I have a fruit fly infestation, and need some advice

[AllieB]

I brought some tomatoes home from the store, and the next day I noticed dozens of fruit flies buzzing around. I just opened the garbage can, and they're in there too!

Is there any way to get rid of them without pesticides?

[sniffa]

1. get rid of the rotten fruit/food

and the fLies wiLL die.

weLcome to DU. :hi:

[AllieB]

4. Thank you for the welcome.

:hi:

I did get rid of the offending tomatoes and garbage, but there's still a few milling around. Maybe they'll die off eventually.

[sniffa]

2. ps:

do i know you from another board? (same name)

[AllieB]

5. Do you post on the HGTV board?

I post very rarely on Kos and other blogs.

[sniffa]

6. can't say i do

your s/n is aLso on frankenweb.

:hi:

[AllieB]

8. I'd like to check out frankenweb. Can you post a link?

I guess I'd have to use the name Allison to sign up. AllieB is my family's nickname for me. :-)

[sniffa]

9. have fun

http://alfrankenweb.com/forum/index.php

we have a sick sense of humor.

[Ksec]

3. get a fly strip, hang it near the flies

and in a day theyll all be sticking to the strip

That is if you can handle the nasty looks of a fly strip?

[AllieB]

13. I have a no pest strip that I'll hang.

I hope that takes care of the live ones.

[Ksec]

18. Im not sure what a no pest strip is..

I was talking about the old way with the nasty sticky fly strips.

I had a bunch of tiny flies on my front porch last year, they looked like fruit flies. The strip worked there if you can put up with the look for a day.

[short bus president]

7. they live and breed in sink/bath drains

or anywhere there's decaying organic matter and moisture. Slowly pouring boiling water over the drains MIGHT kill the eggs, but there's a pesticide that does the trick, too.

[AllieB]

11. Thank you. I did notice some around the drain.

The smell from the garbage disposal is pretty noxious also. :-(

[Midlodemocrat]

10. White zinfandel works great.

I know, sounds funny, but they are attracted to the smell and the sweetness and if you pour some in a bowl, they will drown.

Learned that trick the hard way, after drinking white zin with a friend one night when the bananas were going south.

It really does work.

[AllieB]

16. That's funny!

You just provided me an excuse to open a bottle of white wine. :-)

[progmom]

12. once you get rid of the fruits and veggies, they tend to go away too

at least, in my experience. good luck...and welcome to DU! :hi:

[AllieB]

17. Thanks for the welcome!

:hi:

[notadmblnd]

14. this time of year you can't leave anything sitting out

it doesn't have to be rotton. I even had them down my garbage disposal and in the cat food (which I just put down this morning). I used belach on the drain.Kkeep food garbage out of the trash bin and all fruit in the fridge. Dirty dishes sitting about will also draw them.

[AllieB]

21. Bleach is a good idea.

I think I'm in a no-win situation though. I cook a lot with veggies and eat a lot of fruit. I guess I could store the fruit in the fridge.

[LynneSin]

15. Get some Agar, petri dishes & a microscope....

and you can have hours of fun doing genetic experiments

(hated college genetics and especially hated fruit flies

[AllieB]

20. Yuk! no thanks.

I took genetics in college too, and switched my major to art. I couldn't handle the experiments.

[I Know How To Do it]

24. Yeah, catch some and separate them by eye color into jars.

Introduce a few different eye colored ones into a jar of same eye color.
Then read, "The Origin of the Species through means of Natural Selection."
Then write a book!

[LynneSin]

26. And then deal with fundies who claim it was Intelligent Design...

...that caused all those genetic weirdness.

I did my experiment with Curly-Wing fruit flies vs. normal

[caty]

19. Check out:

http://www.stretcher.com/stories/03/03jul21b.cfm

And--welcome to DU!!!:pals:

[AllieB]

22. Thank you. That is a great website.

:-)

[caty]

27. Glad it was

helpful.

[EC]

23. bowl of vinegar .. n/t

[Gormy Cuss]

25. there are fruit fly lure traps

I've used one where there's an attractant inside a closed trap. The flies can get in but they can't get out.
On edit: one trap is effective for at least 30 days and there's no mess.

Short of that, wash all the fruits and vegetables you have and wrap them or put them in sealed containers, and wash down the surfaces nearby, and any globes or glass shades under hanging lights. That should cut the population down.