fruit flies

[River Mom]

This morning I woke up to a batch of fruit flies in my tomatoes that were not there last night.:eek: With all this fresh produce around that seems to be and increasing thing around here.

I googled info about them, very scientific. I just want to know where they come from. Are they in the fruit or come from outside. Doe they hurt anything.. Anyone else have them?

In the past I would have gotten rid of anything hat had that. I'm thinking about just rinsing off and eating anyway.

RG

[noodle-o]

IME, the most frequent culprits are bananas. They frequently have fruitfly eggs (?) and when you bring them in the house, then they will begin hatching and multiplying. We recently had to deal with this also. You just have to remove their food source and they will die out pretty fast.

[Revvell]

We've got them too. If the bananas are open at all and there are fruit flies around them I just cut off the end. The rest of the fruit, unless there's an obvious cut where they can lay eggs get washed and eaten. I'm still here!

Revvellicious

[River Mom]

Sorry I entered that question before the answer was there.

Thanks!

[sport]

I find that the vacume cleaner will pick them up. They do not seem to feel it coming and just sit there and wait to be sucked in.
This action seems to fully satisfy the sadistic part of my nature. It is probably the only reason that my husband is still alive.

[kmik]

lol sport! must be a different strain of fruitflies on your side of the ocean... I try sneaking up on mine with the vacuum, and unless I come straight at them, they scatter! Then I try chasing them, but they manage to stay ahead of me.

The fly strip though... hahaha (evil laughter) there's no escaping the fly strip! I filled up three of them last week! It doesn't get them all, but it does help!

You definitely don't want to leave any food source out for them, because they do multiply VERY quickly. I've had to pack up all my produce and move it out to the garage, keep garbage sealed up tight and taken out a few times a day, make sure there's no dirty dishes in the sink, and make sure the kids didn't drip anything anywhere. Otherwise they'll find it, and they'll keep making themselves at home!

[adrienne]

I have been taking a small glass jar, putting about 1/4 (or even less) of an inch of apple cider vinegar in it then placing a piece of plastic wrap over the top and securing it tightly with an elastic. then poking a few holes in the plastic with a toothpick. they go in but never come out. this eliminates about 80-90% of them but there is always a few flying around before they find their way to their friends!

[Revvell]

O.k., gotta try this one. Thanks!


I have been taking a small glass jar, putting about 1/4 (or even less) of an inch of apple cider vinegar in it then placing a piece of plastic wrap over the top and securing it tightly with an elastic. then poking a few holes in the plastic with a toothpick. they go in but never come out. this eliminates about 80-90% of them but there is always a few flying around before they find their way to their friends!

[sfdreams]

I recently read an article about placing fruit rinds and such near where you want hummingbirds, because (I did not know this before) hummingbirds are amazing insect gobblers! They just use the sugar water we provide for quick energy bursts to vacuum up insects!

excerpt from the article: "The Web site www.hummingbirds.net says, “It’s not necessary to buy a commercial ‘nectar’ mix that includes additional vitamins, protein, or other substances, because the birds get all they need from the flower nectar and insects they consume. All they want from us is the quick energy they get from ordinary white cane sugar. It’s just fuel for chasing bugs and causes no known health problems in hummingbirds, whose metabolism is significantly different from humans.”

The Web site recommends putting some old banana peels or other fruit out to attract fruit flies as an additional source of food for hummingbirds. I haven’t tried that. If you do, let me know if it works."

I don't want the pesky flies in my house, but I am conflicted about using any of the remedies mentioned above. I just don't like to kill anything--even insects! I am always carrying insects outside!

Amazingly, I have not had too many fruit flies in the house. The ones I did get, I think came because I did not empty the garbage soon enough.

[Revvell]

Hmmm. I wonder if the fruit flies will attract hummers inside. That would be cool... long as they don't poopy in the house.

We have 3 sets of French doors we keep open and occasionally a bird will fly in one set and out another. Chubbs (squirrel) comes in at her leisure checking out the front room for food as well.

