fruit flies

Alrighty...how do I get rid of these little buggers without toxic chemicals? We fight with them every year when I sit tomatoes on the table to ripen. This year I've wrapped the tops of the ripening tomato bowls but for some reason we are more annoyed with them than ever before.

I've taken some glasses, filled them with cheap wine and covered them with plastic rap and holes punched out of them. Then I set the glasses under light at night.

I'm thinking I've only caught the lower IQ fruit flies.

They just drown in cheap vino.

Sarita,

I don't bother with the plastic wrap- just a wine glass with a couple of T of red wine in the bottom of the wine glass ( the cheaper the better) , Replace the wine every night, and mine are usually gone in a couple of days...

Deb

Well that makes sense because I cant sit a glass down without those nasty little buggers getting in them.
Driving me nucking futs.
I'll give it a try.

Best to all!

Sarita

Driving me nucking futs

Hilarious!

so where do things little critters come from? and why do we get them? i usually see them when i have my bananas sitting in a bowl. they also drive me nuts too...

I notice them mostly in the summer because I grow tomatoes. It seems like it's a constant battle to get rid of them. You should also keep your dry goods tightly sealed because they will make their way in there in the fall. YUCK! This also includes spices.

I've noticed them in restaurants in the bar area by where the bartender keeps their garnishes.

so where do things little critters come from?

Fruit flies can come from outside the home or can be hatched from eggs that made it inside from the store. The eggs hatch after about five hours after they were laid. One fly will drop about 500 eggs. Fruit flies will only be attracted to fruit that is starting to ferment(over ripe). They are attracted by the alcohol scent given off during fermentation and eat only the yeast that is produced. Uk suggests removing the overripe fruit or putting it in the fridge to rid yourself of the flies. They also suggest a trap using a small funnel inserted in a bottle with some alcohol residue in the bottom. It was long thought that fruit flies were spontaneously created from dust,a belief held by most until the early part of the 1900's. Due to their rapid life cycle they have proven to be a very useful tool to science.

Yeah..500 to one is a fruitless fight to say the least.

so where do things little critters come from?

Fruit flies will only be attracted to fruit that is starting to ferment(over ripe). They are attracted by the alcohol scent given off during fermentation and eat only the yeast that is produced.

John,

This might explain why I have a swarm hovering around my head right now.

Interesting stuff. Never would have thought the little buggers were so prolific.

Yeah, they are a real pain, and will swarm on anything (take eaten/stripped corn cobs straight to the outside trash - learned that one this week). I seem to have more of a problem with them in the fall, for some reason. My friend in school used them for a science project for genetics because they reproduce so quickly (based on Mendel's experiment, if I remember correctly). The good news is that I believe they only live for 24 hours, but don't quote me.

Our biggest problem is MOTHS!!! I've purged all the flour and starch-based products, and when we get new products like that, I make sure to put them in sealed plastic bags, and we still end up seeing them. They frustrate me to no end. Any suggestions to help eliminate them?

The best way I have found to get rid of them is to mix a some vinegar with a couple drops of dishwashing liquid in a cup with plastic on top with holes punched in it. The plastic keeps the flies from getting away before they are enticed by the liquid. I have always had success with this 'formula'.

Jess

We're having problems with them too. Several of our friends who have worked in restaurant kitchens have suggested that they are "drain flies". Apparently, they are somehow hatched in/around the rotten food that sticks in your drain (possibly the p-trap?). We've been pouring bleach down the drain and it's helped quite a bit. We haven't completely gotten rid of them, but I'd say 90% are gone.

We're having problems with them too. Several of our friends who have worked in restaurant kitchens have suggested that they are "drain flies". Apparently, they are somehow hatched in/around the rotten food that sticks in your drain (possibly the p-trap?). We've been pouring bleach down the drain and it's helped quite a bit. We haven't completely gotten rid of them, but I'd say 90% are gone.

I use the Cascade little packs with bleach in them for my dishwasher but I'll give this a try. The wine trick seems to have helped quite a bit.

I had them in my 3rd floor condo on a cut lemon. Being up off the ground level I normally escape most of the insect pests like ants and gnats. This is the first time I have ever had fruit flies. I seem to remember hearing that this is going to be a bad year for insect infestations. I know ticks/fleas are extremely bad this year.

I devised a few traps with some initial guidance from Cindi Sullivan. Her suggestion was a paper funnel in a cup with vinegar and a few banana slices. I tried it but they would just sit on the paper. We quickly bagged the traps and napped a few hundred. I tweaked it with a sticky paper funnel and strawberry yogurt. Now you can put wine in a glass but put enough in so that the wine is past the ‘curve threshold’. That is so the flies do not have a beach to crawl to.
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do not pour real high but just past where the glass starts to curve in.

BTW, they like cognac and bourbon too.

When you say sticky paper funnel do you mean a post it or real sticky paper? I sprayed the inside of a cone with spray adhesive hoping that would do the trick.