Kitchen Flies

[Cyberider]

I had a mini-infestation a few months ago.  First a few small flies and then more and more but I didn't discover the source until a few weeks later.  They turned out to be coming from a recently purchased (several months previously) bag of dry beans.  I've never had that problem from a bag of beans before but once I got rid of them, the fly population decreased and, fortunately, didn't get into anything else.

[Darienne]

Seeing as we are all sharing...we had no earwigs this summer (my chief hatred - I have an earwig story to end all earwig stories), but a bumper crop of ladybugs (Asian variety) in the spring, and a bumper crop of house flies in the summer and fruit flies ( constant apple production in the house).  We live on a more than 100-year old farmhouse and you cannot get rid of the cluster flies which come twice a year, spring and fall, but only to the upper storey of the house.  [Wow.  Who knew that American spelling of storey was story?)

[Okanagancook]

Funny, we have killed about 25 big flies in the last two days.  I have no idea where they are coming from.  They are down this morning, only saw two.

Is it the cold weather and they are looking for warmth?

 

[IowaDee]

Outside, the  south side of our house is plastered with box elder bugs today.  They are harmless, don't bite or eat plants but  I hate finding them in the house.  We also getting a goodly number of Japanese Beetles.  They pinch and, if stepped on, stink something horrible.  They look like cute little ladybugs but they are anything but.

[Darienne]

2 hours ago, Okanagancook said:

Funny, we have killed about 25 big flies in the last two days.  I have no idea where they are coming from.  They are down this morning, only saw two.

Is it the cold weather and they are looking for warmth?

 

Hmmmm...in the same vein...we usually have the mice coming in during the month of October and yesterday was our first mouse and today our second.   Late onset of cool weather. We are on East Central Ontario.

[Okanagancook]

We have an R2000 home so it is pretty well air tight which is why I can't fathom where they are coming from.  Weird.  Many houses here in Naramata have the same issue with mice coming in this time of year.  We get them in our outdoor kitchen area in the spring.  I bought one of those electrified tunnels to trap the mice.  A little on the pricey side but works nicely, almost no handling of the mouse:  http://homehardware.ca/en/rec/index.htm/Outdoor-Living/Yard-Maintenance/Insect-Animal-Cntrls/Animal-Controls/Traps/Electronic-Mouse-Trap/_/N-2pqfZ67l/Ne-67n/No-0/Ntk-All_EN/R-I5442990?Ntt=mice+trips&Num=0

 

 

[kayb]

The return of warm weather, after a brief flirtation with fall, has brought flies back to life. I've killed a half-dozen today while I've been in the kitchen. 

 

Sigh. I begin to believe it will never be fall. 80F today.

 

 

[gfweb]

No big fly issue this fall. But snakes have been pretty active. 

 

We had a hard frost last night, I'm hoping the herps are finally  all bedded down for the winter.

 

[JoNorvelleWalker]

So far no more flies have surfaced.

 

[JoNorvelleWalker]

Well, not flies at the moment but large black moths.  These are an inch or more long.  Not like any pantry moths I have ever seen.  I came home tonight to half a dozen in the dining room, and I just found another.  Or rather it found me.  They make you duck as they fly by.

 

I have a bad feeling about this.

[scubadoo97]

We just did a big pantry clean out after seeing these little flyin weave looking bugs.  Smaller than a black sesame seed.   Got into several spices and my Wondra.  Two large pantries were totally cleaned out and organized.  

 

 

Now I can't find anything 

 

 

Edited November 23, 2016 by scubadoo97 (log)

[Anna N]

1 hour ago, scubadoo97 said:

We just did a big pantry clean out after seeing these little flyin weave looking bugs.  Smaller than a black sesame seed.   Got into several spices and my Wondra.  Two large pantries were totally cleaned out and organized.  

 

 

Now I can't find anything 

 

 

 

Doncha just hate that?  Not the bugs but the damn tidiness of it all. 

