Fruit flies: Where do they come from and how do you get rid of them?

[dvs]

what can you do to get rid of them?

i just found a rotted tangering in the middle of a bag full & they're everywhere... and they're attacking my vino HELP!!

[sanrensho]

what can you do to get rid of them?

Find a glass jar with a screw top, punch some small holes in it and fill with a sugar-vinegar solution. The suckers will drown in the vinegar.

[annecros]

what can you do to get rid of them?

i just found a rotted tangering in the middle of a bag full & they're everywhere... and they're attacking my vino  HELP!!

←

Aren't they irritating? I had fruit fly issues over the holidays.

I like the solution offered in the previous post. Lure the little suckers and drown them.

[jturn00]

My building in NY had a horrible problem. I had a exterminator in twice but that didn't work. Turns out there was a horrible messy tenant on my floor and they were coming from there. I think the vinegar works but I am not sure if you need something to break the water tension like a drop of dawn.

I found a lot of information on the internet....

[johnder]

Just buy a few of these suckers.

[nakji]

My husband likes to suck them in with the vacuum. Not a particularly effective or long-term solution; but he finds it very satisfying when they've pushed him over the edge.

I have a friend who swears by putting a small dish of wine out - he says the alcohol will kill them. I'm not sure if this is true or not. It seems like a waste of good wine to me. I've always used a small dish of rice vinegar, with a piece of plastic wrap stretched over the top. I poke small holes in with a toothpick. They check in, but they don't check out.

[jayt90]

I have a friend who swears by putting a small dish of wine out - he says the alcohol will kill them. I'm not sure if this is true or not. It seems like a waste of good wine to me.

←

It's a good use for bad wine!

[Darcie B]

I use a wine bottle with about 1/2 inch of wine at the bottom. The suckers fly in, get drunk(?), and apparently can't figure out how to get out. Anyway, they die in there. Also make sure to refrigerate ANY other possible sources of food for them (i.e. any fruit or veggies/breads on the counter, regardless if they are ripe or not).

"Time flies like an arrow, fruit flies like a banana." - Groucho Marx

[dvs]

thanks guys... i have the vinegar & sugar solution w/ plastic wrap that holes punched in on the counter... there are a couple in there DYING as we speak...

a couple renegades are still vying for my vino though...

[snowangel]

Also, keep your trash and recycling containers either empty and washed out or empty.

[scott123]

When I worked at Whole Foods, we had a major fruit fly infestation. The traps (either home made or commercial) will only get you so far. The not so secret approach to all bug infestations is to remove all potential sources for food. Clean like you've never cleaned before. Your wine may have sticky residue on the bottle (cleanable) or the flies could be attracted to the porous cork (uncleanable). If it is the cork that's attracting them, I'm not sure what to do. You might want to take your wine outside. It's tricky, temperatures close to freezing will kill these buggers but at the same time, you don't want to freeze your wine. You might want to look into diatomaceous earth. DE is a non toxic powder that can be used in the vicinity of food to kill insects.

[Mallet]

In my lab, we use fly traps baited with a piece of very ripe banana and a splash of cidder vinegar (a small pinch of yeast helps too). Make at least 2 of these, and cycle them in and out of the freezer every 2 days to keep flies from breeding inside the traps (you always have one trap out on the counter and another in the freezer).

[jayt90]

When I worked at Whole Foods, we had a major fruit fly infestation. The traps (either home made or commercial) will only get you so far.  The not so secret approach to all bug infestations is to remove all potential sources for food. Clean like you've never cleaned before. Your wine may have sticky residue on the bottle (cleanable) or the flies could be attracted to the porous cork (uncleanable). If it is the cork that's attracting them, I'm not sure what to do. You might want to take your wine outside. It's tricky, temperatures close to freezing will kill these buggers but at the same time, you don't want to freeze your wine. You might want to look into diatomaceous earth. DE is a non toxic powder that can be used in the vicinity of food to kill insects.

←

Lowering the temp of a wine storage area to to 32-40F is OK if the temperature reduction is slow, over a week or so. My cellar goes down to 40F every winter, and I have good wines back to 1982.

I would personally look carefully at diatomaceous earth, sometimes sold as vermiculite. While it has many great properties it is linked to asbestosis and is often found where asbestos was mined. I haven't seen it sold as a powder, like pyrethrin.

[bavila]

Also pay attention to your disposal or sink area as a breeding ground or food source.

