5 Easy-to-Follow Ways To Get Rid of Gnats Outside

When the weather is warm there’s nothing better than spending time outside in the fresh air. Whether you’re gardening, having a picnic, or enjoying some other outdoor activity, there’s nothing more annoying than a pesky gnat buzzing around you or landing on your food. Therefore, you probably want to know how to get rid of them quickly and easily. Read on to discover some easy to follow ways to get rid of gnats outside.

How To Get Rid of Gnats Outside

Gnats are not a single species and the name is simply a term for small, flying insects which can be any of a large number of species from the Nematocera suborder. However, gnats typically have slender bodies with thin wings and long antennae. They often resemble small flies, although some can be so small that they are barely visible.

Gnats can be either biting or non-biting species, with many species being regarded as pests. Aside from the annoyance of the pesky biting species, even the larvae of non-biting gnats can cause damage to plants and crops when in large numbers.

There are several easy ways to get rid of gnats outside so let’s take a closer look at them below.

1. Remove the Things That Attract Them

One of the most important things that you can do to try eliminate the gnats outside your home is to remove the things that attract them the most. Prevention is better than a cure, as the saying goes, and by removing the reason that they are hanging around your property you can eliminate the problem before it starts.

Gnats visit your home and the area around it because of the things that attract them. These can include food (fresh and decaying), stagnant water, compost heaps, and pet feces. Gnats are attracted to all of these as they are a prime source of food for them. Therefore, you can make a few small changes to make your yard less gnat-friendly.

• Don’t leave trash lying around and move it as far away from your home as possible.
• Tidy drains and eliminate any sources of stagnant water.
• Clean up pet feces.
• Move compost heaps further away from your house. Also, try to use a compost bin rather than an exposed heap as it will keep the compost enclosed and reduce the number of flies around it.

2. Make Your Own Fly Repellent

Gnats hate strong scents such as citronella so another way to eliminate them from the area outside your home is to make your own fly repellent. You can easily use a dilute mixture of essential oils to ward off these tiny yet annoying insects. However, you can also make your own fly repellent spray using white vinegar, dish soap, and water. Simply mix one part water and one part vinegar in a spray bottle with a little dish soap and use it in the areas where the gnats are hanging out.

3. Use Flying Insect Spray

If your strong-smelling fly repellent isn’t working well enough then it might be time to step it up a notch and use insect spray which is designed to instantly kill flying insects such as gnats. These sprays contain chemicals so you should always take care not to use them around children or pets. However, they are an ideal solution if you have a congregation of gnats in one place, such as around your trash. Just aim it at the flies and it will get to work as soon as it comes into contact with them.

4. Use Light-Based Fly Traps

Light-based fly traps are also known as bug zappers. Most species of flies are attracted to bright lights so these traps use light to draw the flies to them and once they touch the trap they are instantly killed with a zap of electricity. Light-based fly traps work best during the night so that the gnats can see the light, but they are an effective method of reducing the number of flying insects. They are particularly useful if you enjoy sitting outside in the evening as the gnats will be drawn to the trap, rather than annoying you!

5. Use Citronella Candles

Another effective method to remove the annoyance of gnats from your yard is to light citronella candles. As we’ve already mentioned, gnats dislike strong scents such as citronella, and burning one of these candles is a good way to drive them away. It is likely that they may still return once the smell has dissipated, particularly if the things that attract them are still there, so they’re best used in conjunction with the other methods we’ve discussed. However, citronella candles are a great way to make the area smell nice and be gnat-free for a while.

The photo featured at the top of this post is © Henrik Larsson/Shutterstock.com