[JoNorvelleWalker]

I just dispatched another moth.  I am afraid they will get me in my sleep.

 

[Lisa Shock]

37 minutes ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

I just dispatched another moth.  I am afraid they will get me in my sleep.

 

 

More likely, they will eat your clothes up. Check your closets.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

11 hours ago, Lisa Shock said:

 

More likely, they will eat your clothes up. Check your closets.

 

These are much darker than clothes moths and much larger, from what I have read.

 

[JoNorvelleWalker]

If it helps, I've found none yet in the bedroom nor kitchen, where most of my clothes and foodstuffs are.  The greatest number of moths have been in the dining room.  While admittedly there are grains and pasta in the dining room, it might be that the dining room gets the most light.

 

Anyhow I just dispatched two more.

 

[Anna N]

43 minutes ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

If it helps, I've found none yet in the bedroom nor kitchen, where most of my clothes and foodstuffs are.  The greatest number of moths have been in the dining room.  While admittedly there are grains and pasta in the dining room, it might be that the dining room gets the most light.

 

Anyhow I just dispatched two more.

 

"Moths that fly by day are not properly to be called moths; they do not excite that pleasant sense of dark autumn nights and ivy-blossom which the commonest yellow-underwing asleep in the shadow of the curtain never fails to rouse in us. They are hybrid creatures, neither gay like butterflies nor sombre like their own species. " Virginia Woolf 

 The full essay might make a pleasant read for you.

 

 

[sartoric]

In Australia we eat moths.

 

http://www.smh.com.au/environment/animals/bogong-moths-the-bush-tucker-superfood-swarming-canberra-20161102-gsg284.html

 

[JoNorvelleWalker]

2 hours ago, sartoric said:

In Australia we eat moths.

 

http://www.smh.com.au/environment/animals/bogong-moths-the-bush-tucker-superfood-swarming-canberra-20161102-gsg284.html

 

 

I'd love to like that post, I really would.  But I'll reserve judgement till I see your pictures in the dinner thread.

 

Though perhaps I may find out sooner...one of the four more dining room moths I just came home to was hiding in a saucepan.  Most of the moths are found near the not very well sealed sliding glass door.  Is it possible they are coming in from outside?  I also have five pots of plants (four of them herbs) by the glass door.

 

And just because I'm superstitious I threw out the pasta from the dining room.

 

[sartoric]

26 minutes ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

 

I'd love to like that post, I really would.  But I'll reserve judgement till I see your pictures in the dinner thread.

 

Though perhaps I may find out sooner...one of the four more dining room moths I just came home to was hiding in a saucepan.  Most of the moths are found near the not very well sealed sliding glass door.  Is it possible they are coming in from outside?  I also have five pots of plants (four of them herbs) by the glass door.

 

And just because I'm superstitious I threw out the pasta from the dining room.

 

It is certainly possible they are coming in from outside.

Do you leave a light on that might attract them ? Have you found any caterpillars ?

Edited November 26, 2016 by sartoric (log)

[JoNorvelleWalker]

Lights on at night, yes, but when I come home in the dark the lights are off.  No caterpillars found so far.

 

[gfweb]

Pretty cold at night for a moth to survive outside

[JoNorvelleWalker]

1 hour ago, gfweb said:

Pretty cold at night for a moth to survive outside

 

All the more reason to come in.

 

[nonkeyman]

 

On 10/26/2016 at 7:27 AM, Cyberider said:

I had a mini-infestation a few months ago.  First a few small flies and then more and more but I didn't discover the source until a few weeks later.  They turned out to be coming from a recently purchased (several months previously) bag of dry beans.  I've never had that problem from a bag of beans before but once I got rid of them, the fly population decreased and, fortunately, didn't get into anything else.

I have never had beans?? Were they wet? I have always had tomatoes, and peaches. I remember i would be in charge of wrapping them in garbage bags every night. The problem is the eggs were on the fruits themselves. So I would open the bag and find lots of new flies inside....