Hello. My name is K. We are having a problem with gnats in our apartment. I do not know where they came from. We cleaned from top to bottom and cannot seem to identify the problem. They are around mostly the sink, trash can, the kitchen in general, but even in the dining room, living room, bathroom, etc. We cannot figure out what to do with them. It is a small apartment. What would be best to use??
Also, I have a 6 year old son, 2 kittens, and I am 2 months pregnant. Is it safe to use a defogger? Thank you.
Gnats can be found in most any home or apartment at some point during any one year. Most die off and disappear without the residents even noticing. Some will find a good nest site and from there, figure out how to thrive. The key to getting rid of gnats is to either identify where they are nesting and treat it good with a cleaner and residual. The other option is to treat the air in which the gnats are active so you effectively eliminate every “live cycle” that hatches. If you do this over a 1-2 week period, you should be able to interrupt their breeding enough so they will effectively “use up” all their eggs and disappear. Without new adults to lay eggs, you can effectively eliminate gnats without having to know where they are nesting.
First, try to locate their nest. Common areas include sinks – especially those with incinerators – and compost or recycling bins. Even if you line garbage cans or containers, many times gnats will learn to live under the lining or up under the edging of the top. Anything moist can be a nest site including under a sink, stove, or refrigerator. House plants are common nest sites as well as herb gardens, litter boxes and exposed fruits or vegetables.
Next, decide what course of action is best suited for your problem. Since the areas I’ve mentioned are usually small in size, aerosol options are generally all it takes to resolve most any gnat infestation. If you think they are coming from somewhere like under a sink, in a cupboard, a residual aerosol like the PT-PI is an excellent choice. It’s odorless and lasts a long time. Plus it doesn’t leave anything noticeable on treated surfaces when used properly. It goes on dry so you’re able to treat even sensitive areas without worry about discoloration or staining.
If you are unsure where the gnats are coming from and want to use the “shotgun” approach of just treating the air daily for a week or two, get the PT-565. This is safe to use as often as you wish and only a 1-2 second blast should treat the air space well enough to kill any that are active. Treating 2-3 times a day would be good enough to break their cycle. If preferred, installing an AEROSOL MACHINE with some KONK AEROSOL will do the same thing but the advantage of the machine is that you can program it to go off when no one is around. Once set, it will run 24 hours a day on a timer so it’s very convenient.
The one thing I would not recommend doing is to use any type of fogger. These spew chemical all over the place and are gone pretty quickly so in a few days, the gnats will just return. Given the details of all who reside in the apartment, you might want to consider one of our organic choices. These too should be used daily and like the 565, would solve the problem over time. If you suspect the gnats are linked to any plants you keep, the INDOOR HOUSEPLANT SPRAY aerosol is a good option. For just open air treatments, the FLYING INSECT KILLER is a good one to employ. These would be the safest option that would work and given all the factors and variables, what I’d recommend over all else.
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