# Fruit Flies



## ella/TO (Mar 12, 2011)

okay, can anyone help me pleaseeeeeeee!
I have fruit flies in the kitchen.
I have had the condo fumigator in and all he did was give me traps....which I don't think worked too well.
I use cider vinegar with a splash of dish detergent in a small glass dish....it gets them....they're around for maybe 4-5 days. Then they are away and I think "Hooray!!:....but, they come back.....so, I'm sorta thinking they lay eggs, then they're killed off with the cider vinegar, then after awhile the eggs hatch and they're back....I don't know what else to do....I've sprayed under cupboards..taken the kick plate off of them  under the sink, move the stove and clean up, it's never really dirty back there....so again I'll say....please help.....thank  you so much....in advance


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## Skittle68 (Mar 12, 2011)

They could also be coming in from outside. Another place they like to lay eggs is in drains. Try keeping drains covered when not in use. Keep the traps around in inconspicuous places, since you say they work. Other than that, there is not a whole lot you can do... Sounds like you've already tried quite a bit to get rid of them


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## pacanis (Mar 12, 2011)

I had this problem last year and it was bad. Reeeeal bad.....  The town grocer was real bad, too. I'm sure that's where I dragged all the eggs in from. That'll teach me to keep fresh fruit around, lol. They were even inside the fresh bread I was buying.
Take a jar or glass and put some banana peel inside, then stretch some plastic wrap over the top. Use a rubber band if you need to, to keep the plastic stretched tight. Then take a round toothpick and poke some holes in the plastic wrap. You might have to wiggle the toothpick a little bit. You are making holes that the flies will be able to go into, but not get out. I was amazed at how many fruit flies I was catching. My problem all but disappeared and then cleared up when the cold weather set in. And the store must have done something on their end, also.


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## Alix (Mar 12, 2011)

ella, do you have plants in the kitchen? They could be white fly and not fruit flies if that is the case. For white fly if you put a little dish detergent in the water before you water your plants it will coat the soil and kill the little buggers.


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## ella/TO (Mar 12, 2011)

Okay dear friends.....no plants in the kitchen.....it's winter here in Toronto, so cold enuf that they're not keeping warm in weather. I covered the drains in the kitchen just before we went out, and when we came back  in there were a few flying around. We live in a large condo....I  haven't heard of anyone else having this trouble....so obviously they're laying eggs, if  that's what  fruit flies do...LOL.....and after the big ones are dead, the others are then hatched....or whatever.....very, very frustrating.....I just put out some fresh cider vinegar with a dollop of d.w.liquid....I'll try the banana thing when we next have a banana.....


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## Zereh (Mar 12, 2011)

Another tried and true tip (learned this working in a bar) is to fill a small spray bottle with rubbing alcohol and spray the buggers. They drop dead. The rubbing alcohol is much safer than any commercial bug spray and it evaporates really quickly. We would also use a clean bar towel soaked in our bleach / water bucket and lay them over the drains at the bar area (the sink, the beer-tap drain trough and the drain in the bottom of the ice reach) at the end of each night. 

They despise basil, so keep a basil plant in your kitchen if possible. Bonus: being able to pinch off a leaf or two at whim to throw into your scrambled eggs!

This one I've not tried but one of my girlfriends swears by it. She says that fruit flies hate lavender as well. She either burns lavender oil in one of those little diffuser things that uses a tea-light to heat the oil or she soaks a bit of sponge in lavender oil and sets it out on the counter.


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## Somebunny (Mar 12, 2011)

Fruit flies in the middle of winter in Toronto seems odd.  I would wonder where they are coming from.  Could there be some neighbor condo dwellers that are out of town who might have left fruit out?  If there is an infestation in a neighboring unit, that could make it difficult for you to get rid if them.

Sent from my iPhone using Cooking


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## sparrowgrass (Mar 13, 2011)

Could be sewer flies instead of fruit flies.  Don't freak out--they don't really come up out of the sewers, but they do lay eggs in the gunk just inside your drains.  Try pouring lots of boiling water down into every drain in the place.  

I get them here in Missouri in the spring, but I haven't seen any yet this year.

Sewer flies are a little bigger than fruit flies, darker colored, and their wings make them look round, instead of fly shaped, if that makes any sense.


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## Uncle Bob (Mar 13, 2011)

They are not coming in from the outside Miss Ella....You brought the eggs in from the grocery..more than likely on some fruits or vegetable...They mate and reproduce every 7-10 days!!!!!...HERE are some tips. HTH!


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## Katie H (Mar 13, 2011)

pacanis said:


> Take a jar or glass and put some banana peel inside, then stretch some plastic wrap over the top. Use a rubber band if you need to, to keep the plastic stretched tight. Then take a round toothpick and poke some holes in the plastic wrap. You might have to wiggle the toothpick a little bit. You are making holes that the flies will be able to go into, but not get out.



We occasionally have a fruit fly problem because we always have at least 3 or 4 kinds of fruit around in big wire baskets in the kitchen.

I use a similar method as pacanis does, but instead of plastic wrap I shape a piece of typing paper into a cone, large enough for it to fit snugly into the opening of a pint canning jar.  Then, I snip off just a bit of the point, place the cone (point end down) into my jar with a banana peel.  Don't let the cone touch the peel.  Same idea.  The flies get in but can't get out.  We essentially cleared up our fruit fly problem in a flash.

The flies don't die.  They are simply trapped and I take the contraption outside onto the porch and shake them out into Mother Nature's world.  Reload with another banana peel and wait to ambush more of the little critters.

There's no smell or any mess to deal with.


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## Skittle68 (Mar 13, 2011)

This is the trap method I've used, and it worked great. Always had tons of the little buggers in there. I was loving in downtown LA at the time, and they came in from outside because we didn't have screens on our windows. The nearby restaurants all had fruit fly breeding dumpsters so we just kept the traps around all the time.


