anyone ever lose a crop to gnats?

I'm wondering if anyone knows a good source for info about the life cycles of aphids and gnats, and how to be sure we end them. I thought I had this problem solved because there was zero activity for 10 days, they seemed completely dead. Then the problem popped up in an adjacent grow space.

With fleas, for instance, I believe a female can lie dormant for up to six months, and then bite something and start laying eggs again. I'm wondering what the dormancy of gnats and aphids are? They have to over-winter, so they do need some sort of strategy.

This ties directly into my next question, which is that several people have mentioned that I need to clean the space thoroughly, but to what extent? This is not bacterial, so I'm thinking its not necessary to bleach the surfaces, but is washing with hot water and household cleansers and vacuuming going to be sufficient?

Thanks for your continued help...

I appreciate when others follow up, so I will too. I used @Ace Yonder's suggested washing method. I may have been a bit intense with my in-liquid shaking, I really wanted them clean -- but it did work, they were absolutely clean when I was done.

I netted 1.5 oz. dry from the two plants combined (as a reference, their clone/siblings in the other closet gave me 5.5 oz). It does not smoke well, at all, kind of harsh and nasty. This follow up took so long because I did try to cure them completely, to see if the flavor would improve. It got better, but not good enough.

So the GSC are being made into tincture, and the CJ is butter. I made some cookies from the bud butter, and there is *definitely* THC still on the plants, even after a vigorous washing. So the bottom line is that it was a hard lesson learned, but in one form or another, the bud is being used.

I cleaned the room well, I let it sit for a month, and I'm growing in it again. It's a constant battle with bugs in there still, but I'm keeping on top of it this time. Basically, I'm using many of the suggestions in this thread, rotating through them, all the time. DE, Mosquito bits, yellow stickies (which I don't think do much, but do provide a better visual on what's going on), EcoSmart, SNS203, Neem Oil, even tried some Monterey Garden solution. Will probably try some AzaMax soon.

I have no idea how much of this stuff is taken up through the soil into the leaves, and even though I won't spray during flower, there is so much stuff in the soil it really makes me wonder if any is making its way into the buds. I suppose I could take some to lab and have it "pesticide" tested, but I'm not sure if these mostly organic solutions would show up.