fruit fly control

its that time of year again, fruit lies are everywhere, I'm going to try using cider vinegar with a bit of dawn in it.
anyone else have techniques that work.

Number one is to make sure there is no food out, no wet spots on the counters, and pour boiling water down the kitchen drains to kill off the baby fruit flies (yes the nasty things breed down there).
Any fruit, or veggies on the counter? Get them put where the flies can't go. They are also breeding areas for them.
Used the sink for something? Make sure to wipe everything dry. Any bits of moisture encourage them.
Washcloth or sponge.... Make sure whatever you use to wash things with gets thoroughly rinsed out, wrung out, and hung to dry. Again, wet things draw them in.
If you drink beer - leave a bit in the bottom of the bottle, leave that out for several days and watch it fill up with drowned fruit flies. Wanna up the stakes? Drop a small piece of banana or strawberry (think soft sweet fruit) into the beer in the bottle.. shake well then add just one drop of dish soap - you aren't looking for bubbles, you just want the soap there to break the surface of the liquid so they can't dance around on top!

It's late now, and my brain is not coming up with anything more... although I'm sure there IS more.
Good luck!

Hello,

We have them everywhere!!!    I assume they are fruit flies...tiny,black with wings, very quick and very loud when they whizz past my ear!!! I am putting vinegar,bicarb, etc down the drains and my compost toilet (the urine part) just in case they are hiding in there. Do they lay eggs in damp spots like under the sink where pipes meet??? I'm rnning out of ideas where they could be bt want to get rid!!  All my fruit is in the fridge and I have traps around the kitchen.
Any advice gratefully received.

Penny (France)

Penny Thrussell wrote:Hello,

We have them everywhere!!!    I assume they are fruit flies...tiny,black with wings, very quick and very loud when they whizz past my ear!!! I am putting vinegar,bicarb, etc down the drains and my compost toilet (the urine part) just in case they are hiding in there. Do they lay eggs in damp spots like under the sink where pipes meet??? I'm rnning out of ideas where they could be bt want to get rid!!  All my fruit is in the fridge and I have traps around the kitchen.
Any advice gratefully received.

Penny (France)

Have you tried trapping the adults?
You can place about 1/4 - 1/2 c apple cider vinegar in a jar/bottle on the counter. Roll a piece of paper into a funnel, fit into the jar/bottle, tape to hold it's shape and possibly around the rim as well to prevent escapees. Apparently they are attracted to the vinegar, go down the funnel, and because they aren't really smart, can't figure out how to come back out. To assist the drowning of these nasties, drip a drop of dish soap onto the vinegar before blocking with the funnel. Make sure not to get the paper funnel wet, as this defeats it's purpose. Place these traps anywhere you see the flies and wait. Once you have them inside the liquid, you can either pour them out and reset the traps, or wait another week to make sure any hatching eggs that mature are also drawn in. Not sure how long their life cycle is, but like any nasty insect pest, always account for eggs already laid, and wait for them to hatch. Once adults are consistently trapped and killed/removed, their life cycle should be effectively halted. Yes it takes time, and vigilance to prevent a recurrence, but if you want them gone, it's effort and time well spent.

If you bring any fresh fruits/veggies home you may consider quarantining them in a corner of the room with a trap or two just in case they came infested with any flies - it happens, and isn't necessarily because of any bad practices, these things are just awful. This would just help ensure that any new adults that hitched a ride in get taken care of before they can start a new infestation.

