The best methods for getting rid of midges in an apartment, kitchen and home

Those who want to grow bulbous plants or enjoy onions in the garden and at home should learn how to get rid of onion flies. Winged pests are annoying - they can drive even a Buddhist hermit to the brink of death; carry diseases and in a matter of time destroy plantings and hopes for a harvest in the garden.

Onion fly - a malicious crop pest

Rules for storing onions

The best place to store onions is a cool, dry cellar.
Before harvesting there for a long time, you need to take dense bulbs and dry them well. The storage capacity can be different, the main condition is breathability. You can store turnips in small boxes, wicker baskets, linen bags, nets. Important!

You should not choose plastic bags and sacks for storage. Air does not penetrate into them, the crop will rot.

To please yourself and your loved ones with delicious and healthy dishes with onions, you need to follow the following rules:

store vegetables separately from other crops;
store each type of onion separately;
store bulbs of the same size in one container;
the maximum layer height should not exceed 40 cm;
Once every 2-3 weeks, the onions need to be turned up, removing fruits damaged by rot;
The temperature in the cellar should be around zero, air humidity – 65-75%.

If these conditions are met, the crop can be stored for up to six months. You need to make sure that roots and green arrows do not sprout.

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How to properly store onions so that they don’t get flies

Anyone who does not know the smell of spoiling onions has not stored them in sufficient quantities for the winter. When we buy onions in a supermarket or bazaar, we put them in a plastic bag, place them on the floor near the radiator and... store them safely there.

There is no need to do this - the heat and humidity of the closed bag will create a good microclimate for the decomposition of the product.

Important! No matter how the onions are stored during the winter, they need to be inspected and sorted periodically, at least once a month. At the same time, soft or dried specimens are thrown away, and fallen husks are removed from the boxes.

It has been noticed that red onion varieties are more susceptible to rotting. This is explained by the fact that red onions are almost always early ripening and are not intended for long-term storage, and they are also almost always sweeter than usual. Maybe that’s why flies appear most often in such a bow.

Midges in the kitchen: how to deal with numerous and elusive enemies?

Small midges in the kitchen are a very unpleasant phenomenon. A swarm of flying insects scares children and spoils the mood of adults; midges fly into the mouth and nose and can be accidentally swallowed.

The kitchen involuntarily creates the greatest conditions for the reproduction of midges:

leftover food and crumbs on the table, unopened compotes and juices, fruits and vegetables that are stored open;
dirty sink, dishes, trash can;
wet rags and napkins.

Eliminating all of the above conditions will help get rid of midges, but all of them. To completely get rid of insects, more radical measures should be taken.

A few secrets for getting rid of midges in the kitchen

One safe and effective way is to use homemade traps made from scrap materials.

There are several options for traps:

From a plastic glass. Place a piece of overripe or rotten fruit, a little juice or compote at the bottom of the glass. This is a bait for midges. On top you need to wrap the glass with cling film, in which several holes are made where insects can penetrate. The holes should not be too large, otherwise there will be no effect. They leave the glass in the kitchen overnight, and in the morning you will be surprised how many midges have gathered there: attracted by the smell of the fruit, they entered the glass and were unable to get out.
From a glass jar. This is how you need to put bait at the bottom of the jar. Next, place a funnel made of paper inside the jar so that the wide part of the funnel matches the diameter of the jar, and the narrow part does not rest against its bottom. The midges will get inside through the funnel, but will not be able to fly back out.
From adhesive tape. The traditional method for catching flies and midges, which are attracted by the specific smell of the tape, sitting on it, the midges stick.
From a solution with dishwashing detergent. You need to pour wine, apple cider vinegar, juice or compote into some container, which can attract midges. Then add a few drops of dishwashing liquid. The midges will flock to the liquid, and due to the dishwashing detergent, which reduces the surface tension of the water, they will drown in the bait.
From sheets of paper moistened with a special solution. This method is effective, but a little inconvenient, since you have to hang paper sheets around the apartment soaked in a solution made according to the following recipe: stir 1.5 tablespoons of sugar and 3 tablespoons of black pepper in 250 ml of milk. Such “pepper-sweet” leaves attract midges, which die.
From a mixture of water, milk and formaldehyde. A solution made from 1 tablespoon of formaldehyde, 3 tablespoons of milk and 5 tablespoons of sweet water must be poured into a plate. This mixture strongly attracts midges, which immediately die after contact with it.

