The Dreaded Fruit Fly

[racfish]

I just cant stand them anymore. I got fruit flys everywhere.Damn pains in the neck.I even have them fly out of my refer.Anyone got any tricks to get rid of them other then have no fruits or veggies?These hot summers that linger are the worse.I cant eat anything without seeing them everywhere.Grrrrrrrrrrrrrr.I'm open to suggestions.

[BentRod]

The only way I know to get rid of them permanently is to remove the fruit from the house. I know that is not what you wanted to hear.
However, here is my trick to keep the numbers down. I keep the vacuum cleaner right next to the fruit bowl and when I walk up to it, I flip it on and use the wand to suck up as many fruit flies as I can before they get all dispersed. It's amazing how many of those things you can catch with the vacuum.

[Rich McVey]

We have had them too. Not to many, but enough to get noticed. Hanging around the tops of cola classes and on lemon wedges. We dont have much in the way of food or fruit they can access so Im betting the trash can is whats attracting mine.


I like the vacume idea. I used to do that in the evenings after having the door open if I have a swarm in the living room. Now Im envisioning a vacume based bug trap...:rambo:

[Bodofish]

It's not too appealing but you can use a no pest strip to get them. Cover your food surfaces for a couple days and hang one in the kitchen for a few days.

[Gringo Pescador]

I am glad I am not the only one with this problem! My wife found me the other day in the kitchen, swinging a hand towel and swearing. Thought I'd finally lost it.

When I was a kid, by buddy and I used a can of Lemon Scented End-Dust and a lighter (of course mom wasn't home). It was fun, and the kitchen smelled "Lemony Fresh" afterward, but it didn't get rid of em all and I had to eventually explain the scorch marks on the kitchen cabinets.

[racfish]

Gringo for me it was Suave Hair spray and a lighter.I did that method on a wasps nest and burnt down my parents fence.I also like the vacum idea.At first I thought it was my diabetes and seeing floaters.Im gonna clean my house good tonite. I'll try all the ideas.

[Marc Martyn]

You guys crack me up. Scorched cabinet........LOL!

One advantage to the dry east side of the state, very little bugs.

[BentRod]

One advantage to the dry east side of the state, very little bugs.

Really? Man, I grew up in the Tri-Cities and the fruit flies were boundless during peach season. Maybe the Spokane area isn't as bad.

[ckim85]

my gf and i had this problm recently after some flowers died in our kitchen. But where in the hell do these things even come from?! My apartment is brand new and the windows are shut! Do they somehow pop out of mid air? Anyway, they eventually died off but we definitely made it a priority to take out the garbage and not leave any sugary items (open soda cans) or fruits or veges outside.

[Rich McVey]

You guys crack me up. Scorched cabinet........LOL!

One advantage to the dry east side of the state, very little bugs.

I dont know about that When I was over there a couple months ago, I got brutalized by the misquitos

[Marc Martyn]

You guys crack me up. Scorched cabinet........LOL!

One advantage to the dry east side of the state, very little bugs.

I dont know about that When I was over there a couple months ago, I got brutalized by the misquitos

That depends on the area. Spokane in general, very few mosquitos. In the rural areas around lakes, yes there will be some and in the woods, lots of gnats. Still, nothing like Minnesota or Wisconsin.

[kcc]

We have this thing that looks like a tennis racket but it has an electical charge when you turn it on. I wave it over the pop cans and when those little suckers fly up it zaps them. Just dont use it on a person though, give you a nice little shock.
It is made just for bugs. Im thinken fruit flies come from another demension thou, cause i have no fruit on the counters and we now wash out all pop or beer cans before we take them out to the recycling, but they just materiallize out of thin air.

[G-Man]

I've convinced my wife to be spider friendly. The agreement is that as long as the spider is under a certain size, about the size of a quarter, it can stay in the house. Larger specimens are captured and re-located outdoors. We get fruit flies on occasion, but they don't last too long. I think what really helps is that all of our food scraps go into a container with a tight fitting lid. One other thing that you can do to keep all pests under control is to remove access to water. Without water, life as we know it, cannot exist. So, no standing water in the sink, pots, pans, glasses, etc. Don't over water the indoor plants, keep the toilet seat and lid down or better yet keep the door to your bathroom closed as the shower is a popular source of water for bugs as well. Keep in mind that these critters are tiny so it doesn't take much to sustain them. If all else fails, maybe you can get yourself a pet bat...

[Sounguru]

I have a little one and 2 kids so lots of fruits and other leafy food scraps coming out of this house hold. We had an outbreak of fruit flies that would have made a whole hord of spiders fatter than the biggest bass. Here are the steps we found to elimanate them to where we haven't seen one in months.

#1 Rinse all plates and dishes right after you finish eating if you can put them directly in the dishwasher. In a house of 5 we are always a little behind on the dishwasher.
#2 Rinse all items going in the trash like green bean cans, baby food containers, etc.
#3 Do not let your fruits you do have get over ripe or seal them in a food saver type bag without vaccuming them.
#4 Start a worm bin/compost out back and put all leafy, breads, and fruit scraps in there. Plus it is a great source of bait if you make a worm bin. (will have to see how it does over the winter though and what to do and not to do on a worm bin is a whole different thread onto itself.)
#5 Rinse all sugary drink containers and put them in a sealable recycle bin.
#6 If you see any flies when you go to throw the trash away coming up from the trash can take that one out and dump it right away that means something didn't get cleaned well enough and they have a food source in the trash can.

Other than that I find a 12 gauge and small buck shot as a back up plan..... Wife wasn't too keen on that idea though.

[bpm2000]

http://www.wikihow.com/Get-Rid-of-Fruit-Flies

[Anonymous]

Id have to agree with Marc. I had an apartment in Spokane for a few years. I really dont remember alot of bugs. From Vantage to Moses Lake to Coulee they eat you alive.Maybe the old Alcoa plant kept the bug population down.Good info BPM.

[Bulletsponge]

Ok folks, here's what I did last night and it's worked awesome. I took a pill bottle I had (only thing that was the right size) and made a paper funnel to put in the top. I made the funnel where it sealed around the diameter of the pill bottle opening and had less then a dime size opening at the bottom.

The kill solution inside the pill bottle is just a bit of apple cider vinegar (for the smell) with a drop or two of dish soap. The dish soap kills the surface tension of the vinegar so the damn bugs fall right in.

I've had fantastic results in less then 24 hours, there is probably 30+ of them dead buggers in the pill bottle already.

[Marc Martyn]

A modified Jacket Trap.......genius!

Patent office next>>>>>>>>>>>

[Rich McVey]

You guys crack me up. Scorched cabinet........LOL!

One advantage to the dry east side of the state, very little bugs.

I dont know about that When I was over there a couple months ago, I got brutalized by the misquitos

That depends on the area. Spokane in general, very few mosquitos. In the rural areas around lakes, yes there will be some and in the woods, lots of gnats. Still, nothing like Minnesota or Wisconsin.

It was May 29-30. I was staying in Cheney and was fishin Silver Lake and Newman Lake. At both launches in the morning and the motel in the evening is when I got hit. They didnt seem to bother the others like they did me.

[Toni]

http://www.wikihow.com/Get-Rid-of-Fruit-Flies

Great link.