Fruit flies are driving me nuts!!!!!!

Does anyone have some suggestions about keeping these little varmints under control??? For the past few weeks they really have been driving me nutty. It amazes me that something that tiny can see me coming with my rolled up newspaper....They are loving my fruit bowl, banana basket and garbage can. Meems

I've got 'em too! I'm having good luck with the sticky traps. I have the kind that is rolled up in a little tube and you unroll and hang it. Not real attractive but it gets the job done.

I will look for those and hope for the best.....I as supposing that I can get then anywhere??? I am ready for battle now! T;hey greated me this morning in all their glory! Meems

Try putting some cider vinegar, a bit of sugar, and a drop of dish soap in a wide-mouth jar, mug or cup near where they're hanging out. They are attracted to the smell, climb in, and the dishsoap makes it impossible for them to get out.

ugggg- these have been horrible here this year. A friend of mine made a trap similar to Terry's.

A wide mouth quart jar, vinegar, bananas. Make a funnel with a sheet of paper, and tape it to the top. Tape tight all the way around. The hole can be almost the size of a dime. Big enough to make it easy for them to get in, but they aren't smart enough to find it on the way out. Make sure you have plenty of vinegar in the bottom, but of course it can't touch the paper funnel. I usually use about half of a banana.

We've caught millions of the things. That jar seems to be part of the permanant decor in my kitchen :)

I just ordered some traps from Lee Valley, almost $15 for two, but each is supposed to last a month and hold up to 2000+ fruit flies. That should get me through peach and apple season here. The one that I opened has already cleared the kitchen. They were so bad the other night that they followed the peach shortcake to the table and hung around our faces! Not my idea of fine dining.

Well, I am going to try the vinegar solution first and see where it gets me. I sure hope that it works. I honestly have NEVER seen them this bad. Thanks for all your ideas. Meems

I thought I was alone. I'm glad to know I'm not the only one with a swarm in the kitchen.

The kitchen? Try the bathroom and bedroom, too! :P I ate some frozen strawberries while reading in bed one afternoon last week; I left my empty bowl on the nightstand for less than 15 minutes and when I picked it up, a bunch of those nasties came flying off of it. Yuck! Fortunately, they *seem* to be gone right now. If they come in again, I'm going to try the jar method.

I used to get those little moths in my birdseed that I fed my pet birds. They would get in the room and drive the birds nuts.
I put one of the sticky strips mentioned above in the room, hung from the light fixture. I forgot it was there and walked right into it. That stuff is messy when you get it stuck in your hair.
There are yellow hard things that you can hang in a room that kills flies and other flying insects. I used those after that incident and it worked fine.
The fly paper works, just be careful around it. LOL
Look around in Lowe's around the insecticides. There are a variety of things that work for those little pests.

There are specific lures for the moths; the traps are scented with pheromones which draw the moths into a glue-lined cardboard triangle, where they get stuck when they flutter around inside it. Those worked great for the moths in our basement (birdseed, yep). I got a 2-pack at Lowe's for around $5. There are no doubt cheaper ways to get that job done.

You can freeze grain products and birdseed for a few days to kill any eggs and larvae, then keep the product in a tightly-sealed container. That helps.

This message was edited Aug 11, 2006 9:17 AM