Mechanical methods of getting rid of midges

If you are so tired of midges in the kitchen that you want to get rid of most of them immediately, then you should use the following methods:

Through ventilation. With the flow of air, the vast majority of uninvited guests will be expelled “over the threshold.”
Vacuum. You need to go over all surfaces on which midges sit with a vacuum cleaner, and all the midges will end up in the container. The main thing is not to forget to clean the container so that it does not become an additional source of their reproduction.
Incense and aromatic oils. The most “unloved” by midges, and therefore the most effective, are the aromas of verbena, patchouli, ylang-ylang, and cloves. They will destroy the midges.
Camphor has long been used to kill midges. For a “killer” effect, the medicine must be crushed and placed in a preheated frying pan. Camphor vapor will spread the smell throughout the apartment, which will be destructive for midges
To reduce the risk of midges coming in from the street, mosquito nets should be installed on the balcony and windows.

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, in the morning quickly put the glass in a tight bag 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.

Traditional recipes for onion flies

To get rid of this pest, you can use chemicals that are sold in specialized stores. Effective pre-sowing treatment of onion sets against onion fly consists of using “Aktara”, “Sochva” and “Alatar”.

There are also folk remedies that are not only environmentally friendly, but also no less effective.

Fighting onion fly in the garden with wood ash

This method was also used by our ancestors. To get rid of flies, it is enough to systematically cover the soil with ash, which remains when wood twigs and weeds are burned. For better results, it is recommended to water the soil before the procedure.

Treat the soil with ash once every two weeks throughout the summer. This time will be enough to prevent the onion fly from spoiling the harvest.

Use of tobacco dust

The onion fly cannot tolerate the smell of tobacco. To prepare the product, you need to combine tobacco dust (200 g), water (10 l), and liquid laundry soap (30 g). All components must be combined and mixed well. Infuse the mixture for a week. Only after this can you start spraying the onions.

Dandelions from onion fly

This product repels not only adult insects, but also destroys larvae. To prepare the product, use the root part of the plant. Only it contains a large number of substances that the onion fly does not like.

To make the mixture, you need to combine 200 g of dry roots and 10 liters of clean water (room temperature). The resulting liquid is infused for a week.

After the allotted time has passed, they begin watering. Irrigate the crop daily until the onion is fully ripened.

Why do midges appear in an apartment?

To get rid of midges in the house, it is important to determine where they come from and their main concentration areas:

Black, green, and brown midges appear in indoor plants. The reason may be frequent and abundant watering of the earthen clod. The most dangerous are the larvae, which can destroy plants.
Small flies settle on fruits, berries or vegetables that have been lying around for a long time and begin to deteriorate. These insects are called fruit flies, fruit or vegetable midges, fruit flies; During the breeding process, they attack sweets and drinks.
Stale garbage can become a source of uninvited guests. For example, a rolled berry, an old kitchen cloth that fell behind a bucket, or food for small rodents and birds scattered on the floor.
If the deposits on the pipes are not cleaned in a timely manner, sewer midges appear in the toilet. They come out of kitchen or bathroom sink drains.
Midges can also appear from the apartment of unscrupulous neighbors (typical of multi-storey buildings).

Drosophila love to perch on vegetables and fruits

Causes of midges

Before you find out how to get rid of fruit flies, you need to figure out why they got into your apartment. The midge won't start on its own. There are reasons for everything, and there may be several of them.

IMPORTANT! A fly that emerges from a larva is capable of fertilization within 8 hours. She turns into an adult on the 8th - 10th day, and in 2 months of her life, the female will lay from 200 to 2000 eggs, from which at the optimal air temperature (room temperature) the larvae will hatch and the process will be repeated again

This can turn your home into an infestation of flies.

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.

