but we know how annoying it is to have a horde of these little pests in the house. In addition, the fewer adult individuals, the fewer eggs laid, and this is clearly to our advantage! Just don’t rush to immediately look for something to poison these midges with: poison, of course, will help, but there are much safer measures.

If you left for the weekend, and when you arrived, you found a whole swarm of these flies, arrange through ventilation to get rid of the bulk.
In places where midges accumulate, you can use a vacuum cleaner. The main thing is to immediately take the bag outside, because they can crawl back out.

Sticky tape for regular flies is also suitable for small midges. This will not only reduce the number of annoying adults, but also prevent new eggs from being laid.

If you put a piece of berry or fruit in the sink and wait until fruit flies flock to it, you can wash off quite a lot of them with water.
You can also set traps: put rotten fruit in a jar or glass or pour natural juice or wine, stretch cling film on top and make a small hole in it. The flies crawl into the jar based on the smell, but can’t get out. All that remains is to take the glass outside or pour the juice with flies into the toilet. Remember that the fly trap will not work if the fruit flies can get out of the jar unhindered!

In general, you don’t have to do any of this: without a nutrient medium, the flies will stop reproducing, fly away, or die in a few days.

We close access to the premises

This is quite difficult to do, because we often bring flies ourselves along with purchased fruits and berries, but you can still slightly reduce the risk of them entering your home.

We've already talked about storing fruits and vegetables in the refrigerator to avoid providing a breeding ground for flies, but this is also beneficial because cold temperatures cause flies to become sterile and unable to reproduce. That is, even if eggs or larvae got into a bag of grapes from the market, this will not result in a local epidemic.
Flies from the outside can easily penetrate the ventilation from neighbors, so it would be a good idea to cover the ventilation outlets with a fine mesh. Gauze will not work: you need the finest mesh or even nylon, and the material needs to be fixed at the edges so that the fly cannot find a gap (glue, tape, a stapler around the entire perimeter).

Kitchen flies could be coming to you from the basement, so check for any cracks near the drain outlet.

A mosquito net against fruit flies also doesn’t help much: they are too small. And if you have fruit trees under your windows, then they will fly to you one hundred percent. The only way out is the same nylon and sealing the window seam.
Another good way is to repel flies using essential oils. Just choose unsweetened scents: clove, basil, vanilla, geranium, lavender, fir, mint, rosemary, thyme, eucalyptus are suitable. You can drop a couple of drops directly into the trash can to discourage them from getting into it.

But remember: if fruit flies weren’t interested in anything in your apartment, they wouldn’t even look for a way to get there.

Now you know what to do with annoying fruit flies, but if you read the article carefully, you realized that with proper prevention they would not have appeared. Don't worry if you can't remove the flies completely: they will disappear with the arrival of cold weather. And for the next fruit and vegetable season, you have clear guidance on how to prevent their invasion!

Any housewife has thought about the fact that if you leave a slightly rotten apple or any other fruit, a little later a huge number of flies will appear in the apartment. Although all doors, vents and windows are tightly closed, midges appear even during winter with its cold conditions. In other words, they won’t be able to fly in from the street. And it is true! Where do these insects come from in the apartment?

For some owners, such midges live in flowers, especially in indoor violets. Also, these insects can infest onions if they begin to deteriorate.

Fruit flies feed on fruit juice

and rotting plant debris. These flies are called fruit flies or wine flies. They have several species and subspecies, which range in size from 3 to 5 mm.

Like any insect, they have three stages of development - egg, larva, adult.

. If the necessary environment is created (rotting fruits and vegetables, garbage bags, sweet juices, used tea bags and much more), then development from egg to adult will take place in just a day. In general, these insects actively develop in a rotting environment.