Attack of the fruit flies!

albionjessica · #1 05/30/07, 09:37 PM

We are having the worst time with these tiny little flies. They are all over the living room, swarming around the computer screen and lamps. They get in through the screen doors and windows when we open up the house for the night and turn the attic fan on.

My question is, how can we combat these pesky little things? I find myself clapping at least once a minute to kill one, but they're so small sometimes I can't tell if I got them or not!

Are there some type of traps that actually work? We tried fly paper, and they don't go anywhere near it. What can we do?

DenverGirlie · #2 05/30/07, 10:06 PM

Homemade - non toxic fly catcher?

works for all types of flies but the only one's we have ever had problems with are fruit flies.

RevlonEyes · #3 05/31/07, 06:46 AM

If they are fruit flies, I was just reading some where if you put 1/2 cup of apple cider vinegar in a glass and about 3 drops of dish liquid it will attract the flies. Once in the glass I guess the dish liquid traps them and problem solved. It's worth a try at least.

mammabooh · #4 05/31/07, 07:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RevlonEyes

If they are fruit flies, I was just reading some where if you put 1/2 cup of apple cider vinegar in a glass and about 3 drops of dish liquid it will attract the flies. Once in the glass I guess the dish liquid traps them and problem solved. It's worth a try at least.

This works really well for vinegar flies (they have nasty red beady eyes). I used it during an attack a couple of years ago and drowned many of the nasty buggars. I was disgusted to see how many there actually were...I thought there were maybe 10 in the house, but I caught 30 in the first hour or so! YUCK

There are places on-line that say you have to use a thin-necked bottle, but I just used a bowl.

Callieslamb · #5 05/31/07, 07:16 AM

If that were my house, I would suspect someone left an apple under the couch. Fruit flies don't have a very long life - if you can get rid of the fruit, put it in the fridge and (in my case) out from under the couch - they die and can't reproduce. The problem is gone. This has always worked for me but I have never had a huge infestation.

Rita · #6 05/31/07, 07:43 AM

Are you sure they are fruit flies and not no-see-ums? Do they bite? There was a product you could spray on screens to keep them out and some people even resorted to one of those bug zappers.

diane · #7 05/31/07, 08:15 AM

I have had very good results with the apple cider vinegar and a couple drops of dish soap in a bowl. Actually what I used was pint canning jars. I placed them at several different locations in the house. This winter when I had some knats (I think they were root fungus knats) I used it again and got rid of them.

Trixie · #8 05/31/07, 03:55 PM

I am going to try the vinegar - my house is full of them.

Also, a couple of days ago, I walked into the kitchen and there must have been 3 dozen big buzzing flies in the two sunny windows. I have no idea how they got in - we haven't had any doors or windows open.

It was kinda eerie - made me think of those movies where a house is haunted by evil spirits -

Windy in Kansas · #9 05/31/07, 04:46 PM

I am guessing that what you have in your house is midges rather than fruit flies.

I recently found that placing a white dinner plate in an area with some sheet plastic on the floor with some yeasty smelling bread or some beer or whatever else might draw them to one location is helpful. When I step into a particular room I then spray foaming cleaner into the air and let it settle onto the plateful of midges. Wash the plate and repeat the process until you no longer have them. About 3 times is all it takes. Also a day later if any more have hatched out.

Perhaps time to think of getting finer mesh screen on your windows. Pricey, but might be worth it.

RedneckPete · #10 06/01/07, 06:10 AM

If they are fruit flys, squash up a peach or some other soft fruit in a open bowl with a couple spoons of flybait.

Pete

keltink · #11 06/01/07, 07:45 AM

Dump some vinegar down your sink drains, too - we've found the nasty little critters in there because food gets stuck sometimes in the pipes ... if you have a compost bucket, make sure you dump and clean each day. We put ours out for the chickens to clean after dumping. They do a marvelous job.