They are overrunning our house. They were awful when we got back from our trip on Sunday and no matter how many I get rid of, they seem to multiply FAST!!!

Help me, because they're driving me nuts!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We had them bad last summer. Everyone kept telling me to set out bowls of water with sutff in it, everything from vinegar to dish soap, but that never worked for us.
The only thing that did were those ugly fly strips. Yes they are ugly and soo very sticky. That goo will stick to everything so watch where you hang them and don't make the mistake of touching one just to see how sticky they are :o
But they work really fast and you should be fly free and able to take the strips down in a few days.
Oh and they are cheap! You can get a box of 4 for around $1-2 at WM.
Mindi

A small dish with apple cider vinegar in it. Put plastic wrap over the top and poke a few small holes in it with a fork. Put these where you find the flies, for us it's always bananas. We put them out at night and in the morning they are swimming around or have drowned.

Good luck~ this method has yet to fail us, but it might just be a New England fruitfly that loves acv;)

Kaight

Originally posted by gypsimama
Put these where you find the flies, for us it's always bananas.

Funny, at the pool yesterday, we were talking about fruit flies and bananas. One of the ladies there had a tip at preventing them, which I can't wait to try. Her theory is that fruitflies lay eggs inside the banana. Let's say the top is the part that attaches to the bunch, and the other end is the bottom. Her claim is that if you cut off a slice of the bottom (Thin, so as not to cut the actual banana, just the black/brown piece) you can actually see evidence of the fruitflies, and that you get that out of your house ASAP, thereby removing the chance for them to hatch in your house. Seems like it could be worth a try. I want to do it, just to see!! If anyone tries this, please let me know what you find out!!

Amy

I never heard of that.

I put the bananas in the fridge and they are not going away.
A mom on my local AP group suggested that they may be sewer gnats and she had a bad case of them last year blech!!!!!! They do seem to be coming out of my kitchen drain. She said her only resolve was to have an exterminator out and I DON'T want to do that.
I Had some all purpose bleach spray in my laundry room so I tried that in the drain.
If it doesn't work, I'll try peppermint oil, if that doesn't work, maybe I Can find something else to do.... LOL

They're driving me NUTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm telling you, get the fly strips and they will be gone by the weekend.
We ahd them so bad last summer. They would get in all the fruit, so we put it all awya. Then they started hiding in the cabinet we keep bread in. So the bread all went in the fridge. Then they would come up thru the drain or off any wet sponge or dish rag.
So far this summer we haven't had them.
Mindi

Thanks ladies. Guess I'll have to finish that bottle of wine tonight ;)

DH just called from the store and they have NO fly paper :mad:

We have NO food out and all dishes are clean and I scoured the drains (we don't have a disposal) and I don't have anything to cover the regular drains.

We'll see how it works......

The vinegar/dishsoap thing really works. I've ridded both my and my grandmother's house of the little pests.

Fill a jar (pickle far size - wide top) 1/4 full with vinegar. Squirt some dishsoap into the jar. Cover with plasticwrap (use a rubber band around the top). Poke some holes... leave the kitchen and go to bed!

Chris,

We had them AWFUL a few weeks ago, and I used a quart jar half filled with vinegar and a few squirts of apple dawn... topped with saran wrap and poked holes.

They were gone within 2days.

I've had luck with the same sort of thing, except it's a pasta sauce jar, apple cider vinegar in the bottom, and a funnel so they can get in, but there little brains aren't coordinated to find the small hole of the funnel to escape.

The reason for the dishsoap is to lessen the surface tension of the vinegar.. otherwise they may drown, but they're more likely to walk on the vinegar.

okay, 2 hrs in with the jar with vinegar and dish soap.... None yet, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

I may have to search for my funnel if the saran wrap doesn't work

Chris I was reading on another board about fruitflies/gnats because we had a terrible case of them a few weeks ago. Here is what worked for us.

Put all fruit away in the fridge. I tried the acv and nothing but I also took regular bleach and I poured it down all my drains at night before we went to bed (so it would sit in the drains and not be washed away). Apparently there is a type of gnat/fly that lays eggs in the drain and then they hatch and you have a continual problem. This took a couple of days for us to get rid of all of them but it did work (only used the bleach once).

If you don't want to/can't go the chemical/paper-strip route, hang in there!! Fruitflies have a life cycle of only about one week. They lay their eggs in organic material in moist locations, so throw out or wash and refrigerate any food. Clean out the garbage, if there is even a trace of organic moisture on the garbage bin for example, they will be attracted to it, and may lay more eggs. So wash everything down, wash down fridge handle, taps, cupboard doors and knobs...anything that might have come into contact with fruit, fruit juice, sugar or anything like that. Run some baking soda and vinegar down your sink to bubble-away any bits of food that might be down the drain...

Should be much better this time next week.

:thumbsup:

Originally posted by AnaYoga
If you don't want to/can't go the chemical/paper-strip route, hang in there!! Fruitflies have a life cycle of only about one week. They lay their eggs in organic material in moist locations, so throw out or wash and refrigerate any food. Clean out the garbage, if there is even a trace of organic moisture on the garbage bin for example, they will be attracted to it, and may lay more eggs. So wash everything down, wash down fridge handle, taps, cupboard doors and knobs...anything that might have come into contact with fruit, fruit juice, sugar or anything like that. Run some baking soda and vinegar down your sink to bubble-away any bits of food that might be down the drain...

Should be much better this time next week.

:thumbsup:

Thanks!! I am trying to hang in there!! This started on Sunday. I guess thats why there are periods of a ton, then just a few. When the eggs hatch its a ton!!
I'll make sure everything is clear of food particles and hope for the best.
The vinegar and soap didn't work last night :(

This may sound silly... but maybe try a different type of vingegar. My grandma's fruit flys only liked apple cider... mine only liked white vinegar...