BTW
Houseplants can also be a place for them to breed!!
If possible, try to allow any possibly infected pots to dry out as much as possible between waterings, keep the top of the exposed soil in the pots covered with a dry layer - think something that dries quickly after watering the plant. If you think the bugs are coming from the bottom of the pot, it may be a good time to re-pot that plant, and make sure to close off any openings underneath to prevent them from getting in. I like using coffee filters in the bottoms of my pots, as they keep the dirt in and other stuff out (at least as long as they last anyway).  If your plants need humidity, try a tray underneath filled with appropriate sized rocks - place the pot on top of the layer of rocks and have the water in the rocks. This will help boost the humidity, and hopefully keep nasties from using it as breeding areas. Yes, I've had to remove and wash the rocks and trays before, so regular checks not only keep things clean, but give you an excuse to spend time with your plants, always a relaxing experience for me. Side note, if you use a strip of wicking material and lay it inside the rocks, then run it up into the pot, you've created a self-watering pot - two for one solution as now the plant will be watered, kept humidified, and mostly safe from bugs using it as breeding grounds.

Also, on composting toilets - I discovered that they will definitely lay eggs underneath the seat ON the seat... first time I saw this freaked me out.... My solution was to make sure the top layer inside stayed as dry as possible, and if I noticed ANY flying anything near it, I checked underneath the seat daily, cleaning, emptying out and re-starting, etc until the issue was resolved. Yes, they do seem to be partial to urine.  During the warmer months when it seems inevitable for them to be in this area, I keep a sticky fly trap hanging nearby - not only to catch them, but also as a monitor - I may not always notice an infestation until it's a pain, but if I see larger numbers of them getting trapped, I am alerted to do extra maintenance to prevent further issues.

My go to: if you ever have a plastic water bottle chop off the top, invert it, push it back into the water bottle (or a glass), then pour about a centimeter of apple cider vinegar into the bottle. It takes them out fairly quickly.

I use mason jars with holes punched in the lid, with vinegar (or wine), and a drop of soap.

And then, find where they are breeding (rotten squash or tomato) and eliminate it.

Hi,

Been a while since the post, but have also been looking into different ways of getting rid of a fruit fly problem recently.  

I tried this technique for how to get rid of fruit flies and I had fairly good success with it.

Let me know if it works or helps out.

M.

bruce Fine wrote:its that time of year again, fruit lies are everywhere, I'm going to try using cider vinegar with a bit of dawn in it.
anyone else have techniques that work.

I am wondering Bruce if perhaps you are not describing vinegar flies?  They are drawn to rotting fruit and fruit and vegetable scraps or the acetic notes that are produced.
Picture of them below.  Wet weather and spoiling fruit in an orchard will also attract them.  Fruit flies tend to sting and spoil fruit that is ripening or ripe ready to pick.

The little black/gray ones that live in house plants are usually "fungus gnats" rather than fruit flies. They are attracted to fungus on the damp soil and decaying plant matter.  Let the pots dry out thoroughly before next watering and that may reduce the population.

The little black/gray ones that live in house plants are usually "fungus gnats" rather than fruit flies. They are attracted to fungus on the damp soil and decaying plant matter.  Let the pots dry out thoroughly before next watering and that may reduce the population.

Thank you! I wondered what they were.

Mk Neal wrote:The little black/gray ones that live in house plants are usually "fungus gnats" rather than fruit flies. They are attracted to fungus on the damp soil and decaying plant matter.  Let the pots dry out thoroughly before next watering and that may reduce the population.

The fungus gnats can be controlled with a product called mosquito bits.  It's bits of (grain, i think?) covered with BT.  You can sprinkle it on the top of the soil (or when repotting, mix it in).  Then as you water your plants, the BT works its way through the soil and kills any  larvae as they develop, preventing further infestations.  I've had problems with fungus gnats in the past, and tons of houseplants, so I just make sure it's always on hand and in all of my plants.

I've been dealing with an infestation in our house of these suckers, I found an old potato on top of a cambro container in the pantry, and then a few onions that were past their prime that seemed to be the primary cause of the issue.  I have gone full scorched earth, I have sticky traps around the house, multiple vinegar traps (some have wine, some have vinegar, some have nectarine pits).  I've also found success with (they seem to hang out on our vaulted ceiling) shooting them (or if I end up with a handful settled in the sink, misting them) with isopropyl alcohol.  It's not ideal but it has been the deciding factor in who is winning the war.  It's not harmful to any of the surfaces in the house and evaporates quicky enough.

Hello! This is my first post.

We've been dealing with fruit flies in our house and it's getting out of control. The main culprit is the pantry where we have some mason jars of homemade vinegar going. We have them covered with coffee filters, so they can't get in the jars but they seem to be living off the fumes and are multiplying like crazy! We have some sticky paper hanging from the ceiling and some apple cider vinegar traps (small jars with vinegar covered in plastic wrap with some small holes). We've been swatting at them and even vacuuming them up every day. There are also a million of them flying around the sink and hanging out in the bathroom. Whatever we are doing is definitely not working and we're getting frustrated. Any more suggestions on fruit fly control not covered here in this thread? I think we'll try the cotton cloth idea on the vinegar jars. But the apple cider vinegar jar traps do not seem to be working. The fly paper is getting a lot of them but there are even more to take their places. And I think swatting at them is only causing natural selection of the craftier fruit flies.

Help!
Thank you,
Hal

Hal Schmidt wrote:Hello! This is my first post.

We've been dealing with fruit flies in our house and it's getting out of control. The main culprit is the pantry where we have some mason jars of homemade vinegar going. We have them covered with coffee filters, so they can't get in the jars but they seem to be living off the fumes and are multiplying like crazy! We have some sticky paper hanging from the ceiling and some apple cider vinegar traps (small jars with vinegar covered in plastic wrap with some small holes). We've been swatting at them and even vacuuming them up every day. There are also a million of them flying around the sink and hanging out in the bathroom. Whatever we are doing is definitely not working and we're getting frustrated. Any more suggestions on fruit fly control not covered here in this thread? I think we'll try the cotton cloth idea on the vinegar jars. But the apple cider vinegar jar traps do not seem to be working. The fly paper is getting a lot of them but there are even more to take their places. And I think swatting at them is only causing natural selection of the craftier fruit flies.

Help!
Thank you,
Hal

It sounds like you may have drain flies if they're centered around areas with drains.  They live in the P-traps of sinks.  Maybe try pouring boiling water down every few days to kill off any clustered there.


https://www.countryliving.com/home-maintenance/cleaning/a29364962/how-to-get-rid-of-drain-flies/

If they are drawn to vinegar, try the following:

Add a small amount of dish soap to a half-full bowl of their favorite vinegar. Add some water. Beat or swish until you have a good thick layer of soap suds.  Refresh the suds as needed throughout the day.

When they try to land on the vinegar, the flies get trapped by the soap and can't fly out.

Hello I suggest to use fruit fly bait to get it control, just need to spot spray on the leaves, the fruit flies will get attracted by the bait and eat it, then die

I worked in a restaurant for 7 years.  There the bar was full of them year-round. It was so bad some seasons, that it drove away the customers.  

The first thing we did was break down the bar back to the walls. Then we washed the ceiling, walls, and floor with a strong detergent/soap.  We used something that was food safe for the glass racks, bar and table tops, sinks, fruit containers, refrigerators (inside and out), cabinets (inside and out), etc.  We kept up that routine for the racks, all counter space and sink, and condiment containers from then on, with special consideration for the fruit fly life cycle.  We also bought smaller fruit containers, cut what we thought we'd need for the evening then bagged the leftovers for the 'fridge and sent the container to the dishwasher. Before that, they'd put the whole container in the cold room each evening -- no bueno -- the flies/eggs survive at 42°F.

When the state health department inspector came around (we passed), we asked her for advice.  She suggested that we buy some false teeth cleaner, and end each evening by putting one of those effervescent tablets down all the bar drains -- sink, and floor. We used Polident because it was available, but any brand will do.  I don't think a home remedy will be as effective or maybe not at all -- it may be the antibacterial properties inherent in commercial brands that do the bugs in. She recommended it because it's food safe (after all you use it on your false teeth which go back into your mouth), and it kills fruit fly eggs.  Apparently, the things breed in the drains and no amount of debris knocks off the eggs attached to the inside wall of the drains.  Killing the eggs obviously disrupts the life cycle (which is only 7 days from egg to aged adult). Within two weeks it was a big, big help -- we must have reduced the number of flies by half. It worked so well that we started putting the tablets down all the drains -- in the kitchen, basement, and in bathrooms.  It was an all-out attack on the fruit flies.

I was the day manager. I checked in the food orders and managed a database that helped us figure out the plate costs among other things, but it was still pretty easy for me to spend under an hour each day in the closed restaurant, with the vacuum cleaner. I used the crevice attachment or nothing but the hose and literally sucked the fruit flies out of the air and off any of the surfaces. On many days, I vacuumed up over 100 fruit flys in about 30 minutes. This too helped disrupt the cycle.  So while the Polident killed the eggs, I sucked up the adults. In just a few weeks it was under control and within 6 weeks there were hardly any to no fruit flies at all.

We tried everything else and this worked the best. Commercial traps and the tried-and-true apple cider vinegar + dish soap worked, but this worked faster and better. It requires daily dedication and due diligence for at least one month to 6 weeks, and then maintenance at least once a week. Eventually, we added a twice-yearly professional drain cleaning to the mix, with special attention paid to cleaning the drains with a stiff, round brush that would scrape the internal wall free of all debris, thus removing any fruit fly eggs and any drink or food residue that helped to sustain their sorry little lives.

You can also try spreading a kind of watered-down honey on a big portion of the kitchen counter and wait until they alight, then swipe them away with a weak vinegar solution cloth.  Dampen the cloth and lay it over the whole area to trap the flies under the cloth, then swipe. Otherwise, many will just fly away. But kill the eggs in the drains to break the life cycle fast and with very little effort.

If you can, make screened covers for the fruit and vegetables left out. (or buy them).  Just make sure the net doesn't touch the fruit as the fruit fly can lay her eggs on the mesh where it touches. The eggs can still survive and thrive. And, make sure the mesh hole is small enough that fruit flies can't get through. And no, the mosquito net ones they sell for picnics don't work for fruit flies -- the holes in the netting are too big.

If you have them in your compost, I suppose you could make up a batch of Polident (or try the natural remedies first) and pour it over the compost mass. It might make the compost too wet, but a hefty application of newsprint or other uncoated (i.e. not magazines) paper might help. Its antibacterial agents may also kill off your compost, so ah, ask people who have more garden experience than me.

Good luck! Fruit flies are ubiquitous and intractable.

Basil is also supposed to repel fruit flies. I'm not quite sure where they are repelled to, but hey, who doesn't like basil?

"Basil has a great reputation for shooing mosquitoes, fruit flies, gnats and houseflies. It can be potted, grown indoors, and best of all: if it doesn’t work as well as you expected you can just add it to your marinara sauce." https://homeguides.sfgate.com/houseplants-repel-mosquitoes-cockroaches-pests-13771627.html (Scroll down)  Maybe you put the basil leaves in the fruit bowl?

Marinara sauce: https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1015987-classic-marinara-sauce Recipe from Lidia Bastianich
Can't use the link? Here it is:

INGREDIENTS
Yield: 3½ cups, enough for 1 pound of pasta
1 28-ounce can of whole San Marzano tomatoes, certified D.O.P. if possible ( I used 4 large store-bought tomatoes)
¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
7 garlic cloves, peeled and slivered (or chopped)
Small dried whole chile, or pinch crushed red pepper flakes (if using red pepper flakes, use the tiniest of pinches for fear of ending with Diablo Sauce)
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 large fresh basil sprig, or (optional) ¼ teaspoon dried oregano, more to taste