[StarFire]

I find that the vacume cleaner will pick them up. They do not seem to feel it coming and just sit there and wait to be sucked in.
This action seems to fully satisfy the sadistic part of my nature. It is probably the only reason that my husband is still alive.



http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s43/FireStar_830/laugh.gif I'll remember that and use that for 'therapy' next time my dh begins irritating me!!! :D

[Random Violin Guy]

I have been taking a small glass jar, putting about 1/4 (or even less) of an inch of apple cider vinegar in it then placing a piece of plastic wrap over the top and securing it tightly with an elastic. then poking a few holes in the plastic with a toothpick. they go in but never come out. this eliminates about 80-90% of them but there is always a few flying around before they find their way to their friends!

I think if you do this with a bit of mashed up banana, it'll still do the trick, but won't kill them. Then you just remove them from the house. I found that tip online, but never tried it; I moved before they got to be too much of a problem for me.

[Sleek98]

They also like to live in the sink drains, so it's good to boil water and pour them in the kitchen sink occasionally. We had them a lot last week, but we've cleaned out the counters and haven't noticed them this week anymore. pesky things.

[codajess]

Fruit flies are a pain. in. the. bum. (LOOKIT! I CENSORED IT FOR RFT. I'm improving. :D )

I have to refrigerate all my produce, except whole watermelons & including bananas so that I don't get them.

[freelive]

I get them too, because I don't like to eat my food straigth from the refrigerator(too cold!). Thank you for posting jar method - I think I am going to try it today!

[sfdreams]

I think if you do this with a bit of mashed up banana, it'll still do the trick, but won't kill them. Then you just remove them from the house. I found that tip online, but never tried it; I moved before they got to be too much of a problem for me.

Thanks, Violin Guy!! I will keep this in mind in case I ever get a problem. I really HATE to kill anything!:)

[herbalgirl]

Another method that works REALLY well is to take the apple cider vinegar (the cheap kind, you don't want to use the Braggs for this!), put it into a bowl or cup and squirt a couple drops of liquid dish soap in. Take a fork and whisk it around. This breaks the surface tension of the vinegar, so that the flies go in and can't come out. You don't have to use the plastic wrap and poke holes in it! :) By the way, don't use antibacterial soap! I tried this and the flies won't land in it. That ought to tell us something about using antibacterial soap on ourselves!! :eek:

[Raw Mom]

Funny thing happened this morning....I also have fruit flies. Not bad, and just from the bananas. My daughter put her green smoothie container in the sink after she was done and filled it with dish soapy water. When I got home, there was a fly right on top of the soapy water! I forgot about this method. So I filled a dish with soapy water. I once heard to do this outside for bugs around your plants! Works well for me.....

[snowdrop]

i just cut off 1 bite of a banana and put it into a glass jar stretch the plastic wrap over the top and poke it with the very tip of a sharp knife. (i don't care for the vinegar smell:cool: so i use the fruit they love the most.) it works fantastic!!!! :D :D :D

[herbalgirl]

You could also just use water with the dish soap. Then, you don't get that vinegar smell. :cool:

[Riiiya]

i just cut off 1 bite of a banana and put it into a glass jar stretch the plastic wrap over the top and poke it with the very tip of a sharp knife. (i don't care for the vinegar smell:cool: so i use the fruit they love the most.) it works fantastic!!!!
i did that too!!! i got the idea from some raw newsletter... i was just laughing an evil laugh as they couldn't get out of the jar!!! MUAHAHA

i just HATE those things, they're so annoying and dumb- they just keep flying into my face.. i'm so glad i found a way to terminate them :mad: :D

[tinystrawberry]

I just tried the method that snowdrop mentioned. we'll see if it works for the pennsylvanian fruit flies :)

[River Mom]

ME TOO! You guys are the best!
RM

[faith4u]

Another method that works REALLY well is to take the apple cider vinegar (the cheap kind, you don't want to use the Braggs for this!), put it into a bowl or cup and squirt a couple drops of liquid dish soap in. Take a fork and whisk it around. This breaks the surface tension of the vinegar, so that the flies go in and can't come out. You don't have to use the plastic wrap and poke holes in it! :) By the way, don't use antibacterial soap! I tried this and the flies won't land in it. That ought to tell us something about using antibacterial soap on ourselves!! :eek:

This is what I do. It works really well. We have tried so many other methods and they never worked very well.

The soap is key to them not being able to get out.

[youraw]

I haven't seen any fruit flies here...yet, but boy do I have issues with the eeny teeny weeny ants! :mad: