How To Get Rid of Fruit Flies
One of my first words was gubba! I was then – and continue to be – irrationally afraid of all things that creep and crawl: spiders, flies, and all of the assorted insects that inhabit my space. I can’t handle sharing my space with them.
I put on a good front most of the time, but I’m still afraid. I may nott scream or do the spider dance in front of my child or in front of my students, but I still hate the bugs.
My little sister exploits my fear of bugs. I spent most of my childhood dodging fake spiders that had been planted to scare me. I just thought I’d share.
Sometime in the last month or so, my kitchen became inhabited by fruit flies.
By inhabited, I mean infected infested overrun totally and completely overwhelmed by drosophila.
It started out as a couple of fruit flies on some overripe tomatoes. And then, someone (meaning my husband) left his produce scraps in a bucket on the counter, and the flies really thrived.
For a while, I thought the flies had left. Joe and I both made a concerted effort to keep the kitchen uber clean, and the flies almost went away. But then, someone (again, Mr. Feels Like Home) left his used coffee grounds in the (uncovered) compost bucket on the kitchen counter.
Kerpow! Instant thriving fruit fly colony.
I refused to cook because the tiny flying insects buzzing around the kitchen seriously. grossed. me. out.
That, as you might imagine, led to some marital tension.
Joe cleaned the kitchen, but the flies did not go away this time.
I became desperate. I remembered reading on Tammy’s Recipes that vinegar would trap the fruit flies. Tammy used 2 tablespoons of red wine vinegar with 1/2 teaspoon of clear Dawn dishwashing liquid.
Needing my measuring cup to make reuben casserole, I poured a little red wine vinegar into a bowl and followed it with a splash of the Clorox Green Works dish soap on my kitchen counter.
I was bummed because it didn’t appear to be working. I stood in the kitchen, smelling red wine vinegar, for about an hour. No fruit flies fell victim to my trap.
But then, I walked away. When I came back a few hours later, the bottom of my vinegar bowl was loaded with dead fruit flies. Yes!
Sorry for the disgusting photo, but I wanted to show you that it really works.
Now, if I can just get somebody (meaning Joe again) to keep the kitchen scraps outside instead of on the counter, we might be able to keep them gone.
Happily submitted to Works for Me Wednesday and Frugal Friday
Disgusting. But a trick I will be filing away. Thanks for sharing!
Aubrey´s last blog ..Little Bits From The Sick House
Good tip Tara. Our kitchen is infested too. Will try it!
We get them too and usually use (sometimes expensive if that’s all we have) white and red wines to catch them! It’s a pain in the rear to have to waste our wine to get rid of them! Thanks for sharing this Tara! I will definitely try this next time!
ErinJeany´s last blog ..PR/Media Info
Great tip! THanks for sharing!
Angie´s last blog ..Works For Me Wednesday: Chopping Block Cleaning
Oh, let me tell you how ecstatic I am you found something that actually works! We have tried all kinds of stuff at work. I just can’t get the cleaning staff that cleans our office to understand the office is also the break room so we need new trash bags daily. So, unfortunately we are infested again.
The spider dance is very funny to see if it makes you feel any better. Good thing you love me!
We do the same thing and it works for us too!
Just gotta add that I’ve read that fruit flies come out at night, when it’s cooler. So it’s best to use this recipe and leave it overnight. Thanks for sharing!
Over the summer we had some trouble with those little buggers. I wound up doing research and writing a blog post on it as well. The trick works though! Good stuff!
DAWN
Dawn (Painter Mommy)´s last blog ..I was Interviewed on Willie Crawford’s Radio Show!
We just had the fruit fly battle about a month ago…it does work.
Ann’Re @ Home´s last blog ..Frugal Friday Recipe: Pumpkin Seeds
Great tip! I will file this away for future use.
Jane
Jane´s last blog ..Energy Saving Tips
I’ll have to try that, I tried a method of making a funnel with some vingegar, but it didn’t work too well. Have you looked at any of the compost crocks, that have a lid with a filter? We have a white ceramic one that we keep on the counter.
Andres´s last blog ..Antonio Feeding the Worms
Andres – I haven’t looked into them, but I saw either you or Juli said something about one on Facebook and I was meaning to ask. Where do you find them?
Leave your response!
Connect
Featured Sponsors
Order and print your own door hangers online
www.savvysource.com
Recent Posts
Archives
Categories
Grab a button
Recent Comments
My Favorite Posts
© 2006-2010 Feels Like Home Blog. All rights reserved. No content, text or images, from this site may be used without written permission at any time.