PREPARATION
Step 1
Pour tomatoes into a large bowl and crush them with your hands. Pour 1 cup water into the can and slosh it around to get tomato juices. Reserve.
Step 2
In a large skillet (do not use a deep pot) over medium heat, heat the oil. When it is hot, add garlic.
Step 3
As soon as the garlic is sizzling (do not let it brown), add the tomatoes, then the reserved tomato water. Add whole chile or red pepper flakes, oregano (if using), and salt. Stir.
Step 4
Place the basil sprig, including the stem, on the surface (like a flower). Let it wilt, then submerge it in the sauce. Simmer sauce until thickened and oil on the surface is a deep orange, about 15 minutes. (If using oregano, taste sauce after 10 minutes of simmering, adding more salt and oregano as needed.) Discard basil and chile (if using).

Notes
Discard the chile! (or you'll end up with a really spicy sauce). You can blend the basil into the sauce with a stick blender for a smoother sauce. I also used 4 large fresh tomatoes (store-bought). I cut a cross into the blossom end and boiled them until I could remove the skin, then cut out the stem end and crush the tomatoes by hand before dumping them in the pot. I left out the optional oregano. Delicious and simple to make a big batch to freeze.

I have certain house plants that spend the good months outside but then come in to overwinter with some level of protection.

The issue that happens year in and year out is introducing fruit flies into the house from the houseplant soil.

I used to take this opportunity to repot the plants into new soil and give them some growing room but after so many years the plants have reached a happy size.

My current plan is to sprinkle some diatomaceous earth on top of the soil. replacing after I water due to it losing its pest control properties when wet. This might be the one time that I might look at utilizing a neem based product as I am not worrying about accidently hurting other insects as it is located inside my house.

Thoughts?

Greenings All

I live in a city Oakland California, I m a vegetarian for 52 years and only buy organic food., at certain times of the year [summer+early fall] tons of fruit flies appear everywhere. I believe they come in with the organic fruits and vegetables I buy from Berkeley Bowl and other organic food and produce stores. I will never use pesticides. and the homegrown natural alternatives never work that good.

So I put up good old fashion FLY PAPER and it works FANTASTIC. My sister who lives in Colorado says isn't it unsightly and I reply actually it's not bad, because fruit flies are little and not noisy unlike flies, which last year for 4 days giant black flies [size of horse flies] suddenly appeared. Which I able to swat most of them dead, just like the fairy story " The Brave Little Tailor "whom killed seven flies in one blow, who tricks many giants and a ruthless king into believing in the tailor's incredible feats of strength and bravery, leading to him winning wealth and power.

I digress, those flies who did not get swatted dead got 'fly papered'. Now with them you got to put up with their buzzing a day or two until they died.

I'm willing to put up with that, if it means they are not dive bombing around me when waking or sleeping, the trick is the Fly Paper roll is only so long, so extend it with a piece of string and hang it down about a foot above your head  level, at the sink, under overhead lights, near windows or any place you see them congregating. A few days later they are gone and if they come back repeat the above steps. FLY PAPER is CHEAP an VERY VERY EFFECTIVE > Bzzzzzzzzz  no more

Tim I had this same trouble for years and couldn't figure out why "fruit" flies seemed to be proliferating only around the house plants, not in the kitchen ---

after many seasons of minimally effective vinegar traps, the solution that worked permanently for me was covering the surface of all soil in the house with about a half inch of sand --- completely cuts off access to anything organic in the soil, easy to water through, no need to replenish regularly --

I don't remember where the advice came from, but the results were nearly miraculous

Don't give 'em any food! LOL

I have always fought those dang things, and house flies, too. Then I learned about them... after finding maggots crawling out of the bin, and going every which way. DUH!

Funny, though, just recently, I unintentionally bred a shit ton of fruit flies, and I made 2 under par traps. The problem got worse! So I then took the jar of pickle juice I had sitting nearby, and made a proper trap. Worked within hours. Pickle juice.