Cleaning with vinegar and fruit flies??

[Amy0417]

I clean with vinegar in my kitchen. I wipe down the counters a few times a day. Now we have a bunch of fruit flies! I thought it was from our apples, bananas, and peaches we leave out but this has never been a problem before! I just read that fruit flies love vinegar. Call me stubborn but I wont clean with chemicals.

Should I just wipe down with water for a while? We have had some moist rainy days lately so that could we why there are so many. :Puke

Any suggestions??

[Ann15]

I'm curious about this too. We've been dealing with fruit flies for a while. I am trying to keep all produce in the fridge for a while to see if that helps at all. I would hate to have to use something other than vinegar to clean.

[Drummer's Wife]

I hate fruit flies! I don't think it's b/c of the vinegar - I would put your fruit away for a while, though. We had an issue with them for a few days. ick! What happened, is that my 3 yo threw a banana peel away upstairs in my oldest DS's trash can in his room. It's always only held papers that my kid cuts up while doing projects, so it hadn't been emptied in at least a week. Anyhow, we realized that was the source. ugh!

What I did to get rid of them is set a trap. I filled a glass about halfway with water, and adding a splash of apple cider vinegar (b/c they do like that, maybe it's the apple in it?), and a squirt of dish soap. I put a piece of saran wrap on top with a rubber band and poked a few holes with a fork. The fruit flies went into the holes, and b/c of the soap they couldn't get out of the water. I caught a lot (uh, way more than I thought we had flying around), but it was fast, and the problem was gone overnight after doing this. My DS even added a piece of cantelope saying it would attract them faster. LOL! But they were gone afterwards. Nasty things. All they need is a little bit of water to multiply, even in the drain - so run your garbage disposal and pour hot water down it.

I clean with vinegar all the time - and have for years - so I don't think that's the culprit. If you find a source, like I did, that's the biggest part in eliminating them. Then you have to trap the rest.

[EFmom]

So I read this title and I'm trying to imagine how exactly you clean with fruit flies...

[laohaire]

Are you diluting the vinegar? I dilute so it's 50% water and 50% vinegar.

Fruit flies DO love vinegar - hence the use of vinegar for a fruit fly trap. But honestly, I've not had a fruit fly problem with vinegar cleaning, though I HAVE had fruit fly problems with overripe bananas. Partly because I think it evaporates so fast.

[Drummer's Wife]

Originally Posted by EFmom

So I read this title and I'm trying to imagine how exactly you clean with fruit flies...

Hey, they're natural! You can skip the baking soda if you use fruit flies instead.

[Amy0417]

Originally Posted by EFmom

So I read this title and I'm trying to imagine how exactly you clean with fruit flies...

HAHAHA! I knew someone would say this!

[Amy0417]

Oh, and thanks Mamas... I do dilute my vinegar! I bet it was the fruit. This morning I put my apples and peaches in the fridge and they already seem to have disappeared. I'm going to try to trap them too MUHAHAHAHA

[zoebird]

Time flies like an arrow; fruit flies like an apple!

put the fruit away for a bit, that's likely how they got started.

instead of using vinegar only, add a bit of dish soap to it. fruit flies will die off, and then you can move back to the straight vinegar.

[cristeen]

What kind of vinegar are you cleaning with? Flies dont reslly care for white vin, because it is dead. But if you leave out a bottle of unpasteurized ACV or wine vinegar, you'll find floaters in a few hours. Thet're attracted to the active fermentation.

[goldenwillow]

Same issue here. We put our fruit in the fridge and then they went after our kombucha in a completely different room of the house! Seems to be better now. Thank you for the info!

Maybe it is just that time of year? I found some out in the garden lingering by our pumpkins too.

[2xy]

Originally Posted by cristeen

What kind of vinegar are you cleaning with? Flies dont reslly care for white vin, because it is dead. But if you leave out a bottle of unpasteurized ACV or wine vinegar, you'll find floaters in a few hours. Thet're attracted to the active fermentation.

Yes to all of that. They also love wine.

I work in a restaurant and it's pretty well known in the industry that fruit flies breed in warm, damp places. Typically, they love drains and garbage disposals. Hot water or ice down your drain will help combat that. Also, if the pan under your fridge collects much water, they like to breed there, too.

[Llyra]

I would switch to white vinegar for awhile. They like that a lot less.

My favorite fruit fly trap is to put half an overripe peach into a mason jar. Put the ring on, but no lid. Roll a piece of heavy paper into a funnel, and put the pointy part into the jar, until it's about halfway down. Then let the funnel open a bit-- not the tip, just the top part-- until it fills the opening, and then put tape all around the opening to tape the funnel to the ring. The fruit flies will fly in, to get the peach, but then the opening to the funnel is so small that they can't work out how to get out, and then stay in there, getting drunk on overripe peach. Then once a day, you take it outside and unscrew the ring to get the funnel out, and let them out.

[Amy0417]

I caught 6 so far with the acv/soap/water in a jar trick! Yuck!!