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How can I get rid of fruit flies, when my home is clean?
The other weekend I had to leave town unexpectedly and ended up being gone the whole weekend. When I returned I came to realize I had left out the bananas and cantoloupes I had gotten just before I left and they were all molding and my home was full of these tiny little gnats that just won't go away. I keep a clean home but I still can't get rid of the little buggers. I have tried using vinegar as well, two people told me to do this. But its just made my kitchen smell like vinegar. Any helpful advice?
ok thanks for the suggestions, lizzie that was a bit overwhelming, but may prove to be useful. i would like everyone to know that i do have enough common sense to throw away rotten fruits. I didnt just leave them there and say, "Oh no, where are all there gnats coming from?" But at any rate I will be trying some of these and when I find the one that works, I will judge the best answer. Thanks again.
11 Answers
- Anonymous1 decade agoFavorite Answer
Remove the food source and breeding areas. Fruit flies have a life-cycle of 10 days, giving them plenty of time to punish you for leaving moist, fermenting, organic material in which they may lay eggs. Most fly trap ideas only serve to illustrate the flies' progress in taking over your home, and some will themselves provide a breeding ground. Sanitation is the only effective resolution. Address these frequent problem spots:
Wash all dishes. Clear the drains.
Launder the dishrags, or at least wash them thoroughly with soap, rinse them well and wring them dry before hanging them up (don't leave them in the sink).
Store trash in a covered bin.
Get rid of flowers in the area. All they really need is sugar, and nectar can provide a source.
Do not toss food garbage into waste-paper baskets.
Cover your fruit bowl or store fruit you wish to keep in the refrigerator. Also, raisins, dates and prunes are favorite attractants.
Discard all overripe fruit.
Clean opened containers of fruit juice, fermented or vinegar products, for example ketchup, siracha or cooking wine. Seal them well. Keep these in the refrigerator if possible.
Wipe up crumbs and spills from your cabinets, counter and floor.
Take out all trash
They love rotten bananas, so get rid of those.
Do your laundry.
Clean the seals of your refrigerator door, the top and under the fridge, especially clean the evaporation pan if it has one.
Clean under and around your dishwasher and stove.
Dump mop water, clean the pail, launder the mop rag.
Remove damp lint from the laundry room.
Take out your compost and keep your collection bin covered and food additions to your pile buried beneath yard waste.
Do not use manure, beer or rank water for fertilizer near the house.
Use screens for your doors and windows.
Make a bowl trap:
Put a piece of old skinless fruit and some wine, or some balsamic in a bowl (think like the flies: what do you want for dinner?).
Cover the bowl tightly (no wrinkles) with plastic wrap.
Poke many small holes in the plastic with a fork. The fruit flies go in and can't get out (if the holes are too big they will fly back out).
Make a plastic zip lock bag trap:
Place a few slices of an apple inside a zip lock bag
Leave an inch open to allow pests to enter. The little pests will soon be on and surrounding the apple.
Zip the bag closed and crush each one with your fingertips.
Make a funnel trap:
Make a cone out of the sheet of paper (like a funnel). Tape the outside of the cone so that it stays in place.
Check that the cone fits snugly into a glass or cup.
Cut off the tip of the cone so that you now have a funnel.
Pour a small amount of cider vinegar into the glass or cup. (Rum mixed with orange juice also works very well - additionally, a half teaspoon of baker's yeast in water can also suffice)
Insert the funnel into the glass or cup, but don't let the bottom of the funnel touch the liquid. Tape the funnel in two or three places from the outside so that there is no gap between the glass and the cone.
Place your newly created trap on a flat surface. The flies will be attracted by the smell of the fruity vinegar and fly into the cone. The flies will slip down the cone and will either land in the vinegar and drown or will be trapped and not able to get back out. If you leave the trap overnight, the trapped fruit flies will eventually fall into the vinegar and drown.
Make a soda bottle trap:
Remove the lid and label from a clean, empty plastic two-liter soda bottle.
Carefully remove the upper third of the bottle by cutting along its circumference at approximately where the top of the label used to be.
Put an attractive liquid such as orange juice or cider vinegar in the cup-shaped part of the now-severed bottle.
Turn the cone upside-down and insert it into the cup-shaped bottom part of the bottle. Seal the seam at the top of the bottle with duct tape.
Fruit flies find their way into the bottle, but they can't get back out. After most flies are trapped inside, simply seal the bottle in a plastic shopping bag and throw out.
Make an oven trap or dishwasher trap
Remove all available food from kitchen. Clean the dishes, place open items in ziplock bags or the fridge.
Open the door of your oven and place a piece of fruit (banana or kiwi peels) in there overnight. (DO NOT DO THIS METHOD WITH A GAS OVEN. Electric ovens only)
Wake up early the next morning and quietly close the oven door.
Turn on the oven to 400ºF/200ºC for about 10-15 minutes and majority of your fruit flies will be gone.
Clean the oven thoroughly.
Make a glass trap:
Put a piece of fruit in a glass.
Cover the glass tightly with plastic wrap and secure to the glass.
Put a small hole in the plastic. The fruit flies go in and can't get out.
Make a wine trap:
Put a small amount of sweet wine in a little bowl.
Take your finger tip and put a very tiny amount of dish soap on it, p
- Anonymous5 years ago
We had flies really bad this summer. I too, tried everything including the tapes, water in a bag over the door, chemicals, and home remedies. The best and only solution was to purchase a fly swatter, and start killing them. We also quit buying fruit ,and keeping all foods in fridge, or sealed container, making sure that no more flies came into the house while the doors were opened, and not putting food of any kind in the trash unless it too was sealed in a bag.
- 1 decade ago
The best way to avoid fruit flies is to put any fruit that you don't mind being cold in the refridgerator. Fruit such as banana's should only be left out at room temperature until they start turning black. They then should be thrown away to avoid the fruit flies from appearing.
- Jim WLv 71 decade ago
Remove all of the fruit to the outside, the life cycle of the fruit flies is about 3 days. A little time and no place for them to lay eggs and they will die out. All fruit and vegetable should be kept refrigerated or moved outside like house plants. Personally, the vinegar has never worked for me.
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- 1 decade ago
We had this problem at a restaurant I worked at.
To kill the nasty little buggers, we would leave out a bit of red wine. We'd come in to work the next morning to find a bowl of drowned little guys.
- 8 years ago
Like one of my readers, their problem was caused by rubbish being too close to the house (and not been properly sealed). I highly recommend that you investigate that possibility. Good luck!
- 1 decade ago
Get some fly paper. That should do the trick. Also keep any fruit and vedge in the fridge until the problem goes away
- 1 decade ago
well... if you are near a coburns they sell some kind of insect repellent that is a fruit and you should realize it cause it has a warning sign on it that says,"DO NOT EAT!!!!!" i recommend those
- Anonymous7 years ago
put out a glass of juice
- 1 decade ago
I have used Febreeze deodorizing spray. I spray it around the house...the bugs hate it! You can also get a lizard...they love bugs!