Fruit Flies - Olathe,KS

I read the other day to use a 1/2 cup of apple cider vinegar and a drop of dish detergent. Leave it on the counter for a day and all of the fruit flies will be attracted to it and drown. Hope it helps.

T.,
We put two mason jars out filled half way with apple cider vinegar and about 3-6 drops of dish soap. They go in and don't come back out. It works great. Hope this helps.

I tried something that seems to be working to keep the fruit flies away. In the center(on the counter)of several bowls of fresh fruit, I placed a small bowl of cider vinegar. I have seen only a couple of fruit flies the past two weeks. Before trying this, there would be many flying around the fruit and at the table when we were trying to eat. Hope this works for you. I change out the vinegar every couple of days.

I don't know where they come from but YES they always find our kitchen too! The only way I have been able to curb it is constant dishes done, bleached counter tops \ stove top. It isn't just fruit they crave - any leftover anything seems to draw them! If dishes sit until the end of the day - they're there. If there's some residue left on the counter - again! Make it a joint effort - your girls are old enough. Best wishes!

Try setting out a small bowl of apple cider vinegar.

I just had this problem last week. We had no fruit in the house and couldn't figure out where they were coming from. Well I found the source when I bought potatoes and went to put them in the bin. There were rotten potatoes in there and didn't smell them at all but that was the source for all the pesky gnats flying around. We tried the sticky fly catchers that evening overnight but didn't catch very many so just had to spray the flying insect killer and sprayed the counters and in the air. We weren't home for several hours and when we came home most of them were dead. I vacuumed them off the floor and counters then cleaned the kitchen real well so there wasn't any bug spray left on the counters or floor.

So if you have an area where you put potatoes you may want to check and see if they are rotten.

Honestly, depending on how bad they are you may not be able to get rid of them. I had them one year and there wasn't anything I tried, and I tried everything, that would get rid of them. Just had to wait until winter. Thankfully they did not come back next year.

Get rid of fruit flies by setting out a container filled with 1/4 cup of vinegar and one drop of liquid soap. Set it well away from the fruit and it should keep the little blighters away. Any fly passing will be warded off by the smell.

okay this may sound crazy, and probably isn't the best way, but once I had fruit flies and I got rid of them by setting out a plate of ketchup to attract them, then while they were hovering over the ketchup I sucked them up with the hose atatchment on my vacuum cleaner.

A friend of mine told me to take a wine bottle with a little bit of wine at the bottom (drink most of it first) ( : Hee hee. Then take a piece of paper and roll it to a tiny point at the top and place it in the bottle and tape around where the paper connects to the bottle head. The fruit flies will find their way in to get the "juice" but won't be able to find their way out through the tiny hole. I guess it's suppose to work great. Put a few around the house. I need to do this soon. Our house in going on the market and we just got fruit flies last week. ) : Oh! And don't buy bananas from Sunfresh in Westport. They are crawling with flies every time. ) :

they usually gather in the trap of your sink. Have your husband (or of u feel daring), remove the u shaped section of pipe from under the kitchen sink, empty all its cloggy, nasty contents, wash it, and replace it. Then run vinegar (lots) through the sink, using the garbage disposal briefly as the vinegar passes (if you have one), then flush for about 3min with water. Give it couple days for the ones you've already got to die and you shouldn't have new ones (if its like most cases; if not they can somtimes gather in your dishwasher trap--if no relief try running the dishwasher empty a few times). Also, they like any trash or water, so its not just fruit that needs to be put away... make sure your trash can in the kitchen is a covered one and its emptied regularly, keep up on the dishes, and leftover food laying out, they will feed on any of it. Good Luck!

If there is nothing to eat they die off in a couple days. Fruit flies are also known as bar flies (not kidding) and sewer flies. Bars have a real problem with them since they love beer. Bananas are their favorite fruit because it stays moist. What they eat is moist nasty decomposing stuff. Look for anything that is moist, drain trap, garbage disposal, trash. I had them a few weeks ago and couldn't figure out where they were coming from. I started making sure my disposal was ran at least twice a day and they went away. Apparently my kids were putting stuff in there and not running it. Yum!!

Sometimes the fruit flies can "hang out" in your sink drains. Pour some white vinegar down the drains and that will take care of them. Good luck in getting rid of them!

C.

Putting bleach down the sinks, as someone mentioned, really is the best way.
Always wash your produce immediately when you get it home. A simple rinse in cool water and gently rubbing it all over with you hands while rinsing will usually be good enough. Those fruit fly eggs (too tiny to see) are all over your produce. ESPECIALLY the bananas. The idea is to wash them away before they can hatch. (Yes, even the bananas.) It's worth the effort to not have those annoying things in your face all day and night in your own home.

You should mix 1/3 cup water and 1/3 cup apple cider vinegar in a bowl, and add a few drops of dish soap. The fruit flies go to the liquid and drown. It is absolutely amazing. This recipe is compliments of treehugger.com.

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/07/treehugger-tip-ec...

