Anyone have a good way of removing fruit flies? We dont normally have a problem with them, but they apparently were on a bunch of bananas that my came home from the grocery store. Saw the apple cider vinegar traps on the internet but dont want to make a special trip into town just for apple cider vinegar.
I trap them by placing a chunk of banana in a open ziplock bag and lure them all in and close the ziplock. Take the bag outside and release them and trap them again until all gone.
Good luck,
Tony
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Along with traps I have a small fan sitting on the counter by the fruit stash - it makes it hard for the flies to land on the fruit.
The biggest problem we had was in the compost bin. Recently I bought a bigger bin that I use bio-bags in. If the flies get out of hand I just put a new bag on top, burying the previous layer.
I find a vacuume cleaner works great when the population gets out of control. Set out your fruit lure, wait and then suck 'em up!
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You might try white vinegar + beer. I combined cider vinegar with beer because I was having a problem with fruit flies landing directly in my beer during suppertime. I figured there was something about beer they liked.
Tony I will try the banana idea. I think it will work. As my wife left enough fruit juice in the bottom of a glass over night and I trapped a few by placing my hand over the top and taking them outside. That will teach my wife not to rinse out her glass!
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We also use the vacuum when things get out of hand, we have a battery-operated vac to suck 'em up a few times a day.
So far this year only one day needed vac treatment - a good year! In the past we stopped composting several times due to fruit fly infestations, its important to figure out how to get them under control.
No worries on not having apple cider vinegar. I set a shallow saucer of the vinegar with a drop of dishwashing liquid near ripening bananas. They didn’t go near the trap so I moved it, still nothing. Started many traps. some with saran wrap, some open, still nothing. They came to the trap but didn’t go in.The fruit flies left on their own once the food source was gone,
Next time I will be armed with the info above.
Many, many hundreds have been caught indoors here using the yellow, super-sticky fly catching ribbons sold at Lowes, etc. I stretch a couple of them out, use a twisted paper clip as a hook on top, weight down the bottom with anything heavy enough (hex nut, washers, etc.) to pull it down straight via Skotch taping it to the cardboard cylinder below. I hang them a few inches apart from a curtain near the kitchen. Right below the 2 ribbons is a styro throwaway plate which is baited with banana peeling, apple scraps, peach scraps/whatever. Any fruit flies that entered the house when doors were opening will eventually fly over to the fruit plate. When I walk by and see any on the plate/fruit, I wave to get them to fly up and commonly they go for the yellow ribbons. It seems that they want to land on the ribbons next to their buddies. Just like ducks landing by decoys. In the garage, many (!!) small flying bugs are attracted to the inside light and end up there, so at night I only keep a vertical 2 ft. long fl. lamp on with a couple ribbons beside the lamp where they hang from the garage ceiling. MANY THOUSANDS of various flying bugs have made their last landing on the ribbons over the years out here in the country. Zero Lady bugs, Assassin bugs, Dragon flies, or other “good guys”. Sadly, a bunch of Wren feathers were left on one ribbon one day when the doors were open and lights were off.
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Happy to report this morning that 99% of the fruit flies no longer reside in my house! Tony’s banana in a plastic bag idea was the down fall of most of the ones that werent squished. They like most bugs seem to be attracted to light so I found that by leaving on a kitchen counter light last night that most of the fruit flies congregated in that area. That bag had the majority of them contained within it this morning.
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http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/how-to-make-a-fruit-fly-trap-h-108577
This sort of trap with vinegar worked great for me last year. Simple and basically free.
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Great ideas. Thanks for starting this thread! We have so much fruit during the summer in my basement, fruit flies are a real problem. The apple cider traps work some, but sometimes there is just too much fruit and fruit flies.
I particularly like the ideas of the sticky fly strips or a vacuum cleaner for mass infestations. Do the fruit flies ever fly back out of the vacuum cleaner once they get sucked up?
It depends what kind of cleaner you have. The little portable one we have I just need to run long enough and it squishes them (all the debris keeps spinning around in it). For the full-sized vac we used to use it has a long hose and I don’t think many would make it all the way back out. Still, I would sometimes use an aluminum foil cover for the hose end and keep that on when not in use so they didn’t have any chance of leaving.
One minor upside of the vacuum method is it can be a fun game to play: “suck-em-up”. Disturb the fruit and then clean up the flies that pop up. I learned to “punch” a fly with the nozzle to nab one that is getting away.
A many-pronged approach has been how we have been able to finally get them under control. Sometimes one thing will not be working well but one of the other approaches will help. I have also done the seal-the-bag method. I have not done the fly paper but might get some of that for a future bad infestation.
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I need to check closely to be sure but I think the problem we are having is with fungus gnats not fruit flies. Both types of insects seem to be attracted to fruit and the compost container we keep in our kitchen. Yellow sticky traps are supposed to be effective but I might try the banana is a zip lock idea as well.
against fruit fly can be used several methods:
1º Insecticide (Imidan)
2º vinegar
3º diammonium phosphate with water to 4%
4º ammonia with water to 5%
5º sticky traps (glue) Yellow
my methods, similar to Tony’s, is to leave fruit peels on a dish, with a salad glass bowl over it slightly propped up by a fork or knife. in the morning the fork is removed and all flies are inside, visible through the bowl. we take them outside. alternatively, and more simply, we have our little composting can with a tight lid, if left open with the lid up it fills with flies. we slam it shut and take it outside. in this case it is best to approach the can from the lid side, so they will not see your shadow and take off.