Yesterday so a bunch of these small flies on the window frame and wiped them away. It looked fine afterwards, but now it seems like they doubled.

What are these and how to get rid of them.

For reference, there are no plants in the room, and these little things appear to love the old wooden window frame

Any help appreciated, thanks!

by teamanmadeoftea

11 comments

  2. Maybe try to build a (in Germany we call it this) fruchtfliegenfallen (fly trap) I would google it

  3. You need to find the place where they are laying their eggs – probably a forgotten piece of fruit under a kitchen counter or a bin you didn’t empty for a while. Then the numbers will be more manageable. Tip: vacuum cleaner. They jump downwards so if they are on the ceiling you just approach slowly from below and they jump into the hose.

  4. Looks like this: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sciaridae

    They lay their eggs in soil, so check all your plants you have in your apartment. If you blow into the plants pots, they will start flying around. Best way to get rid of them is this: https://shop.oere-bio-protect.de/products/nemabest-sf-nematoden-3-mio-gegen-trauermucken?srsltid=AfmBOopzMqRu4-8awcvg3_j2Tm_BH9dbcgYesVV3srY78KoDxUCe682m

    Edit: I just read that you don’t have plants. Then check the surroundings, if there is any soil that could be the breeding ground for them

  5. Don’t leave any food, fruits, drinks etc. out for them to feast on. They reproduce extremely fast and will become a plague.

    To fight them, just buy the traps from the supermarkets as they seem to work better than the home made solution.

    Mayb buy something to spray most of them and then kill the rest with the traps.

    Good luck

  6. They do look like ‘Trauermücken”. Normally, they like in the soil of plants living off their roots. You say there are no plants, though. I have also seen them living in a toilet tank and somewhere around the kitchen sink. They seem to be always looking for water. Maybe the window frame offers a bit of moisture from outside? But no idea where they could be nesting in your place without any plants.

  7. Those aren’t Fruchtfliegen, those are Trauermücken. They lay eggs in soil (of plants). You’ll need nematodes to remove them from the soil.

  9. UPDATE:

    Thank you all guys! I think they were fungus gnats, as I did have an unopened (!) bag of planting soil in the room, and that seems to be where they were crawling out of. Thanks for the help, lesson learned!

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