Grrrr! Fruit Flies....

[Cookiebaker]

Please, please, please does anybody have a good cure for fruit flies??? Here at the office, we have a total infestation that we can't shake. My boss doesn't want to "bomb" the area or use strong chemicals, so something natural is preferred. Every day, I am very careful to wrap all trash and take care of food scraps. But they are living in the bathroom (like 200 of them at a time) where no food is, and they are everywhere. At lunchtime, they congregate right around you, and I hate hate hate them.


Uggh, can someone give me a suggestion before go absolute nutz???

[jazzcat]

We had some in the house once from banana going bad and I used some trick I found on the internet. It was a bowl of water - maybe sugar water with a drop of dish soap in it. The flies land on the water and get stuck because of the soap. It worked but I only had a few.

Here's what I just found on the internet. Probably won't work too well for a major infestation though.

Mix the following ingredients together in an open jar or other container (the quantities are relative to how many flies you're trying to get rid of):

1/2 qt water (2 c)
2 T sugar
2 T (white) vinegar
a couple drops of liquid dishsoap
Leave the mixture sitting out in the infested area, as long as needed.

[DJFyrewolf36]

Originally posted by jazzcat
We had some in the house once from banana going bad and I used some trick I found on the internet. It was a bowl of water - maybe sugar water with a drop of dish soap in it. The flies land on the water and get stuck because of the soap. It worked but I only had a few.

Here's what I just found on the internet. Probably won't work too well for a major infestation though.

Mix the following ingredients together in an open jar or other container (the quantities are relative to how many flies you're trying to get rid of):

1/2 qt water (2 c)
2 T sugar
2 T (white) vinegar
a couple drops of liquid dishsoap
Leave the mixture sitting out in the infested area, as long as needed.

This is what I was going to suggest too. If you get a big bucket, the dumb flies will pretty much ALL be trapped. Be sure to empty regularly though

[lizzielou742]

Originally posted by Cookiebaker
But they are living in the bathroom (like 200 of them at a time) where no food is, and they are everywhere. At lunchtime, they congregate right around you, and I hate hate hate them.

Yuuuck! You've got to seriously disinfect that bathroom. They may be breeding in the drains/pipes, and in that case I believe you'll have to break out the chemicals to kill the larvae. You have to figure out where the breeding is going on, or else killing the adults will do you no good. Clean the trashcans, the floors, make sure there isn't water seeping into the walls of your bathrooms through the tiles. Make sure all windows are closed, all screens are intact. Clean the sink drains, look in the toilet tank, everywhere you can think of.

From http://www.doyourownpestcontrol.com/fruit_fly.htm:

The fruit fly larvae may feed on the sides of the drain and in the drain trap if there is an accumulation of organic debris there. You can check it by placing some tape over the opening (leave some opening for air flow). If you find these flies stuck to the tape, you have discovered the source.

Again, major yuck. I wouldn't be able to handle it. (pukes)

[sirrahbed]

nothing like calling up a thread from 4 years ago!!

But, for several days early this week - I kept seeing the little fruit flies/knats or whatever. Usually I find some ripe bananas to throw away and the flies are gone....but not this time. So, I did a *search* on (where else?) Pet Talk and found this old thread with the idea about sugar/water/vinegar. I put out several glasses of this - think it was on Tuesday. I looked last night and was grossed out by how many knats were drowned in the waterProbably at least 30 of them. Anyway, I poured them out, made up another batch and now - no more fruit flies at all While all this was going on I cleaned out the drains and disposer, plus threw out some ripe bananas and squishy potatoes. I never did find out the source of the knats but they seem to be completely gone. So - I figured I better post my results and thank you PT