What a kitchen looks like after a visit from the exterminator!
no-see-ums,
now you don't!
By Bugged in Biloxi, Guest Contributor
A bit of useful information for those who think it's just ordinary dirt!
Recently, I had a visit from a furry little critter that had me scrambling for my phone and the number of the nearest pest control company. The evening the exterminator arrived, he was very thorough and asked about all my pest problems. I asserted the furry one was my biggest worry. But since the cost of the treatment was the same if he did just that or everything, I told him about the other critters who seemed to want to take up residence in my home. In addition to the ants in my bathroom and spiders in my basement I told him about the fine pepper-size dirt-looking stuff I had battled for years in the corners of my kitchen counter.
After another moment, he turned to me and said, “You are not going to believe this, but that’s not dirt. It is actually a very tiny bug called no-see-um.” He had me look at it for several moments and I actually saw one of the dots moving.
Each dot was about 1.5 mm (roughly the size of a flake of finely ground pepper). Sometimes called biting midges or punkies, they are part of the ceratopogonidae family—because I know you were dying to know the Latin name for their genus!
When I asked how we got them, he explained they were usually found near moist environments. For example, the flower bed right outside our window that was weed-cloth covered with mulch, while it controlled weeds, it kept the soil very moist. No-see-ums are semi-aquatic. They start their lives as white larvae and take about four weeks to go from egg to adult size. They can also hatch in my indoor plant soil if I over water or leave water in the drain tray.
He suggested I get aquarium rock to put on top of each plant’s soil to discourage the insect from laying eggs in it. It seems they like organic matter, so removing dead leaves and stuff was also essential in preventing the reproduction.
Later in the life cycle the flying female midge, which is a ferocious biter and is especially bad at twilight, goes in search of a blood meal to complete her life-cycle. She uses her piercing-sucking mouth parts and attacks almost any warm-blooded animal. The female is usually the one doing the biting, because it seems the male in most species feeds on plant juices. Additionally, the female will lay as many as 450 eggs at a time and have several batches of eggs over her lifetime, which allows the things to multiply rapidly, if left unchecked in favorable environments.
There are several thousand species of these things and they are distinguished by their wings.
In the kitchen they are not likely to spread disease in the same way as mice, but learning about these strange little insects was enough to make me take notice.
In searching the internet for more ways to help eliminate them, I found plenty of ideas—from electronic light zappers to homemade fly paper to DEET-based spray insecticide. But the common answer was to keep soil around your home dry and if you have houseplants, do not keep the soil overly moist if it is not absolutely necessary for the plant’s health. If you have a plant that needs constantly moist soil from top to bottom it is highly recommended you consider aquarium rock or some sort of barrier on the top of the soil, as well as removing dead leaves from the plants and pot frequently.
I had no idea there even was such a thing. I thought the term no-see-um was only a cute way of describing a bite by something I had failed to see before it flew off again. I had no idea it was a real thing or that what I thought of as some sort of dirt on the backsplash in the corner of my kitchen and in my cabinet was actually this vicious little insect that sometimes looked like a gnat flying around my home. So be warned! If you find yourself suddenly getting sharp bites that leave a red spot that drives you to distraction with itching for a week, you might want to look around to see if you need to take steps to protect yourself and your family from no-see-ums.
After another moment, he turned to me and said, “You are not going to believe this, but that’s not dirt. It is actually a very tiny bug called no-see-um.” He had me look at it for several moments and I actually saw one of the dots moving.
Each dot was about 1.5 mm (roughly the size of a flake of finely ground pepper). Sometimes called biting midges or punkies, they are part of the ceratopogonidae family—because I know you were dying to know the Latin name for their genus!
When I asked how we got them, he explained they were usually found near moist environments. For example, the flower bed right outside our window that was weed-cloth covered with mulch, while it controlled weeds, it kept the soil very moist. No-see-ums are semi-aquatic. They start their lives as white larvae and take about four weeks to go from egg to adult size. They can also hatch in my indoor plant soil if I over water or leave water in the drain tray.
He suggested I get aquarium rock to put on top of each plant’s soil to discourage the insect from laying eggs in it. It seems they like organic matter, so removing dead leaves and stuff was also essential in preventing the reproduction.
Later in the life cycle the flying female midge, which is a ferocious biter and is especially bad at twilight, goes in search of a blood meal to complete her life-cycle. She uses her piercing-sucking mouth parts and attacks almost any warm-blooded animal. The female is usually the one doing the biting, because it seems the male in most species feeds on plant juices. Additionally, the female will lay as many as 450 eggs at a time and have several batches of eggs over her lifetime, which allows the things to multiply rapidly, if left unchecked in favorable environments.
There are several thousand species of these things and they are distinguished by their wings.
In the kitchen they are not likely to spread disease in the same way as mice, but learning about these strange little insects was enough to make me take notice.
In searching the internet for more ways to help eliminate them, I found plenty of ideas—from electronic light zappers to homemade fly paper to DEET-based spray insecticide. But the common answer was to keep soil around your home dry and if you have houseplants, do not keep the soil overly moist if it is not absolutely necessary for the plant’s health. If you have a plant that needs constantly moist soil from top to bottom it is highly recommended you consider aquarium rock or some sort of barrier on the top of the soil, as well as removing dead leaves from the plants and pot frequently.
I had no idea there even was such a thing. I thought the term no-see-um was only a cute way of describing a bite by something I had failed to see before it flew off again. I had no idea it was a real thing or that what I thought of as some sort of dirt on the backsplash in the corner of my kitchen and in my cabinet was actually this vicious little insect that sometimes looked like a gnat flying around my home. So be warned! If you find yourself suddenly getting sharp bites that leave a red spot that drives you to distraction with itching for a week, you might want to look around to see if you need to take steps to protect yourself and your family from no-see-ums.