I am not a pest control expert or a professional landscaper or gardener, but my story demonstrates that a group of people who think through an issue can solve a problem whether they have been professionally trained to deal with such matters or not. I have lived in different South Florida towns while growing up and through many years of marriage, but until we moved to our present home we have never experienced the presence of so many insects, particularly gnats. This is our third home in this town and the previous two had no issues with insects. Our present location, however, is making up for lost time, until very recently.
We had almost reached the point of considering moving to a different location when we decided over a few weeks to adopt three changes to dissuade us from a relocation decision.
First, it seemed logical that if bushes or hedges grew right outside the front windows they would provide a great hiding place for insects of all types and it would also provide them with water from sprinklers, both good reasons for adopting new living quarters. Of course, they were also close to doors to the inside of the house and often took advantage of that opportunity. Out came the bushes.
The problem still existed. When a friend heard of our continuing lament, he noticed the two Date Palms at our home’s entrance, looked up inside the fronds and saw that “fruit” was being nurtured tucked away in an area almost invisible to someone on the ground. He also noticed that these “female trees” disposed of their fruit when it was ripe by simply letting it drop to the ground. While reclining on the ground, the fruit found friends in birds, snakes and every form of insect imaginable. And they dined only a few feet from the front doors. Out came the fruit in the trees and on the ground. While experiencing these tiny creatures, my wife found and purchased on the Internet small “Apples,” which were transparent containers shaped like apples into which we poured water with sugar to attract the bugs. It worked perfectly, but while killing the bad guys the Apples were also attracting them with their sugar to the front door area where, very unexpectedly, the bugs, and especially gnats, gained entrance to the house. The Apples were instantly relocated to an area many feet from the front of the house.
Mission accomplished! We now have few to no gnats and have gained some measure of knowledge of how to treat them should they show their faces, or beaks, again in the future.
The lesson to be learned? Never give up! Always TRY!
