We have a lot of plants in our house, and unfortunately, that has come with a problem: fungus gnats. For a long time, we thought they were fruit flies, but eventually over time, we realized they were coming from the soil of our house plants. Once we realized this, it led us to a new question: how the heck were we going to get rid of fungus gnats in our house?

What Are Fungus Gnats?

Fungus gnats are gnats that live and breed primarily in soil of houseplants. They can be easily confused with fruit flies and drain flies; however, drain flies are a bit bigger and have larger wings. Once you’ve had both in your house (which I have!), you’ll be able to tell the difference between the two. Fruit flies are generally more attracted to fruits and vegetables that are out on a counter or in a pantry.

Unfortunately, fungus gnats became a problem in my house when I bought some plants from Lowe’s and Home Depot. It wasn’t until I brought them home for a couple weeks that I realized there was a fungus gnat infestation in them and it took a long time to figure out how exactly to get rid of the fungus gnat infestation.

Finally, after using the solutions that I will talk about, we are finally fungus gnat free!

How to Get Rid of Fungus Gnats

Here’s the most important part in my opinion: you need to do MULTIPLE of these items at once. Because just doing sticky traps is ultimately not going to eliminate the source of the fungus gnat prblem. When we would try just one of these things, it would put a dent in the problem but not totally eliminate it. It wasn’t until we added all of these things together that we finally were able to get rid of fungus gnats in our house! So if you really want to get rid of fungus gnats, try the first 4 solutions below that start at the source, try one or two that trap adult gnats, and then do a deep clean of some spots that they might be hiding (other than plants).

How To Get Rid of Fungus Gnats: Start at the Source

Replant Plants still in Nursery Pot

One way that helped with my plants that were infested with fungus gnats was to replant plants into a new pot, especially ones that were still in their nursery pot.

Having clean soil that is not riddled with gnat eggs not only helped with the health of my plants, but immediately cut down on the gnat population.

Make sure that you really get the old soil off the plant roots and plant into a new pot that has good drainage. I have a lot of decorative pots, but a simple terracotta pot really works the best I think for drainage.

Hydrogen Peroxide

The next step in getting rid of fungus gnats at the source is to kill the eggs in the soil and kill some of the fungus in the soil that the gnats feed off of. I have done this by adding hydrogen peroxide to my watering can when I water my houseplants. You don’t need a ton, maybe a couple tablespoons for every 4 cups of water is generally what I do. I have not found that this amount has harmed my plants in any way. I will add hydrogen peroxide to the watering can for every one of my plants that need to be watered– regardless of whether or not that specific plant is causing the fungus gnat problem. I water them with diluted hydrogen peroxide consistently until I got rid of the fungus gnats!

When I water my plants with diluted hydrogen peroxide, I can immediately hear the bubbling! Hydrogen peroxide bubbles when it interacts with catalase which breaks down hydrogen peroxide into oxygen and water (probably why it hasn’t harmed my plants). Catalase is found in most living things including fungus, gnats, gnat eggs, plants, and organic matter and acts as a sporicide.

Don’t Over-water Your Plants

When I first started collecting houseplants, it felt easy to keep track of what needed to be watered. But now that I have almost 30 plants in my house, it is hard to remember what needs to be watered and when. And if you are watering too often, you are creating a perfect environment for fungus gnats to thrive. Fungus gnats love wet environments, so you really only should plant to water your plants when they actually need it. I use the Planta app to keep track of my plants’ watering schedules. Not only has it helped the health of my plants, but it also helped ensure that I wasn’t watering too often!

Mosquito Bits and Mosquito Dunks

For some reason mosquito bits are out of stock everywhere in store and online, but mosquito dunks are not. They are the same thing except mosquito bits are granular and release immediately and the dunks are supposed to go in standing water and release a bit more slowly while they dissolve. You can get the dunks and put them in a big bucket of water and let it dissolve over about a day. Then use that water to water your house plants to kill the fungus gnat larvae. Mosquito bits and mosquito dunks contain a bacteria that is toxic to the fungus gnats, but will not harm your plants.

How to Get Rid of Fungus Gnats: Traps

Like I said earlier, I think starting at the source (the soil of your plants) is one of the most important parts of getting rid of fungus gnats. Trapping adult fungus gnats alone is never going to eliminate the problem. BUT! It does cut down the population which reduces the amount that are laying eggs in the soil. Therefore, I think doing 1-2 types of fungus gnat traps along with addressing the source of the fungus gnats is going to get rid of the fungus gnat problem all together.

Zevo Traps

I got my parents hooked on these Zevo traps and it helped with houseflies, fungus gnats, and fruit flies in their house. Because not only do they capture gnats in the house, but also house flies! The fungus gnats are attracted to the blue light and then will fly onto the sticky trap.

Sticky Traps in Plant

These sticky traps are great because they go right in the soil of your plants and gnats that are flying around the surface of the soil will likely find their way onto the trap.

Katchy Gnat Trap

This the first trap we got and I really like it, but it is pricier than the Zevo traps. This one has a light to attract the gnats (and other insects like house flies) and has a fan to suck them into the sticky trap inside.

Vinegar and Soap Trap

Now this one is really more for fruit flies, but if you are questioning whether you have a fruit fly or a fungus gnat problem, I don’t think it hurts to try this one! This one is kind of annoying to do, because there will be random cups of liquid sitting out on your counter collecting gnats and fruit flies, but I would occasionally do this one before we would go out of town. All you do is grab a glass and fill it with some water. Add a splash of apple cider vinegar, a spoonful of sugar, and a squirt of dish soap and gently stir. Then just leave it out near where you notice a lot of gnats. The gnats will be attracted to the smell of the vinegar and sugar and will go to the liquid, but will be trapped because of the dish soap in the liquid.

Deep Cleaning

I know, this is probably more for drain flies and maybe fruit flies, but I swear that the gnats in our house were randomly attracted to a trashcan in our house and once we cleaned out the trashcan, it eliminated the last of the fungus gnats in our house. It’s worth a shot, and a deep clean of the house could never hurt!

Bleach Down the Drains

This one you do want to be careful of– especially if you have a septic system like me. I wouldn’t pour a lot of just plain bleach down the drains, but use a foaming bleach cleaner to spray a bit on the inside of sink drains, shower drains, and bathtub drains. Just to eliminate any fungus or populations of gnats that may be hiding out there.

Clean Out Your Trashcans

I don’t just mean empty your trash (although doing that regularly may help). We had a trashcan in our bathroom that was a random source of gnats that we didn’t realize. There must have been something stuck to the inside of the lid that they kept coming back to, because once we used some soap and bleach and hosed down the entire thing, the gnats disappeared!

Check Your Produce

I know, I know, this one is really more of a fruit fly attractant, but it cannot hurt! If you keep bananas, apples, oranges, etc. out on your counter, try storing them in the fridge for a week or two until you get the gnat problem under control!

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