[WolfChef]

I've never seen diatomaceous earth sold as vermiculite. You might be thinking of something else similar. d.earth is a very, very, very fine powder. I've used it as a filter medium for aquarium fish. It will filter out everything suspended in aquarium water, leaving the water absolutely crystal clear. It's also used to kill insects without pesticides. I might be wrong but I think the d.earth does this by being so very fine and so abrasive it gets into and causes problems with the exoskeliton of insects. Someone at the tropical fish store I used to work at(years ago) said it was a mined product that was basically the remains of the microscopic sea creatures diatoms. The vermiculite I've seen is heat expanded mineral approximately 1/8 to 1/4 inch in size and has been associated with asbestos.

When we had fruit flies last year we cleaned and removed the food sources from them. Our biggest culprit was the unwashed container we put all the vegetable and fruit scraps in before taking them to the compost.

[Malawry]

Every time I've had a fruit fly problem, I've dealt with it by keeping everything scrupulously clean and refrigerating absolutely all fruits and vegetables (even onions and potatoes, which I normally wouldn't put in the fridge). Take out the trash, recycling, and compost religiously. Within a week, they've always vanished.

[Catherine Iino]

I asked a biologist friend how labs dealt with escaped fruit flies, and she told me to make a paper cone with a tiny opening at the tip, place it in a glass or jar with a little vinegar and detergent in the bottom. I found that putting tape around the juncture between the rim of the jar and the paper helps. But then, quite by accident, I discovered the perfect fruit fly trap: a Kikkoman soy sauce bottle--the kind with two small holes at opposite sides of the plastic top, for pouring shoyu at the table--with a tablespoon or so of soy sauce left in the bottom. The eureka moment was a little gross, but, boy, it sure works. The little buggers can find their way in but not out.

[rxrfrx]

If you're not using a genius mechanical trap a la the soy sauce bottle, definitely add some dish soap to the mixture. I had a lot of success with wide bowls filled with water/sugar/salt/vinegar/soap. The suckers fly right in an drop dead.

[jayt90]

I've never seen diatomaceous earth sold as vermiculite.  You might be thinking of something else similar.  d.earth is a very, very, very fine powder.  I've used it as a filter medium for aquarium fish.  It will filter out everything suspended in aquarium water, leaving the water absolutely crystal clear.  It's also used to kill insects without pesticides.  I might be wrong but I think the d.earth does this by being so very fine and so abrasive it gets into and causes problems with the exoskeliton of insects.  Someone at the tropical fish store I used to work at(years ago) said it was a mined product that was basically the remains of the microscopic sea creatures diatoms.  The vermiculite I've seen is heat expanded mineral approximately 1/8 to 1/4 inch in size and has been associated with asbestos.

When we had fruit flies last year we cleaned and removed the food sources from them.  Our biggest culprit was the unwashed container we put all the vegetable and fruit scraps in before taking them to the compost.

←

When I google D.E. along with vermiculite, and asbestosis there is plenty of information linking all three. The best advice from these sites is to purchase D.E. that has been certified safe for humans, on the package.

[aliénor]

come and live in new hampshire. no fruit fly problems even with the compost jar open all nite. my kitchen temperature is sometimes down to 50 or so. i envy those of you who have fruit fly problems in january.

[Arianna]

don't they only live for like 48 hours or so? so if you just put everything in the fridge (or just eat it all or something) and clean up everything, then in theory you only have to wait two days until they are all gone, right?

that's why they run so many breeding experiments on them. they should breed them not to eat fruit, dang nabbit!

[Mallet]

don't they only live for like 48 hours or so?  so if you just put everything in the fridge (or just eat it all or something) and clean up everything, then in theory you only have to wait two days until they are all gone, right?

that's why they run so many breeding experiments on them.  they should breed them not to eat fruit, dang nabbit!

←

Unfortunately adult fruit flies can live for weeks, so getting rid of a big infestation isn't always so simple.

[Gabriel Lewis]

Once again they have invaded. I have an infestation of fruit flies in my kitchen and I simply cannot wait to destroy them. I have tried a trick recommended to me by a friend where you set up a bottle with a bit of jam in the bottom, and a cone in the opening with a very small hole at the tip. Unfortunately it doesn't seem to be working all that well. Any expert fruit fly exterminators out there?

[Sam Iam]

Hang a couple of strips of fly paper up at night, and shine a small spotlight on them. They should head for the paper after dark. You can take them down in the morning, to avoid getting fly paper in your hair as you are rushing to make coffee. If that happens, please post a picture!

[johnder]

Take a look at the thread here.