How To Get Rid of Fruit Flies

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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

© 2009, Tara Ziegmont. All rights reserved.

Tagged as: fruit flies, kitchen

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