I am having fruit fly issues in my house

[RPM]

How can i get rid of the buggers???

[AlCzervik]

1. get rid of the source, if you have fruit out on the counter put it in the

My Neice threw away a bag that still had a few grapes in it, she threw it into a bathroom barrel and the zip lock wasn't closed all the way so we had fruit flies for days until i found the source.

[RPM]

2. i cleaned the entire kitchen this weekend

still around.

should i get all food out of the house?

[HereSince1628]

14. Note...they also lay eggs on veggies.

[loftycity]

3. A cup of sweet wine put out on the counter will get rid fruit flies

Also all of the above..

[hyphenate]

4. I have the little bastards, too

in addition to the carpenter ants (which I ranted about last week) and the damned flies. I HATE THEM ALL!!!!!

I'm bombing sometime next week, I hope to get rid of them. In the meantime, if they're handing around your garbage, spray them with any of the flying insect sprays and let it sit for awhile and they'll all go to that great landfill in hell. :)

[shoelace414]

7. ants? use this

http://www.terro.com/antkiller.php

[sam sarrha]

5. I raise carniverous plants.. no problem here..

[HEyHEY]

6. "issues" huh?

I suggest flytape and some raid.

[mike_c]

8. do you know whether they're breeding indoors, or coming in...

...from outside? Fruit flies breed in rotting vegetation, so a compost bucket under the sink, the garbage can, fruit or veggies in a basket on the counter if it's getting a bit old, and so on are all prime real estate. They're also attracted to the odors of fermentation-- yeast and alcohol-- from fairly long distances, so they might be breeding outdoors and coming inside. If you can't find the source, you might try trapping them in a dish of wine left in a sunny spot on the counter-- you'll probably want to renew the wine daily because it will lose it's attractiveness. Try this outdoors in your yard, too-- not so much to trap them as to see whether their breeding source is more likely out there.

[sam sarrha]

9. i take the vacuum cleaner remove attachment and suck them up

when they get into the window sills.. they are easy targets.

when they fly in circles you have to wave it around a bit, a thrusting move will score frequently.

[underpants]

10. Time flies like a arrow

fruit flies like a banana

[Zuni]

11. oh that is a bitch

until you find the source or sources, they will be there. I had a terrible fruitfly problem in one apartment. Until i found where they came from. An old box of dry cat food

[Lexingtonian]

12. find the source

which is usually a piece of rotting fruit somewhere.

Otherwise, you can make yourself a nice trap with a ripe piece of banana or cantaloupe or peach. Put the piece of banana into the bottom of an empty bottle Make a little funnel cone out of cardboard or strong paper and tape it to the top. The hole at the tip of the cone has to be small, not much larger than a fly fits through, 1/16-1/8 of an inch. The funnel should be fairly 'steep'.

[HereSince1628]

13. They don't live very long so if you stop them from reproducing

they will go away.

They lay their eggs on fruit _AND_ vegetables (I've seen fruit fly maggots on onions and potatoes) and residues of the same. Remove ALL fruits and vegetables that are out in the open. Keep them in the fridge for the next few weeks.

Look around to be sure that there are no "loose fruits" anywhere, such as bottom of garbage can, loose inside a cabinet, etc.

The adult flies are attracted by scent to the place they lay eggs. So they often congregate within a foot or so of the fruit/veggies they are using.

Use their presence to help you home in on their egg laying site, dispose of it, and wash the site to remove the scent that attracts the flies.

Produce departments in grocery stores often use a hand vacuums to suck up the adults where they can't use insecticide. You can do the same thing, but I've found that they can survive my dust devil so dump the wee beasties outside when you're done.