Harm caused

Larvae mainly cause damage to plants. More than 50 individuals can inhabit one bulb at the same time. They damage not only onions and garlic, but also the bulbs of tulips, daffodils and other plants. They eat away the juicy core, after which the flower leaves turn yellow and fall off, and the tips on the onion feathers dry out, and an unpleasant smell of rotten plants is felt throughout the garden bed. The damaged areas are open to various fungal and bacterial infections. As a result of poor nutrition, the entire crop dies.

The larvae are a threat to all ornamental and vegetable bulbous plants

The insect causes the greatest damage to plants grown on sandy and loamy soils, and less damage to peat bogs. You should try to get rid of emerging insects immediately when the first generation of pests appears - in June, this will significantly increase the chance of preserving the harvest.

Methods for controlling onion fly

Treatment with insecticides will help effectively deal with flies and larvae. But the poisons accumulate in the bulbs, and the crop becomes hazardous to health and unsuitable for food.

An alternative to insecticides are folk measures to combat onion fly. They are safe for humans, but successfully help get rid of pests.

By combining traditional methods of pest control and preventive measures to protect against onion flies, pests can be destroyed.

Agrotechnical measures

The fight against the pest must begin in the fall; this is the only way to kill it completely. After harvesting, be sure to collect and immediately destroy plant debris.

Decide where onions and garlic will be planted in the spring, while maintaining crop rotation. Bulb crops can be planted in the same place after 3-4 years. Plant tomatoes, cabbage, and cucumbers as predecessors.

Having decided on the planting site, the bed must be dug up in the fall to a depth of 20–25 cm. As a result of digging, the larvae that have taken refuge at a depth of up to 20 cm will end up on the surface or in the upper layers of the soil and will die from frost. You can also get rid of wintering insects by removing snow from the beds in winter where you plan to plant onion crops.

Use biological control methods. The insect cannot tolerate the smells of some plants. Plant carrots and onions in one bed, alternating rows. These two crops mutually beneficially protect each other: carrots from onion flies, and onions from carrot flies.

Plant tomatoes next to the beds of bulbous crops. Their smell also repels insects. It is not recommended to plant onions and garlic next to tulips and lettuce.

How to prevent bulb flies from appearing

Pay attention to the preparation of planting material. Select and destroy bulbs with signs of rotting

Treat onion sets before planting in one of the following ways:

Immerse the selected bulbs in water at a temperature of 50 °C for 10–12 minutes;
dilute 1 tsp. manganese in a bucket of water and soak the planting material for half an hour in the resulting solution;
Soak the onions for 3 hours in a saline solution (1 tablespoon of regular table salt per 1 liter of water). After this, rinse the bulbs with clean water and soak for another 2 hours in a solution of potassium permanganate;
try to plant as early as possible so that the plants have time to grow and become stronger before the fly flies;
Regular loosening of the soil and clearing of weeds will reduce the likelihood of plantings being infected by pests, since the onion fly does not like loose soil;
During the period of mass laying of eggs by flies, water the plantings if absolutely necessary. Try to keep the soil surface dry;
immediately remove damaged plants from the garden bed and destroy them;
mulch the rows with rotted manure or peat;
When caring for plants, try not to damage them and do not pick feathers for salad, as the pungent onion aroma will attract onion flies.

Features of the insect life cycle

The onion fly (Delia antiqua) belongs to the genus Diptera, the family of flower flies, and is found everywhere in Russia. Outwardly, it is similar to an ordinary housefly, but has a smaller body (up to 7 mm long), ash-gray in color with a greenish tint. The lifespan of adults is 1-2.5 months.

Larvae of the first generation cause damage in June, and of the second - at the end of July

In mid-May, during the flowering period of cherries and dandelions, flies begin to emerge . Soon, the females, between onion leaves or under lumps of soil, lay oblong eggs, up to 1.1 mm long, in groups of 5-12 pieces. After 3-8 days, larvae emerge from the eggs, looking like white cylinders no more than 10 mm long, and after 3 weeks they pupate in the soil. After a few days, the adult (imago) emerges. During the summer months, the number of pests increases significantly.

How to get rid of small flies at home? First, let's determine why this needs to be done.

Insects in the house are a sure sign that not everything is in order with sanitation.

