I had a banana spoil underneath the kids' backpacks. By the time I realized it, I had a swarm of fruit flies. Now, despite cleaning festidiously and putting all fruit in the refrigerator, I cannot seem to get rid of the fruit flies. Any suggestions?
A few tablespoons of apple cider vinegar and a drop of dishwashing soap in a small dish will work every time. Good luck!
Try a little water, T. or two sugar, t. vinegar and a drop or two of dish. I tried this and they all end up in the dish somehow..dead of course. It will take a day or two.
Put a few cups of water mixed with liquid dish soap on your counters. The flies go in and drown.
C.,
Now that you have disposed of the source, that is a great start. Until the problem is gone, you should keep all fruit put away where they cannot get to them, and all counters/sticky spots clean.
What worked for me was to put Apple Cider Vinegar (about 1 inch or so) in a leftover water bottle. When I would see there were a lot of f/flies in there, I would close the lid QUICKLY, and then dispose of it. You can flush them down the toilet or toss it in the garbage. Either way, keep doing this until the number of fruit flies you catch is zero, and even then, do it for a few days more to be safe. It will take about a week or two and may get better and then worse again. But it does work if you stick to it.
PS - I tried the wine, the sticky tape and the dishsoap that others mentioned and this was the only thing that worked for me.
Good luck,
Denise
Poor bleach down your drain a few times a day and they will go away. I don't know why it works but it does.
apple cider vinegar!
This is a little trick that I found out accidentally...and you have to be willing to waste some wine :-)
Put out a glass with a little bit of white wine in the bottom. The flies try to get it and they drown.
This always helps when we have a few stragglers still around, I don't know how well it will work with a swarm, good luck.
Leave a glass of vinegar out and they will swarm to it. Just dump the glass out when filled with fruitflies.
Some of the home remedies here probably work just as well, for less money, but I have used fruit fly traps from Gardner's Supply Co. and they work great. You can check out the link below.
http://www.gardeners.com/Soapstone-Box-with-Two-Fruit-Fly...
The best way I've ever used was to fill a mason jar about halfway with apple cider vinegar. The are attracted to the "sweet" smell of it and get trapped inside. Then you just dump the vinegar out and wash your glass really well.
I either put an over ripe banana in a brown lunch bag. let it sit aday or so, then peek in. They should all be in there. Quickly close the bag without moving it and then throw it away.
Or, spray them with a soapy water solution to get them mid-air and wipe them up with a papertowel. There's something in the soap where they can fly for a little bit.
