Tiny black flies in the house

[Newmeagain]

in recent weeks I have noticed these tiny black flies in the kitchen, in my bedroom. I would not say it’s an infestation but today while working from home I killed about five. They are really tiny and I think they are fungus gnats. Not drain flies as those look a bit different.

i don’t think they are coming from house plants. I spotted some in a large cupboard where I have my washing machine. Could they be breeding in my drains and in the washing machine drain pipe?

aren’t they just fruit flies? i have them and can’t seem to get rid of them

Indorex baby

Sciarid flies - they live in the soil of houseplants. I have just sucessfully got rid of a plague of these by doing the following:

1 - Treated the soil in the pots with Nematodes that are specific to sciarid fly (you add the powder to water, water it in, nematodes hatch and eat the fly eggs)

2- determine which plant is the source of the infestatio and put a yellow sticky trap in the pot

3 - put a clear zip-lock bag over the plant pot & sticky trap so flies can't escape into the house

These three steps took less than 5 minutes to do and after about 10 days the infestation is completely gone. Success!!

If they are fungus gnats they are almost certainly breeding in one of your house plants. Mine particularly like my spider plants 🙄 i buy nematodes now from amazon and treat everything every 6-8 weeks. Mostly keeps them away although I have developed a bit of an issue with one plant so that had to go in the bin (it was half dead anyway)

I go round and shake all my plants- you'll soon find which one they are in!

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07RRBX6Q7?ref=nb_sb_ss_w_as-reorder-mobile_k1_1_3&amp=&crid=1PK6AX4FW7EM5&amp=&sprefix=nem

Fruit flies have a red/orange tint to them.

No, I don’t think they are fruit flies. Have done lots if research and fruit flies are a tiny bit bigger and less black.

Interesting. I did think it was plants but i have also found them in rooms that don’t have plants - like bathroom.

I found them in the living room, dining room and upstairs bathroom and they had all originated from a pot plant in the kitchen. They find their way around the house but they start off in the soil of a houseplant. Pour a bit of water on the soil of each plant and if the plant is the source of infestation they will come scurrying out, you'll see them moving. They are SO annoying. Often seem to want to fly right in your face.

Fruit flies. We've had them too. We had loads last week. I bought something off Amazon and they have all gone in 2 days. Super Ninja Fruit Flies trap.

Oh by the way, no plants in our house.

Yeah we have them in our upstairs bathroom. Pretty sure there drain flies.

Put a drop of washing-up liquid in the watering can. They don't like it up 'em.

So yes, the fungus gnats are black and look like mini mosquitoes (slightly pointed body) whereas fruit flies look like miniature houseflies, though usually yellow. Once you have the damn gnats, which usually breed in soil, or the eggs can be in compost, it’s hard to get rid. They also seem to hang around window frames (on the inside) for weeks. I found that putting about 3 cm of the clay pebbles on all my house plants stopped the gnats laying eggs so eventually I had no more @Newmeagain but they did seem to take a while to go and as I said, had them at various windows for a while …

Do you have any open windows when the lights are on at night? This can attract small flies to come in.

Ooh fruit flies were ruining my life and then I bought these wee vinegar trap things off Amazon and they have changed the game.

https://amzn.eu/d/09JmYUMJ

I don’t really know why they work because I have left out various traps with cider vinegar etc with no luck (the only liquid they ever seemed remotely interested in was my glass of red wine, but only red wine I was about to drink 🙄 how do they know???) but these really work.

Thanks all. I will try various strategies. I will address the plant soil as a possible source but also clean plug holes etc in case that’s the source.

We had these - they were phorid flies. Nothing worked until we physically removed the sink wastes and scrubbed them clean. Gone.