Fruit fly problem

[oregonpachey]

This is so embarrassing. We have never had an issue with fruit flies before. For some reason, they are out of control in our house.

We don't have any rotting fruits/veggies. I keep the house and kitchen clean so I don't know what they are attracted to.

Does anyone have a good solution to get rid of these f'ers?

[SJ]

SAME HERE.

They are driving me crazy!!

[laptopvixen]

You will get a thousand suggestions.

Do this:

Put all fruits and veg (incl. onions and garlic) into your fridge or cupboards.

Put out a shallow dish of vinegar (cider is best, but red wine also works) with a dollop of dish soap in it (this breaks the surface tension).

Count the bodies.

[laptopvixen]

People are going to tell you to pour bleach down your sink drain, but I didn't.

My exterminator said they lay eggs in damp, narrow places, like some of the caulk between our sink backsplash and countertop is peeling away and he suggested fixing that.

[hbomdiggity]

Oct 9, 2012 12:13:48 GMT -5 laptopvixen said:

People are going to tell you to pour bleach down your sink drain, but I didn't.

We also had a horrible problem and it has improved dramatically since I've poured bleach down the drain.

[puppyluv]

We left an open bottle of wine that was almost finish on the counter. It had about a cup left. The fruit flies fly in to the wine and die. It got rid of most of them.

[patches31709]

Oct 9, 2012 12:12:09 GMT -5 laptopvixen said:

You will get a thousand suggestions.

Do this:

Put all fruits and veg (incl. onions and garlic) into your fridge or cupboards.

Put out a shallow dish of vinegar (cider is best, but red wine also works) with a dollop of dish soap in it (this breaks the surface tension).

Count the bodies.

Yes, this. My mom just had a horrible fruit fly infestation, and this is what took care of it.

Regarding the bleach down the drain thing - I think drain flies are different from fruit flies, so I think the bleach would work for drain flies and probably not for fruit flies, since they probably aren't in the drain in the first place.

[momof2boys]

Oct 9, 2012 12:12:09 GMT -5 laptopvixen said:

You will get a thousand suggestions.

Do this:

Put all fruits and veg (incl. onions and garlic) into your fridge or cupboards.

Put out a shallow dish of vinegar (cider is best, but red wine also works) with a dollop of dish soap in it (this breaks the surface tension).


Count the bodies.

This is what we did. I believe we got the fruit flies from bananas we bought. I did the above which worked. Then a week later I bought bananas again and the problem came back! I did this again, and dumped vinegar down the drain as well. I also avoided buying bananas for several weeks. I put out a few shallow bowls of the vinegar, two with apple cider vinegar and one with red wine. Apple cider definately collected the most dead bodies by far!

[juliabug]

Put apple cider vinegar in a shallow dish, covered it tightly with plastic wrap and poked small holes in the top. Within a few days, we were completely fruit fly free.

[isabel]

I'm curious if they might be drain flies, not fruit flies. In either case, I would go ahead and do the vinegar thing (cider vinegar is best), cover it with plastic wrap and poke holes in it. That way if they don't land in it they won't be able to get back out either. I would also pour bleach down the drain, wet a towel with hot water and stuff it into the drain. If they are drain flies, that will help kill them, and any fruit flies or escaped drain flies will die in the vinegar.

ETA: I work in a restaurant and we deal with this problem every summer. These are the two solutions we've found to work consistently.

[Norticprincess]

Plastic water bottle cut off the top and invert it so it looks like a funnel. Tape it in place. I usually mix a little honey in with the apple cider vinegar and put that in the bottle.
Had a horrible problem with them during a wine making attempt. (Putting some of the fermenting wine in the bottle works too)

[gtkim]

I just recently had what I thought were fruit flies, but in the end I think they were drain flies.

The cider vinegar trick worked like a charm! They were gone in no time. I also poured vinegar down my drains and ran my disposal with lemons and ice to thoroughly clean them and haven't had a problem since. Good luck!

[twodogsandababy]

I just got rid of a ton of fruit flies last week. I did the vinegar/dish soap thing with cider vinegar. I also took EVERYTHING off my counters and cleaned everything with bleach including the cupboard doors. We started buying bananas again but I am keeping them in the fridge just in case.

[statlerwaldorf]

The apple cider vinegar and dish soap worked for me.

[takeonyou]

I had an awful fruit fly problem last week! They came in on the bananas. I've been keeping all fruit in the fridge and did a deep clean on the kitchen. I did baking soda/vinegar in the drain just in case. They are gone now.

I wonder why they are so bad this year?

[Deleted]

Oct 9, 2012 13:15:50 GMT -5 puppyluv said:

We left an open bottle of wine that was almost finish on the counter. It had about a cup left. The fruit flies fly in to the wine and die. It got rid of most of them.

This has worked best for us too.

[jenn248]

We do a dish of apple cider vinegar with a little bit of honey.