Mission Gnat Removal

A new week, a new goal:  Mission Gnat Removal, aka, Remove Those Nasty Pests Once And For All.  They’ve been bugging me for a good 4-5 months now, the last status report was on November 26.

I haven’t lost track of progress on this mission while I’ve been doing other things.  And I haven’t gotten used to them, either.  Every morning, they faithfully fly in my face reminding me of their presence.  The straw that broke this camel’s back involved a Kleenex and a finding of gnats upon a blowing.

And it wasn’t cute like this nose.

EWE…(enough said about THAT!)  I’m not quite as gifted at telling gross stories as one of my favorite gross storytellers:  Dangerspouse, his one about worms is pretty hard to top, but a girl can try!

I’m in preparation mode – looking to order as much as possible online – delivery to the front door is warmer than venturing out into the -12 below weather we’re having here in Wisconsin.  The cold is as relentless as the gnats.

What does every novice, like myself, do when they aren’t sure how to do something as important as gnat removal?  They, of course, hit blog reading or YouTube!  Or if you’re lucky, like me, you stumble upon both in one day!

YouTube is a rabbit hole of sorts.  Beware, if you permit yourself to go there, you will get lost.  It’s a lot of a back and forth kind of thing.  The rabbits in our backyard do that, too; they sure are strange invisible little creatures.

I got lost, for a considerably long time yesterday…(days like that have NOTHING to do with why I put off bookkeeping last year…really…really, okay, it probably contributed to it).

With the family, all comfy cozy in their spots, sunbathing, stretching, and not bothering me, I set off to learn some down home good shit about how-to get rid of gnats.

Ah…I do love how the pets know when it is best to leave me alone.  They seem to enjoy the peace and quiet anyhow.

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What did I discover in my rabbit hole?  My top three favorite advice videos are linked below.  (Note to self:  If I’m not careful, I can get sidetracked by AwakenwithJP – that’s a whole different rabbit hole watching him, I didn’t want to distract you by including his exciting video links…but if you ever want to spend a valuable chunk of time, he’s got some pretty hilarious videos – I haven’t seen one on gnat control yet…).

The last video link below is a dude from the Ozarks – a quirky sort, I kind of liked his style best.  And I had all the tools (mostly), so, you know, that makes it easier to move ahead on a project when you have the tools on hand.

I do plan on purchasing the item below, it was recommended I think in the second video above (I may have lost track a bit). It is my backup plan if the funnel thing doesn’t work:

Hypoaspis-miles-Stratiolaelaps-scimitus

And I definitely believe new pots are in order.  I should be watering the plants from the bottom according to the experts.  As I look at the pots the plants have been living in, there is only one that has the ability to water from the bottom.  The rest keep the soil moist from the top down and gnats love that environment.

I just have to muster up the courage to replant them in the house since it’s too cold to do so outside.  I’m scared the teeny tiny egg larvae dust in the soil will fly around in the air and spread to other spots in the house.  I’ve got enough dust to deal with; so it seems like a risky deal.  Spring isn’t THAT far away…I guess I can wait to replant.  Waiting is NOT procrastinating!

The last video above inspired me.  I had almost all of the tools in the house, so I set out to recreate.  Tizzie joined me to keep watchful eyes on the project.

As I finished up typing today’s post, I dodged a few gnats as they flew by; some were slow enough to squash in the air.  Maybe the malt vinegar is making them drunk?  According to the dude in the video, you’re supposed to use red wine vinegar, but we didn’t have any.

Here’s to hoping the gnats will go down the funnel’s rabbit hole, get stuck, and drown!

It had long since come to my attention that people of accomplishment rarely sat back and let things happen to them.  They went out and happened to things.  – Elinor Smith

I haven’t figured out how to tell if any gnats are caught or not?  It’s not like they’re large enough to make the cup weigh more as they die off in the liquid?  It’s hard for the naked eye to look into the small hole.  And if it is working, I wouldn’t want to open it to potentially let the still flying gnats back out.

Damn…now what?

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Sunday Prompt:  Cee’s Photography Odd Ball Challenge

Have you ever successfully removed gnats from your plants?  Include your blog link or the video you watched with successful tips in comments so I can research it!  If you’ve got another blog of fun sorts for me to check out, link to that instead.  Now that I got my taxes done, I’ve got a bit of spare time…!

Blog Posts I read that inspired me today for our February challenge #GFTH-GFTB:

https://angloswiss-cat-chronicles.com/2018/02/04/daily-feline-prompt-feline-creatures/

https://cristianmihai.net/2018/02/04/connect-the-dots/

https://askthinkdo.wordpress.com/2018/02/04/learning-to-let-go/

https://violableu.com/2018/02/04/priorities-and-hagrid/

Special thanks to Dawn for the pingback link to her post here:  https://dawngreenfieldireland.com/january-11-2018-interview-to-full-to-write-david-ellis/