You either know exactly what I’m about to show you, or you have absolutely no clue.
It’s midge season. Hold on to your hats…
If ONLY I had shot this video about ten days ago!
Seriously guys, you wouldn’t believe how bad things got outside. This video shows what the midges are like at about 10% of their “worst” in September and October.
You know the summer is over when Labour Day passes, the temperature drops about 2-degrees, NFL football starts, and midges attack.
And I wasn’t being theatrical in that video either – midges have this uncanny ability to fly into your mouth!
Twice during that video I got a mouthful of midges, although once I was shaking the tree with my face right up in there, so I was asking for it.
Vu Condos is notorious for midges, and yet neighbouring buildings like King’s Court, Rezen, Mozo, and Space all seem to be midge-free.
Well, give it another week, and the midges will all be a distant memory.
But it really hammers home the “summer is over, stay off your terrace” frame of mind…
moonbeam!
at 7:24 am
David I can relate — I get them here in Scarborough — as you say, only for a short period in the fall, and in the spring too… The problem is whenever I open my door, they rush in & head for the ceiling & the light fixtures… So every day I have to vacuum them off, careful not to leave marks by squishing them. As you say, thankfully the plague is gone after a a few miserable days or weeks….
IanC
at 8:37 am
I think that they could be fungas gnats. The love wet, damp, planting soil (especially soil with lots of peat). They also can bring the attention of lots of spiders and spider webs.
We have had them. And I would imagine with all your container plants, you know they need lots of watering – you might have them do.
Tips include letting the surface drying out, watering once a week with a soapy mixture for a month or so, or try putting a layer of sand on top. I’d put fabric mulch under the sand if were to try that one.
Good luck for next season.
And if they turned out to be fungas gnats, and you were able to reduce them… you might want to share your tips with your neighbours who may also have gnats that are spreading to your terrace.
IanC
at 8:49 am
Some reader might know the distinctive latin name for your insects. I googled and some people call similar bugs “fungus midges” as well… but I never heard the term midge before.
JasonK
at 11:04 am
I don’t know who you talked to at Space, but I can vouch that the south side’s been a midge/fungus gnat (whatever) party for about a month now, with 2-3 weeks ago being the apex.
They seem to be gone now that the chill’s started to set in, but they will be back. And next time, I’ll be ready…
(…to do nothing and live with a balcony door that’s covered in midges. So, in a way, I was ready this year too..)
Darren
at 12:11 pm
Maybe it’s a British thing but I’ve only ever heard them called as a plural, midges. Ie. mid-gees.
JC
at 1:54 pm
I didn’t know thats what they were. I thought they were baby mosquitos or something like that. My building downtown has them, a friend who lives in the Distillery District has about 2 million of them suspended in spider webs outside their windows. Nice for Halloween, not so good for sales.
David P
at 3:38 pm
They’re definitely not just a VU thing. I love cycling by the water and when the lake flies blossom you don’t even want to breathe.
When I lived at the Pantages so many spiders would suddenly appear during these midge blooms that one year I took a lighter and a can of Lysol to burn all of the bugs/webs/etc away.
luci rizzo
at 3:50 pm
I just watched your video on midges and it was interesting because I noticed them also in September at my house in our yard in East York and I thought just like the a previous reader that they were like little mosquitoes and I was so afraid I was good to get bit then get West Nile disease but at any rate good to hear that they’re not mosquitoes and that they’re just little midges. When I’m selling downtown Toront Lofts and condos I will hope that these little midges will not be all over the place and will not pose a problem I guess for the condo sellers out there maybe August or October might be a better month to sell. Thanks for your post very interesting and I actually learned something.
Jake
at 1:17 pm
We have them east of downtown at The Paintbox. They’re everywhere and we’re on the 19th floor!
Simpson Cherry
at 1:23 pm
You should see our window and door sills in May. We live on Lake Simcoe and every morning we have carpets of dead ones. We can’t go in or out our doors, without several getting in the house, where they linger on the ceiling, until they die. We live in the most beautiful community, but these bugs in spring are enough to make you think about a move. The swarms in the air give off a loud hum, that is sickening and you better keep your mouth closed or you are eating them. Don’t try to brush them off you or you have a black smear. They get caught up in spider webs and make everything look gross. Thank God they will deminish by some time in June usually. Yuck!!!