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Bug bomb the house--go to Home Depot and get a de-fogger. Cover everything, and leave the house for a few hours, then come back and air it out.

Put out a gnat trap?

don't forget to buy a bag of purina Gnat Chow to put in the traps...

Had the same problem, so I googled it. Remedy that works for us is a jar with real tiny holes punched into the lid. Fill the jar with Apple Vinegar. They're attracted to the scent, will climb in, but can't get out. Problem cleared up within 2 days. Did not want to bug bomb and poison the kitchen.

Thanks Ribster. I'll try that. With Iz and pav's traps and gnat chow standing by.

Their isn't though. I mentioned the epidemic, right?

Hair spray. Take a can of something you never liked out of the bathroom and run down there and spray them. Their wings stick together and they fall over. Next day clean them up. If any remain spray again.

Thank YOU Jerzee!

i find they come in in the onions. I always thought they were fruit flies instead of gnats. To gedt rid of them, take a small glass, put in 1/2 inch apple cider vinegar and 2 drops of dish washing liquid. and mix well. The flies will be drawn to the glass and gone forever.

-Fill a tall glass with 1/2" of cider vinegar
-Place paper cone in a tall glass
-Tape around edge of glass
-This acts like a lobster trap. They go in and can't figure out how to leave.

@ Iz - LOL.

Not really.

LOL izatryt! I would gnat waste wine!

I was going to suggest that you try taking a shower, but skip the strawberry, mango, garlic scented shampoo and body wash.

I like the apple cider vinegar soap cone trick. I wonder if I'll remember it next summer. I usually have that problem if I keep tomatoes on the counter too long. I don't recall ever being plagued in the winter.

I once had an infestation of flies -- the source turned out to be an open box of grains. Cleaning the cabinets didn't help -- they were breeding inside the box. Once the food source was gone, the flies were gone within a day or two.

After that, I stored all grains and nuts in plastic bags inside their boxes after they were opened so they could be sealed air (and bug) tight.

If they are gnats, maybe they rode in on a houseplant, fresh cut flowers or the holiday pointsettias that many people buy (which might explain the seeming plague amongst yourself and your friends).

Has your area had a lot of rain lately? Gnats can be like mosquitoes sometimes in that they tend to congregate near standing/stagnant water.

As someone else alluded to, they might be attracted to any fruit-scented bath and body products. The same holds true for scented candles.

The vinegar soap thing works. If they keep coming back, empty the jar/glass and start over the next day. And if they still keep coming back, it means they have something to come back to i.e. whatever "feed" or scent that attracted them in the first place. Other than that, call a nearby agricultural extension or its equivalent and ask them why there seems to be a gnat influx. Ask them how to prevent them. They can probably offer advice on chemical-free alternatives. Googling 'gnat prevention' works, too.

Castration..... you're gonna need a sharp knife and good aim for this one, but once it is done... they will have a hard time multiplying.

If you have houseplants, or holiday plants, as someone suggested, they could well be fungus gnats. They eat fungus/mold that grows on top of constantly moist potting soil. The soil used in poinsettias and other "gift" plants often has extra moisture-holding material to help them last during transport, etc.
Scrape the top layer of soil off the pots, let the plants get pretty dry before watering again, do not let water stand in saucers, and scrub the sides of pots if you see algae/fungus. Put out the apple vinegar in a jar nearby, they should be gone soon.

No plants.
No food.
No produce or rotting produce.
No open grains or flour.
Bleached the kitchen from top to bottom.
There is no place left for food to hide!
The compost is outside. There is not so much as a shred of potato peel that stays on the counter longer than 5 mins.
We cover our wine glasses as we drink and my husband sets a small glass on the counter to lure them away. They only want what we're drinking.
You heard of the locusts, right?
I really believe that some weird thing occurred and there is an overabundance of them in this region for some reason.
I found this little tennis racket thing that's an electric bug zapper a couple of years ago for $.99 in a clearance cart at the grocery store. It is now my husband's favorite toy. He spends his evenings walking around zapping gnats.
Pavlov's suggestion seems to be my only remaining option.

We've had some nice weather lately. Have you opened windows? Gnats can get through many screens. I didn't know about fungus gnats. When working outdoors, I have been swarmed with what I call sweat gnats. I coat a terry headband with Avon's Skin-So-Soft or a product with deet and that helps repel them, at least. My skin crawls just thinking about an infestation. Sure is strange. They make foggers for gnats, but if you don't know the source, they'd probably come back. Let us know if you get any info.

Here's a link I found pertaining to gnats, flies, etc.

http://lancaster.unl.edu/pest/flies.shtml

The article mentions drain flies but I don't know if they resemble gnats or not. Suggested remedy for that one: pour boiling water down the drain to eliminate anything they might be feasting on. The 'Cluster Flies and Drain Flies' article at the top of the article list mentions a pest that likes to hang out in homes in the winter. The good news: they don't breed inside the home unlike other varieties of gnats, etc. There is also a 'Winter Flies' article on the list of suggested reading.

I mention flies because some types of flies are so small that they resemble gnats.

You might check your potato bin. I bought a bag of potatoes once and spent a few days combatting gnat-like creatures that had piggybacked on the potatoes.

Hence, you will need a gnat trap. To catch the little buggers, so you can take them in for identification.

Last summer, there was a short period of time when it seemed like everyone had flies in abundance. I'm used to the idea that in summer there will be a fly or two that sneaks in, but this was crazy. And then I found out that other people had them worse than I did. And then people were talking about all the flies in their offices, where there was no food or anything else that flies would normally want.

It was just a bad year for flies. They were just everywhere, whether there was a good reason to be there or not.

We put up some of those curly sticky nasty flypaper things, and it kept the fly population in check, and it also collected other errant flying creatures, including fruit flies or some other small gnat-like critters that decided to come to the party. No idea what the little ones were -- at the time it was the big flies that were the menace. But the little ones did want to drown themselves in wine, if I was drinking any, and they were attracted to the vinegar I was brewing at the time.

The flypaper got rid of the majority of them within a short period of time.

What I'd suggest is getting the flypaper and hanging it above or near your vinegar trap. That way, you've got twice the chance to snag them.

hahahahahahahaha what funny posts you guys have...

I know you're going to kill me for repeating it, and ignore if you want to (I only mean well) but I did bug bomb my house (and once in an apartment I lived in) and it did seem to work. I didn't call an exterminator, just used an over-the-counter thing from Home Depot. And this was a few years ago, and I haven't grown any extra fingers or toes yet.

Anyway, just to add as well--don't feel bad---I keep everything (flour, sugar, all fruit) in my refrigerator so it's nothing to do with your 'habits.'

@izatryt ~ and that's why we love you so much! Once they're drunk, it should be much easier to castrate them.

i've heard of rocky mountain oysters, but what would you call these?

My eyes skipped down from the Osso Buco thread and I read "What to serve with Gnats?"

I thought it was some new yuppie food craze...