You will not be able to invite your loved ones and colleagues, partners and neighbors to visit, because they will notice that flies are flying around the apartment, and therefore your reputation will not be impeccable. Flies are carriers of various diseases, so while they are hovering in the house, you and your relatives are at risk of contracting a disease that could otherwise be avoided

From an aesthetic point of view, the apartment may be in perfect order, but the presence of flies spoils everything: you feel uncomfortable, feel discomfort. Home no longer seems like a place where you can control everything. Due to the breeding habits of flies, indoor plants have died or become “sick.” The fact is that they lay eggs in pots with plants, and the hatched larvae begin to devour the root system. Alas, you risk being left without greenery on the windowsill or shelves.

Carrot

Among gardeners, a very popular method of fighting flies is mixed planting of onions and carrots. In this case, the result is a mutually beneficial cooperation between these vegetables: the carrot with its aroma repels the onion fly, and the smell of the onion prevents the carrot fly from approaching the garden bed.

The onion fly is repelled by the aroma of carrots

I also tried planting these vegetables interspersed - there were really no pests. But I didn’t like this approach for another reason. A couple of weeks before harvesting the onions, you need to completely stop watering them so that the heads ripen in dry soil, and moisture-loving carrots could not withstand such a test.

So I improved the method a little. I also plant onions and carrots close to each other, but now I do not alternate them through a line, but divide the bed lengthwise and plant 3-4 long lines of each vegetable on each side. The effect is the same, but now I can safely continue to water the carrot half of the bed in July without fear of getting the onions wet.

Biological portrait

Photo of onion fly

Appearance

Like many pests, the onion fly is a small insect, not exceeding 7 mm in length. The color is gray closer to ash. Visually, the insect is very similar to an ordinary fly. Its years begin with the establishment of consistently warm weather, that is, the last ten days of April or the first days of May. Another external marker that gives the farmer a signal to be vigilant is cherry blossoms. It is at this time that the insect begins its seasonal development.

Where do house flies come from and how to get rid of them?

The small black flies that so annoy housewives are extraordinary insects. The unique ability of these malicious flying creatures to appear as if out of nowhere gives them a certain mystical aura. However, the secret of the appearance of swarms of midges in hermetically sealed apartments has nothing to do with magic. Drosophila flies, of course, do not have the phenomenal gift of seeping through walls. In fact, midges end up in tightly sealed rooms along with food brought from outside, and the larvae and eggs of fruit flies can hide not only in vegetables and fruits, but also in mushrooms, cereals and garden flowers.

Each fly individual does not live long. Appearing into the world at dawn, it dies in the evening of the same day, but if there is food supply for it in the apartment, namely a supply of spoiled vegetables and fruits, the wine fly manages to lay a huge number of eggs on them within a day. Thus, the number of midges begins to increase exponentially, however, in fairness, it should be noted that in winter fruit flies do not reproduce as actively, but if you do not fight them, even in cold weather they can fill the entire house in a few days.

In addition to rotten fruits, midges love indoor flowers, or rather, the moist soil in which they grow. In addition, the proliferation of midges that have entered the house is facilitated by stagnant water in the aquarium, dampness in plumbing areas, dirt in pet cages, leaking sewer pipes, dishes that have not been washed for several days, and garbage forgotten in the kitchen.

Therefore, if you have fruit or flower flies in your home, before you start poisoning uninvited guests, try to eliminate their “tavern” first. To do this, first of all, remove all food from the table and wash dirty dishes, then inspect the refrigerator and inspect the kitchen cabinets. If you find any rotten fruits or moldy cereals there, immediately take them to the trash bin, and at the same time take with you the garbage that was left in the bucket.

When you have finished cleaning up the kitchen, to eliminate dampness, ventilate the apartment, clean the aquarium, loosen the soil in the flowerpots and drain the water from their trays.

At the end of the cleaning, vacuum the floors throughout the house and at the same time check if there is an apple core lying around in some secluded place.

How to get rid of midges in an apartment or private house - general control methods

The first thing that can be recommended in such a “duel” is to clean up the apartment. Perhaps a banana peel fell behind the back wall of the kitchen unit, which became a wonderful breeding ground for these little insects. Perhaps the indoor flower that fruit flies love so much is not so dear to you.

