Fruit Flies

[gavinart]

With the onset of summer, I'm finding more and more fruit flies.

I cut lots of young coconut -- they love the sweet stuff!

How do you get rid of them besides dancing, focusing, spinning, clapping and swatting at the little pests?

[rawpriestess]

fruit flies ONLY are around over ripe fruit, they don't like under ripe fruit, so what draws them is alcohol, that is what over ripe fruit puts off.

I eat my fruit when it is ripe, and make sure my compost bin, is tightly closed, even though we live in the country, we have no fruit fly problem even in the middle of summer.

[mattsonfamily]

I used a wide mouth mason jar (pint size)with a paper cone - like a snow cone cup - set into the jar. For bait use apple cider vinegar in the bottom. Flies go in - can't get out. Flies are all gone ;) - (Sorry if I offended anyone by detroying them - they love my wheatgrass and are a major problem for the Citrus Growers here)

Mindi

[rawpriestess]

I feel that is cruel.

there is no reason to kill any of the Goddess' creatures especially in such a horrible way, any living creature of this planet.

you can cover your wheatgrass if it is such a problem, with a fine nylon or muslin mesh.

Every living being has a right to live.

I'm sure I'll hear all about, not insects, not in my house, not spiders, not whatever,, and I have ONE word to say to you, KARMA

so, when you are killing that one or ten little flying critters, think about your karma, and think long and hard, because you are just as important or insignificant as that little insect, in the eyes of the Goddess, or God, or Buddha, or whoever, or whatever your higher power is called.

and karma is cause AND effect, it's not so much THAT you killed them, but that YOU HAD A CHOICE, and you CHOSE to kill them.

[juliebove]

It helps if you can find out where they are coming from. I got a bad case of them when we lived in CA and I suspected they were coming from the tomatoes I was buying, until a woman at the store I normally shopped at told me not to buy the bananas there because that's where they were coming from. Turns out she was right! The particular store had a small counter with bananas on one side and tomatoes on the other. At home, I had a little banana tree with a hook on it to hang the bananas. I kept my tomatoes in a basket on the counter, under the bananas.

I went home, threw out all the bananas and tomatoes just to be sure, and cleaned the counter really well. I made sure to keep no food out on the counter whatever. I did without bananas and tomatoes for a few days. It did take a couple of weeks for the fruit flies to totally disappear. My daughter was a toddler then and had a habit of leaving pieces of partially eaten fruit or veggies in odd places. I made sure to put all leftover vegetable matter either down the disposal or wrapped well and put in the trash.

Then by some miracle, the store where I normally shopped, remodeled. The tomatoes and the bananas were no longer near each other. I bought tomatoes and put them on the counter. No fruit flies! But I could clearly see them swarming around the bananas in the store. So from then on, I didn't buy bananas at that store.

Since you know yours are coming from the coconut... Is it possible to store them somewhere outside of the house? Like the garage? If not, could you store them in some sort of closed container? That might at least contain them so they don't get all over the house.

I did have quite a few of them when I moved into this house. I think they were coming from the apple and pear trees in the backyard. The house had been vacant for a while and there was much rotting fruit under the trees. I read that they will fly around where there is water and they will even get in your houseplants. This seemed to be the case here. My back door had a hole in the screen. They seemed to be flying in here through the screen. The hole was too large to be reparied with the screen repair kit that I have. But I was able to use a piece of clear, sticky tape on either side of it and that was all it took. They could no longer get in my house. I did try using some of those traps that supposedly lure them in with sweet stuff. That didn't work at all! I don't know what they put in there but they loved the stuff. They'd climb in, drink it and fly right back out. The traps were always swarming with the little pests, but none were ever actually trapped in there.

[rawpriestess]

yes, you do need to keep your fruit trees picked and cleaned up, we have alot of fruit and nut trees, and we make sure that we pick everything and not let anything sit on the ground either. It takes alot of work, but is so worth it.

We just toss allthe extra fruit that we can't eat or dehydrate or give away or freeze over into the meadow, and the deer eat them, happy deer, happy lawn, happy trees, happy fruit flies away from our house.

[blessed]

:D When I purchased my fruit be it ripe or a little unripe i wash it off right when i bring it in the house and wipe it good and dry each piece.
I had my husband purchase a syoform box and place my fruit in it and it keeps for about a week and a half or 2 weeks. I've only seen 1 or 2 since i started doing this, my kitchen is free of them.
We are overjoyed, hope this helps someone.

Ann :D :D

[karenisraw]

Haven't seen any fruitflies yet. I would try to spare their little lives if possible. Maybe you could catch them and release them outside.

k
:)

[Gosia]

I also use a jar and a paper cone (I put some slightly rotting fruit inside), works perfectly! When full, I relelase the flies. Make sure to release them early, otherwise they will have babies in the jar. :)

Gosia.

[Jordann]

In the past I've used bay leaves to ward off the little guys... it worked, sort of :rolleyes: Certainly I noticed a decrease of swarming, just by placing the bay leaves in amongst my bowls of fruit. I haven't had a fruit fly problem yet this year.. my current one is with ANTS :eek:

So slightly off topic, anyone have any suggestions for little tiny ants running around the counter?

[My family has given me the ultimatum, if I don't find a friendly/natural way to ward them off, they are ready to bust out the little raid traps (double eek!) I asked for a few days to try some alternatives...]

I'd like to know if the bay leaves work for anyone else though, in regards to fruit flies.. it could've been just a coincidence when I used them in the past...

[faith4u]

I am pretty sure that there are essential oils that they don't like. You can put them on a cotton ball in a few places near your fruit. I think it will repell them. Lavendar oil is one that comes to mind, maybe even peppermint.

[JennaBoBenna]

So slightly off topic, anyone have any suggestions for little tiny ants running around the counter?

We've been having a big ant problem for about two months! If you can find where they are coming in, sprinkling some cinnamon or cayenne around that area should keep them from coming in.

here's a thread with a few more suggestions:
http://rawfoodtalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=9907&highlight=ants

[juliebove]

I have a fruit saver. Here's a picture but it appears not to be currently available unless you happen to find a store that still has some or you get it on Ebay.

http://www.selectbrands.com/productview.cfm?ProductID=FS-1100

This is perfect for me because I eat a lot of vegetables and my fridge is so full of those there is no room left for the fruit. This might not be big enough for someone who eats a lot of fruit, but for us, it holds enough fruit for a week and it really does keep it fresh. Even bananas!

[karenisraw]

Jordan,

How about rubbing the rind of a lemon and wiping the counters with it. Just a thought. You could also use lemon oil.

k
:)

[rawpriestess]

cayenne pepper will stop these guys.

They won't walk through it.

[Jordann]

Thanks!

I am getting the cayenne right away.. and the lemon I like the sound of too, just because it will smell so fresh and clean :D