Sunday, June 14, 2009

Fruit Flies

So I bought some organic produce the other day and from that came a few fruit flies, those had babies, we are on to great great great grandbaby fruit flies now people! They are every where and just when I think I have sent them all to their graves, a whole new generation spikes up.

This is what we have done:
-accidentally left out a cup of juice and discovered fruit flies liked it and ended up drowning in it.
-purposely left out a cup of vinegar to drown them
-this is my favorite: Noah does this 2 times a day. He stands in the middle of the kitchen with the vacuum in the air sucking up the fruit flies! This really cracks me up!

So, any ideas about how to completely eliminate this population? I heard maybe basil?

6 comments:

  1. We got rid of ours by accidentally leaving out a bottle of wine. They love it, and then they get in there and drown. So, it's like your juice & vinegar theory, only they can't get back out :)

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  2. Apple cider vinegar with a few drops of dishsoap in it. The vinegar has to be apple cider, I guess because it smells the sweetest. The dishsoap reduces the surface tension of the vinegar, so when they fly down to drink the vinegar, they land and fall in. I keep a jar by my sink for fruit fly invasions--it's just a small jar with a few holes I poked in the lid so they can get in but not out. I was having a party a while back, and I had a TON of fruit flies; I set up my trap and literally caught more than fifty in an hour or so.

    [I also think this method is funny, given the old "You catch more flies with honey than vinegar" adage.]

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  3. I've put something sweet (like honey, fruit peels, juice, etc.) in a shallow bowl. Cover the bowl TIGHTLY (with no wrinkles)with plastic wrap. Poke about a dozen or so holes in the plastic wrap with a toothpick. You want the holes to be big enough for the flies to crawl through, but not fly back out. I have found this successful!

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  4. I do the apple cider vinegar with a few drops of dish soap swirled into it. It works every time! If the flies are really bad, put a couple little dishes of the mixture around. . .

    Thanks for visiting my blog!

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  5. The little boogers only live like 24-48 hours or so. If you have a ton, they're new guys sprouting up everywhere. Make sure you throw out anything they can eat - fruit, juice, etc. -- and cover everything they can get to. They might be in your trash or you may have missed on little cup of juice somewhere.... If you still have an army its likely you've got something they're sprouting out of.

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  6. In a glass, pour juice, wine, smashed up old fruits, anything that can attract them.
    Then, put a FUNNEL on the glass, so that the small end goes inside the glass, but doesn't touch the liquid or fruit.
    The flies go in, but cant go back out!

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