Got Fruit Flies? It Might Be Something More Sinister In Your Home!

We eat a fair amount of fruit in my household.  Strawberries, blueberries, grapes and we always have bananas in the kitchen.  Fruit flies have occasionally shown up in our humble abode, especially if the bananas end up getting a little ripe.  They're annoying but the problem seems to go away as soon as you throw away the rotting fruit.  Fruit flies in case you didn't know are very small black flies that tend to hover around fruit.  They wait until the fruit is rotting or over ripe and lay their eggs.  They also like potatoes, onions and some other vegetables.  According to an article in Time Fruit flies are NOT disease spreading, they're just pests.

So, these insects started showing up in my bedroom recently.  I was laying in bed watching TV and these Fruit flies started trying to fly up my nose.  That didn't go over very well with me.  After about the 3rd day of this I decided to see why these Fruit flies had turned it up a notch.  I soon learned after a simple google search these weren't Fruit flies at all.  These little critters are known as Fungus gnats.  They look like Fruit flies but are even smaller and love moist areas.  That's why they go for your nasal cavities, eyes, mouth and even ears.  YIKES!

You're probably wondering where do Fungus gnats come from?  Unlike Fruit flies, they do not come from produce.  According to an article in Dengarden, they instead come from overly watered plants.  Unlike Fruit flies who tend to stay close to rotting fruit, these little pests tend to search out a new place to lay their eggs, including YOUR face.  Fungus gnats love CO2 and a light source.  Turn your phone on in a dark room and they'll find you.

Besides throwing your plants outside (that's what I did), what's the best way to get rid of them?  According to the article in Dengarden, you need to dry out your top soil, remove dead leaves, add steel wool on top of the top soil.  Any gnat that hatches will be massacred when it tries to fly through the steel wool.   You can remove the top soil and start over with your plant too.  If all else fails, you can use a jar of apple cider vinegar or beer.  Poke holes in the container and the gnats will enter, take a drink and drown.

Anybody creeped out yet?  I know I am just thinking about them.  Oh well, better than Bed Bugs!