Help!! We are INFESTED with fruit flies!!!

[CityGirl]

Please---any suggestions at all on how to get rid of these pests???

[Potty Diva]

Hey Girl~

We had the same problem and I just could not for the life of me figure it out. I had cleaned everything , yet they persisted. Then one day I decided to clean the top of our fridge and found a moldy rotten bag of potatoes full of fruit flies and maggots. So my first suggestion would be to look in every nook and cranny. This was at our old house. After I cleaned up the fridge they were gone.

We have the same problem in our rental. But, we have them in the kitchen and the bathroom. The fruit flies in the kitchen were because we had a leaky sink and water and moisture were accumulating and the flies were multiplying because of it. We fixed the sink so that cleared the kitchen up. We also had them in the bathroom, but sincece we don't have a fan or vent it was a little harder to get rid of them. I clean the bathroom regularly and make sure there are no damp or wet clothes/towels left to sit in the bathroom.

The key is keeping things dry and ventilated.

Where are the fruit flies in your home?

[Jane]

you'll need to get rid of the source, as others have mentioned.
Get rid of all food sources, bag up all veggies and fruits and at least place them in the fridge (cleaned, of course).
They like beer, too, and are attracted to the smell of yeast. Are your recyclables gone?
http://www.uky.edu/Agriculture/Entom...ruct/ef621.htm

[Quirky]

A good trap is to take a small bowl, put some apple cider vinegar in it, and cover it with plastic wrap with a few small holes poked in it. Put a couple of these around the kitchen. Flies get in, but they can't get out....

But I agree, you really need to find the source of the infestation. If you compost, empty the bucket and wash it every day. If you throw food scraps in the garbage, take the garbage out every day and make sure the can is clean. Check your recycling bin (I would empty this every day until the problem is gone, too) as well as your potato drawer, fruit out on the counters, any place you have fresh food in your kitchen. Don't let people take food out of the kitchen or throw away banana peels, apple cores, etc. anywhere except the kitchen.

Good luck in getting rid of the annoying little buggers!

[CathToria]

Along with the above mentioned advice, you may need clean out your kitchen sink drain and garbage disposal. I once had them feeding off of the .... gunk ... in the drain and rubber drain "stopper".

Good luck

[Colorful~Mama]

well

yer gonna think i'm nuts..b.ut... we tried to trap them and ntohing worked. i was losing my mind.

so picture me, 37 weeks pregnant with the vaccuum cleaner hose. the great white huntress. i'm telling ya - it works! we left the vaccuum in the kitchen for a week and every time there was a herd of them i sucked them up into the vaccuum. AFter a week there were none left. was great.

i know i looked crazy, but hey. you do what you have to do right?

we've not seen them since and the baby i was pregnant with is months old

[CityGirl]

Thanks for the suggestions. We do compost, and that is probably the core reason--we live in a 6-floor-walkup and can only empty our compost about once a week. But it is in a closed container except when something is going in. I also do keep some fruits and vegetables out, but never when it's already cut, or overripe; I just can't stand refrigerated fruit!! Refrigerated vegetables are okay, but not tomatoes. SO, I guess I'm asking for it. The weird thing is, though, although the flies are somewhat around the fruit, they're mostly around the sink. Now dh says he needs to rip out the whole sink unit and replace the cabinet and countertop.

And here I was hoping for a quick fix.

Thanks, all.

[Rebecca]

I have them around my sink no matter how much we clean. I think it's 'cause the faucet leaks a bit and it's always damp. And I swear, they live longer than one day!!

[tnrsmom]

I was just coming to post the exact same thing. It is terrible and they are multiplying fast!! Off to clean the kitchen yet again. I already put all the fruits and veggies in the fridge. Now, I'm gonna scrub everything down again.

[PumpkinSeeds]

put some red wine in a dish and that should lure them into their drunken misery.
I've heard this works really really well.

[CityGirl]

I really hate the idea of refrigerating all my fruit. Refrigerated fruit tastes worse and I believe, although I couldn't quote where I've read it, that although it takes longer to rot, it actually loses its nutrients faster.

The red wine thing does kill them, but it also draws them, so even though you kill a few I'm convinced that it's self-defeating. (I only discovered this because I like to drink red wine.... I have to keep a magazine subscription card on the wine glass to keep flies from dying in it!

[Jane]

Yeah, just refrigerate the fruit until the problem is gone.
The fruit flies actually feed on the by products of the yeast. They only need the fruit to lay their eggs in. The soft surface of the fruit can accept the eggs well, while the yeast feeds the maggots nicely. It's the decomposing smell produced by the yeast that draws the flies. So they love wine and beer and bread yeast. They smell it and can get in through open doors, badly done screens, even old leaky aluminum windows. When there is an infestation, there is usually a source of the outbreak in or around the house. Once you find that and remove it, you'll just need to take measures for a little while to keep the numbers down.
It is, of course, fruit fly season, as the natural cycle would have the september ripened fruit rotting on the ground now.

[QueeTheBean]

Off topic--sorry!

Originally posted by Potty Diva
I decided to clean the top of our fridge and found a moldy rotten bag of potatoes full of fruit flies and maggots.

OK--I think I might actually have to move rather than have to clean that up!! Did you just scream and scream???

[LaLaLuna]

My variation on the vacuum theme is dust-bustering them. They tend to congregate on lighter colored surfaces so I sneak up on them and suck 'em up. Then I take the whole thing outside and let them go (otherwise they just fly out the mouth of the thing again.

Fruit fly catch and release. I feel so sporting. :

Oh well- at least it lets me get close enough to the sink to do dishes.

[rainsmom]

Ive had these critters for weeks now and cant get rid of them!

Im going to try the apple cider vinegar trick..problem is, Im seeing them ALL OVER THE HOUSE! Not just the kitchen......


hope this works.

[justmama]

Originally posted by LaLaLuna
Fruit fly catch and release. I feel so sporting. : .

:LOL :LOL :LOL

Meg