Invasion of midges

If a complete “revision” did not help, then our tips on how to get rid of midges at home will come in handy. Universal means - setting up simple traps:

If watermelons and melons appear on the shelves in your region, then be sure to use this method. It requires a small, completely sealed bag and slices of the above-mentioned berries. Leave the bait overnight, and in the morning, quickly close the bag and take it to the trash. If after this the midges appear again, then with a greater degree of probability they are the offspring of a swarm of midges that has already been eliminated. We take a plastic bottle with a narrow neck and pour some fruit juice into it (not soda, but a regular natural or juice-containing drink). Add 1 teaspoon of liquid soap and plain water. Stir

Such a bait will definitely attract the attention of fussy midges, which will not be able to get out of the bottle, since such a cocktail will not have a saving surface film on the liquid. Again, if the midges have managed to lay eggs, then you can catch them in this way for more than one week. The third trap is similar in principle to the one described above.

Only the filling is different - kvass or a few rotten fruit pieces. However, be careful when choosing a container - its neck should be narrow so that midges cannot find their way back after the “dinner party”.

Homemade fly catcher

These are not all the ways that tell you how to get rid of midges at home. There are many others from which you can choose the most suitable one for yourself.

Folk remedy

The easiest way to poison midges in the house is with proven folk remedies. A growing tomato on the windowsill, boiling clove oil, camphor vapor, verbena will help - all these smells repel midges from the house. An empty soda bottle left in a room overnight will attract most flying insects around the house. You can also try using traditional methods of catching midges: using a vacuum cleaner and sticky tape.

When talking about how to get rid of small flies at home, you need to mention a simple preventive measure that will prevent the appearance of insects - pour sand in a layer of about 1 cm into pots with plants or place small pebbles on the ground. Do this - even if prevention doesn’t work, the potted plants will look interesting.

Many people make traps of various designs into which the bait is detected. There are a great many options for such traps. Let us describe the simplest and most effective method:

Now you know how to get rid of flies at home using folk remedies. Try it - and you will definitely succeed! You should use industrially produced repellents only as a last resort.

Save it so you don't lose it ;)

Signs of a pest

The onion fly or mite can cause serious damage to the crop, with the larvae of this insect being the most dangerous. They get into the inside of the bulb and eat it away from the inside, after which the plant damaged by the pest quickly withers and rots.

Most often, this parasite feeds on onions, chives, and trumpets, severely damaging seedlings, seeds, or sets. Less often it occurs on leeks, which today enjoy great success among gardeners, and garlic.

It is quite difficult to see the larvae with the naked eye, since they are most often found in the ground. However, you can determine that they have begun to destroy the plantation by the “appearance” of the garden crops:

plants grow poorly;
garlic or onion feathers turn yellow, wither or dry out;
garden crops emit a strong and unpleasant aroma;
Instead of being hard, the plant heads become soft and sluggish in one or more places, and rot appears on them.

It is also worth knowing that the onion fly damages plantings, both in open ground under the sun’s rays and in a greenhouse. In a young plant, it sucks the juice from the soft, juicy and tender leaves. If the parasite population has increased, then a large number of plants with leaves that have lost turgor, twisted into a spiral and with yellowed edges will appear in the garden.

Onions of the second year of planting, among other things, are damaged by leaves and seeds. In closed ground, this pest can also attack cucumbers, causing serious damage to the future harvest.

Insect development

There are several types of midges:

Life cycle of a fly

The onion fly damages not only onions, but also other types of onions: leeks, chives, shallots. In addition, the pest is partial to all bulbous plants, tulips, garlic, and some types of lettuce.

The fly begins to fly from the beginning of cherry blossoms; before that it is inactive. In June, flies lay eggs in the soil of onion beds or on young seedlings. After a week, the larvae appear, they penetrate into the pulp of the bulb, where they feed and destroy the plant. Afterwards, the pests crawl from one plant to another and can destroy the entire onion bed.

Damaged onions have dried and yellowed feather tips. If you pull the plant out of the ground, you can see that the body of the bulb is damaged and begins to rot.

Super product for feeding and protecting onions from flies

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.

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

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.