Springstar, S5333 BioCare Gnat Stix, Brown, (Pack of 12)

Effectiveness: very effectiveQuality: very good, always came undamaged in box as shown in photoEase of use: very easy, assuming no special circumstances with hand mobility (minor assembly is required)Recommendation: as much as I did not want to kill anything, only prevent new gnats, YES.Considerations: these are obviously visible yellow gnat traps in your plant pots – not the best for aesthetic, even if they serve a purpose. You also need to make sure that your plants do not get caught on them, and check for that regularly with leaves shifting, breezes blowing, and anything else that might cause movement. Not sure how interested any animals might be, but the stickiness and novelty might be considerations for that._______________None of the preventative or stop-the-cycle methods I tried were working, and I was going to have to get rid of my houseplants if I didn't give in and get actual traps for the adult gnats. These saved my sanity (and my plants, and probably some would-be-thrown objects as a result) as an intervention that started working right away, and kept working. I had to get a few boxes total after trying the first box, due to the number of plants and of gnats (also considering size of pots, amount of soil, what else you might be trying to prevent and eliminate, so keep all of those factors in mind.)The flat wooden sticks and the sheet of yellow sticky paper come separately in the box. The paper is covered on both sides and perforated into twelve rectangular pieces. The perforations work well, and the protective covering comes off easily. (A quick and easy assembly method is to take the covering off on one side, put the stick on the uncovered side while the other side is still covered, then take the other side off. You can put enough pressure on the stick that way with your fingers or against a surface, with no sticky fingers, no potentially wasted traps.) Depending on both your plant and gnat situation, you could make multiple sticks out of each pre-sized stick-and-paper combination – just remember to cut before you peel.Now I think (hope) the gnat issue here can finally be ended and then prevented longer-term with a top layer of preventative material, with the GnatStix still in the pots as a supplemental during the transition. If I end up needing them more again, I will get them.

I don't know if I got an old product or perhaps it was simply "overdone". The first two strips I used were easy, no problem, and popped into the plant in seconds. The next three provided a nightmare I don't care to even relive. They were SOOOOO sticky that I immediately had glue all over my fingers. The waxy paper I removed had so much glue on it that it stuck to my lanai furniture as I tried to remove it from my fingers, leaving MORE glue on my cushions. After the third one, I could no longer continue. EVERYTHING was sticking to me and I couldn't get the glue off. I used nail polish remover for nearly 30 minutes just on my fingers. Then I remembered goo gone, and it helped, but even that was a struggle. After a 45 minute glue war, I had five plants with sticks in them, a ruined cushion, and fingers raw from scrubbing. Would I recommend this product again? Never! Even if this product was just old, or overloaded with glue by some mistake, the exasperation was beyond description and certainly NOT worth the money or trouble.

Ok. I usually buy Black Gold Cactus Soil but being that Christmas is right around the corner, i went to Home Depot and got some Miracle Grow Cactus, Palm & Citrus soil for pshh.. like a quarter of the price! BIG MISTAKE.Within 2 days my apartment was swarming with what I thought was fruit flies! So I went around my apartment looking for the source, searched my fridge and couldn't find a ding-dongin' thing! Then i realized these flies were all around my plants! So my google searching began. The Miracle Grow was infested with some Miracle Fungus Gnats larvae! Not cool! So at first I did the apple cider vinegar trick.. worked ok but the second they came out of the soil they were determined to scatter throughout my apartment looking for a better place to lay eggs.So I needed another solution.. My inner-engineer came up with a quick solution for the time being, I put a window fan in the window next to my plants on high power, and a fan behind the plants. So basically a fan in the front and a fan in the back, both blowing towards the window. So the second the gnats took flight, they would get sucked out the window. And it worked!One problem: it's FRIGGIN DECEMBER IN NEW YORK so I'm freezing my fingers off!I needed one more solution to rid myself of the few remaining gnats and I decided to go with these sticky traps. They work. They work good. I took the advice of another reviewer and put some on sticks and some laying on the soil. On one of the sticks (I believe picture 2) there are like 6 gnats stuck at the very bottom of the trap. It looks like a big glob of soil lol but it's a bunch of bugs stuck togetherIf I had these sticky traps at the time of the initial infestation, they would be loaded. but a lot of them got sucked out the window. I get about one or two a day but I haven't actually seen one flying around in a few days. I have been calling it the Great Gnat Watch of 2016. I constantly look and count to see how many have gotten stuck.I mean, I feel bad because they are living beings too.. but yo.. if you think you're going to land on the rim of my morning coffee and live to tell the tale, you are dead wrong. Literally.The traps are hideous looking but I really don't think my plants mind too much lol.