ELI5… How do gnats just… show up?

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I understand what their attracted to. Moisture/fungus etc. But I over watered my plants a couple weeks ago and BAM, gnats. They’re indoor plants so I’m just curious how they showed up/ get in the house? Do they lay dormant or something? Are they in the soil? EXPLAIN, PLEASE. Thank you in advanced.

Edit to include that I live in Canada and it’s winter and cold where I live. Obviously gnats can’t survive outdoors in this weather. Do they find a place to live somewhere in the house and lay dormant until it’s snack time? I just don’t get it. They just seemingly magically appear and I need answers!

In: Biology

4 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

A single gnat will lay somewhere between 20-100 eggs. Possibly even more.

So one gnat gets in, and about a week or two later, boom, instant swarm of gnats.

Also the eggs can lay dormant for a few weeks. So they can wait to hatch, though it’s still a few days till the larva turns into flying gnats.

Anonymous 0 Comments

Let’s say you’re starving but you smell something delicious in a particular direction. You follow the smell until it’s stronger and stronger. It’s coming from a house with an open window where you can barely fit through. If you’re hungry enough, you’ll try to squeeze through.

Gnats do the same. The inside of your house smells like possible food and/or shelter. Gnats can fit through screen windows and squeeze past small gaps in your windows and doors to get inside your house.

Anonymous 0 Comments

This doesn’t answer your question But, putting a layer of sand on your potted plant’s soil can reduce your fungus nat problem. It makes it very difficult for them to access the moist soil underneath to eat/lay their eggs. Around 0.5-1 cm should do it.

Anonymous 0 Comments

fungus gnats. their eggs lay dormant in potting soil. when you water it, thats when they hatch and turn into adults a little later. I sometimes have this problem in Canada, in winter, as well.