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## Saphellae (Mar 14, 2011)

I have this problem in the summertime, in Kingston ON, the little buggers get in through my window screens and I can't open the windows when I cook   We have white cupboards and they are attracted to them for some reason, so they are easy to spot and kill if you are fast enough with the paper towel.  I find the trap method does work but it doesn't get em all for me.  Killing them works the best for me, and not leaving anything out (even dirty dishes) at any time.


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## CraigC (Mar 14, 2011)

Poison Dart/Arrow Frogs. Goodbye fruit flies! Just make sure the humidity stays around 100% and the temp above 80F.

Craig


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## PrincessFiona60 (Mar 14, 2011)

CraigC said:


> Poison Dart/Arrow Frogs. Goodbye fruit flies! Just make sure the humidity stays around 100% and the temp above 80F.
> 
> Craig


 
Geckos work, too...at least they did on Guam.


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## sparrowgrass (Mar 14, 2011)

If you trap them in a jar, you can put the jar in the freezer for a couple of hours.  No worries about them finding their way back to your kitchen from the big icebox in the sky.


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## pacanis (Mar 14, 2011)

sparrowgrass said:


> If you trap them in a jar, you can put the jar in the freezer for a couple of hours. No worries about them finding their way back to your kitchen from the big icebox in the sky.


 
Does that actually kill fruit flies? There are so many insects that can hibernate. I was wondering this last year, since my problem ran right into winter. I was wondering if setting the jar outside would kill them or just put them to sleep. I decided to let my traps fill for several days so I wouldn't have to rebuild them, then I dumped the flies out into the weather.


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## megamark (Mar 14, 2011)

pacanis said:


> Does that actually kill fruit flies? There are so many insects that can hibernate. I was wondering this last year, since my problem ran right into winter. I was wondering if setting the jar outside would kill them or just put them to sleep. I decided to let my traps fill for several days so I wouldn't have to rebuild them, then I dumped the flies out into the weather.



Good question. I've seen a trick done with flies, where you freeze them and they look dead. If you place them in the palm of your hand, the heat brings them back to life. 

I would just use the sticky tape traps. They have worked well for me in the past.


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## PrincessFiona60 (Mar 14, 2011)

My semi-annual ant infestation is on the verge of beginning.  I'm in a basement apartment and they come through the walls around the baseboard heaters.  Any Ideas?

Sorry for hijacking the thread!  But, since we are already discussing bugs...


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## pacanis (Mar 15, 2011)

PrincessFiona60 said:


> My semi-annual ant infestation is on the verge of beginning. I'm in a basement apartment and they come through the walls around the baseboard heaters. Any Ideas?
> 
> Sorry for hijacking the thread! But, since we are already discussing bugs...


 
I used to have an ant problem where I used to live and the product Terro cleared it right up. You squeeze a little bit on a small piece of cardboard (quarter size) and toss it under the fridge, behind the stove, back of the pantry... wherever they might be sneaking around and pets and kids can't find it. They carry the poison back to their nest. BTW, these were the tiny brown ants, sugar or sweet ants I think they are called. I don't know if it would work for carpenter ants.


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## justplainbill (Mar 15, 2011)

Vacuum them up into a vacuum cleaner bag containing 1/4 cup of paradichlorobenzene?


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## PrincessFiona60 (Mar 15, 2011)

Thank you!


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## ella/TO (Mar 23, 2011)

Have to report.......I bought a small basil plant at Sobey's last week and keeping it in the kitchen near where those little buggers congregate.....they haven't been around!!!!!.....am I lucking out, or, are they just hibernating????What do you think???????....I also still have one little dish of the apple cider vinegar/bit of soap, covered with a piece of pierced plastic wrap....haven't caught anything in it, but........


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## justplainbill (Mar 23, 2011)

Be nice to your basil and maybe you'll be able to make several fresh pestos from it.


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## Saphellae (Mar 23, 2011)

I have a ladybug problem at this time of year...   They somehow sneak in through the window in the bathroom, which opens to a massive tree.  we never leave it open... we usually have this problem until the tree is completely full of leaves.

They are SO NASTY.  I know people like them and all, but have you EVER heard the nasty crunch of a cat trying to eat one.

*shudder*


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## CraigC (Mar 23, 2011)

PrincessFiona60 said:


> Geckos work, too...at least they did on Guam.


 
How many FU/Tokay geckos did you have on Guam?

Craig


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## CharlieD (Mar 23, 2011)

There are chemicals you can buy on line. We had to do it few years ago. It helped. I cannot remeber what it was now. But they can live in your drain. They are very hard to get rid off. try to google it. It's all I can tell you.


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## CharlieD (Mar 23, 2011)

Sap, thouse are not lady bugs those are Chineese beatles the whole north america is infested. We also have them, yuk.


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## taxlady (Mar 23, 2011)

CraigC said:


> How many FU/Tokay geckos did you have on Guam?
> 
> Craig



OMG, I wouldn't want a Tokay gecko running loose in my house. I had one and he wanted to bite everything. His mouth was bigger than his head 

The vet was afraid of him, and he was a specialist in unusual animals. Those buggers are mean. And they bark.


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## PrincessFiona60 (Mar 23, 2011)

CraigC said:


> How many FU/Tokay geckos did you have on Guam?
> 
> Craig


 
No idea, I know Dad had to buy a pair after he killed the ones that lived there.  Mom wanted them gone.  I was 4 years old and I just remember the scream that was heard in Hawaii the  night one dropped on Mom in the dark.


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## ella/TO (Mar 24, 2011)

Oh Bill.....what I shall do is ...... keep one for the pesto and one to keep the dratted fruit flies away.....I'll keep you  posted....


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