It is a very bad year for tomatoes in my garden. Non-stop rain caused both early and late blight in the beginning of July. I have to pick tomatoes as soon as they get up to size so they can get ripe. But fruit flies attack them way before they got ripe in storage. Only place they can’t get to my tomatoes is the fridge. But tomatoes have no chance to get ripe there. Is there any proven solution that can significantly reduce damage done by fruit flies?
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we had alot of rain here too. luckily mine ripened on the vine so no fruit flies getting to them indoors. slicing and dehydrating mine to store them until i need them.
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Wouldn’t count on that. While cleaning my fridge I discovered a nice amount of dead ones under the crisper where I could not see. Snuck in when the door opened. The few items I tried to get rid of them with all struck out. The plug in mini bug zapper didn’t work. The traps didn’t work. I’m interested to see what others say.
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Is that why my husband has been going around sweating flies, there were like 20 in one day. I didn’t know where they came from.
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My father-in-law grows lots of tomatoes, way more than they can eat, and they have them in the house on the counter from mid July until frost with fruit flies outbreaks common. When we visit my wife puts the vacuum in the kitchen with the wand attachment at the ready. Every time we go into the kitchen we power it up and suck in the cloud of fruit flies that comes up from the tomatoes with the wand attachment. They go right in and get caught in the dust in the bag so can’t get out. After a weekend visit, we’ve gotten rid of almost all of them. Of course in the month or so between visits they come back, but if you can do it everyday you can get them down to almost completely gone.
To truly eradicate, you have to have your house clear of exposed fruit and veggies for at least a week.
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add a little apple cider vinegar, non chemically treated water and a drop of palmolive original green dish soap (must be original green not concentrate) to a cup or jar. don’t stir or shake, sit out by the tomatoes. In a few days or when the bottom is full of FF, swap out for new batch. you’ll catch a lot of FF this way. Actually this is a wine makers hack but a fruit fly, is a fruit fly.
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Agree with @JesusisLordandChrist but I add a tiny amount of sugar also
Small glass with apple cider vinegar, add small amount of sugar and then a tiny amount of dish washing soap and leave out. Dish soap breaks the water surface tension and they drowned.
In a few days they will be gone
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Cultivate house spiders
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I do something similar (vinegar-based), but as a source of sugar and to add alcohol (which also attracts them), I include a splash of some liqueur I don’t like that has lived in the back of the liquor cabinet for years. Fruit fly cocktail! I also put aluminum foil over the top and poke holes in it with a toothpick, which seems to help with trapping more than otherwise. Toss and replenish about once a week and the number of fruit flies in the house is kept near zero.
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I have used only white wine (no sugar) and dish soap, and it works just as well. Just happen to have made traps for outdoors to battle SWD (which I am losing) so had the apple cider vinegar around
very simple and effective
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Thanks for pictures I don’t have any set out or I would have done a few pics also.
I no longer have any alcohol around, so can’t try adding alcohol. but I suspect you are right 
The idea behind the palmolive original green and non chemical treated water added to ACV is to start a mild fermentation in the ACV. We only use ACV with mother, not the chemical equivalent cheap gallon jugs from the store.
I wouldn’t expect fermentation from “city” tap water. But the cheap spring water gallon jugs from WM work wonderfully for fermenting. Starting up a mild ferment, draws FF in like a magnet. because FF are attracted to the fermentation gasses. I.may also add all kinds of flies will be attached not just FF.
Sorry my imperfections are showing today. I do have a jar set out after all. few FF drown in there.
Hopefully you can see the lees from the ferment in the bottom of the jar and the little mother flowing in the liquid.
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This is what I use. Eradicates fruit flies overnight.
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For vinegar fruit fly traps, unscented liquid soap is often recommended.
Only a very small amount of soap is needed, like 2 or 3 drops, to remove surface tension.
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Definitely a good par of the arsenal. FYi, any dish detergent or soap will work, and I just use straight undiluted vinegar.
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galinas, Do you have spotted-wing Drosophila fruit flies? They are an invasive pest in the Pacific Northwest that damages fruit that isn’t ripe yet.
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My effective, reliable fruit fly trap is concentrated apple cider vinegar.
A few years ago, I set out a couple of jam jars of ACV, with some sort of easy-entry-no-exit top, like a lid with a few holes punched in it. Fruit flies went in, drowned, and the ACV evaporated.
I lazily just added more ACV on top to bring the level back up.
Years later, those two jars contain a thick syrup base of condensed ACV & dead fruit flies, topped up with liquid ACV when the level decreases. I no longer bother with the hole-punched jar lid.
And I almost NEVER see a fruit fly in my kitchen.
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To tell you the truth, I am not sure. They are very small and eat tomatoes inside out. But raspberry vinegar+ few drops of cognac+ bit of sugar+ few drops of soap have really made the difference!
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Another method to keep fruit flies and other pests away from stored tomatoes is to cover them with floating row cover material. It’s a barrier to the flies but allows the tomatoes to breathe.
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