I know this will sound nuts but it has worked wonders for me!! I got a jelly window cling for the 4th of July. You know, the kind you stick on the window. All of the fruit flies have gotten stuck to it and died. Seriously, I pull their little dead bodies off daily with a paper towel. It is amazing. Once a week, I take it off the window and rinse it off really good. I found some new ones that are flowers at Walgreen the other day. (I'm getting sick of fireworks!) Try it ~ zero nasty smelly bowls of stuff on your counter to spill or for your kids to get into.

I had them and I read somewhere to put out a dish of vinegar(I used the apple cider(brown)) and put a little dish soap in the vinegar. The vinegar attractes(sp) and the soap holds in vinegar it has worked for me everytime I get bananas I get them. Hope it helps it sounded funny to me when I read it but it has worked.
S.

I tried this trap I found on the web and it worked great!

Make a soda bottle trap:

-Remove the lid and label from a clean, empty plastic two-liter soda bottle.

-Carefully remove the upper third of the bottle by cutting along its circumference at approximately where the top of the label used to be.

-Put an attractive liquid such as orange juice or cider vinegar in the cup-shaped part of the now-severed bottle.

-Turn the cone upside-down and insert it into the cup-shaped bottom part of the bottle. Seal the seam at the top of the bottle with duct tape.

-Fruit flies find their way into the bottle, but they can't get back out. After most flies are trapped inside, simply seal the bottle in a plastic shopping bag and throw out.

we just got rid of our fruit fly infestation by using a spray from home depot,( my husband bought it so I do not knwo the name,) we used it in the one room where the flies were found, they were eating melon skin in a waste paper basket in my sons room) If you ask, at home depot what spray is safe around pets and kids they will tell you. I also kept all the fruit in the fridge even bananas. I also read online that if you put a slice of apple in a ziplock bag, the flies will be attracted to it and once in there could be sealed up. I did this is two places with a watermelon slice and caught some.....but they all disappeared after 3 days or so, and I didn't think they would ever be gone. Make sure your disposal is clean as well otherwise they find food to eat in there. Hope this helps.

I have fruit flies in my house just the kitchen area,mainly my source of them is Bananas.I have cleaned over and over again.But since I have started to use bleach water 1cup bleach then the rest water in a large spray bottle they are disappearing.

UGH me too! We got the sticky traps and have found them very helpful! I also saw a home remedy online where you use an empty baby jar-food container with a hole poked in the top. Put a small bit of honey lining the bottom of the jar. Now the flies can get in but not out. I haven't tried it, but it sounds like it couldn't hurt to try! Hope that helps

T. I have the perfect solution for you! I get this problem ever so often and this works every time...There are 2 solutions...the first--get a jar and fill 1/3 w/ apple cider vinegar (has to be apple cider vinegar) then make a paper funnel so that the narrow end is just an inch or so from the vinegar...I use tape around the outside so none can escape..Pretty soon the flies will fly/crawl down in there. Once they go thru the narrow opening, they cant get back out! The other thing you can do that works but not as effective/fast--fill a shallow bowl w/ the apple cider vinegar and cover w/ saran wrap. Poke tiny holes in top. The flies will crawl in but won't know how to get out! Good luck! R.

It just so happens that our bug guys came last week to spray at my work. A lady that I work with has the same problem. The gentlemen told her that it is not just fruit that attracts them. There could be food somewhere that was maybe dropped and they can live on that and multiply. Also there is a little bit of soda left in a can or plastic bottle, they are attracted to it. Hope this helps!

Hi T....

Did you check to make sure that you got up all the resdiue of the old fruit? Sometimes when fruit flier linger in my kitchen I double check and there's usually some juice or something else kinda grody in the bottom of my fruit bowl or on the counter. Also check in and around the trash can for something similar. That's about all I can suggest! Good luck, they sure are annoying!

Put some cider vinegar in a small glass bowl. Add a couple drops of dish washing liquid. Put it on your counter. They are attracted and get stuck in it. I doubted this when I read it in an email forward but it got rid of my fruit flies!!

Someone else posted a similar request a little while ago and since I have also had this problem, I tried a few of the suggestions. The soap in thing did not work for me. It got a couple of them but nothing worth mentioning. I might not have done that right though. I hung up one of those sticky fly traps which really does work but it takes a couple of days. I just put it in a corner that wasn't as noticeable since they really aren't very attractive. The biggest problem with those is that they only get the ones flying around and not the eggs. So I poured some bleach down the sink and that has seemed to really help. The vinager down the sink might work too. They live in your disposal so even though you probably originally got them from the fruit, they don't stay there very long. Hope this helps!

I agree with the vinegar suggestion. This has happened to me twice! The first time... potatoes. Like the other responder, there was a rotton one in the bin. The other time, it was a rotten onion in the onion bowl. So.. fruit flies don't just like fruit!

I am guessing they will eventually die off... I know that I had a problem when I did not take the time to wash my fruit RIGHT away when I got home from the grocery store.

Banana peels are great carriers... I make sure to wash the skins and especially where they all joing together.

Good Luck!