Fruit flies & my fruity life

Question

How is it that you have a bug free house; but once you bring in fruit you can get fruit flies? Are they impregnated into the fruit? Do they somehow fly thousands of miles to find your bannana safely succured behind your locked door?

Answer 1

I do the same as Norse, BUT I add sugar and water, and use white vinegar and within days, there are TONS of them in there!

I use a bowl, with a wide mouth, add white vinegar, about a cup, a half cup water, a lot of sugar and some dish soap, stir and I don't add the saran wrap, they WILL get in, even if it takes a little longer.  Usually within a few hours, there are at least 40 or more in there!  It's a NO fail recipe and I've used it every time they come in!

Those things are unreal!  Sprays don't work, swatting at them doesn't work, they are going to out live us all, those darn things!

I feel for you!  I had an aunt bring in figs from her tree, and she kept the container in my apartment and even AFTER she left, I had THOUSANDS of them for SIX months!  NO joke!  From August to about Feb! It was a nightmare!  I had them in EVERY room and caught about 300 a DAY in that trap!  It DOES work, just change it every other day and it will work!

Good luck!

Answer 2

I have the same issue.

It sucks and we've had to put all our fruit in the refrigerator because it was so bad at one point that we couldn't sit at the table without being swarmed.

Answer 3

i'm not sure how they get there, but i have a fail safe way to get rid of them. honest! i use this *every* summer:

get a small glass cup (like a custard cup) or a mug should work too. put in a small drop of dish-washing liquid soap.

then, take vinegar (any kind, but i don't recommend balsamic b/c it's $$$) and pour it from a height so that it makes the soap bubble. i prefer to use cider vinegar; it just seems to attract them betthern than white. if you're using a mug, put enough vinegar in to bring the level fairly close to the top.

make sure the sides and rim of the cup are dry. tightly cover w. plastic/Seran wrap. if the rim is wet, the seran won't seal well. use a toothpick to poke holes in the top. place the vinegar/soap mixture near the fruit or other hot spot for the flies.

give it a day or 2 and they will be trapped in the vinegar solution. the vinegar attracts them, the soap kills them and the plastic prevents them from escaping. after a few days it's like a little fruit fly graveyard.

Answer 4

They seem to come out of nowhere don't they?

But ther're all over the place.( Not just in your home).

They don't like cold.

If you refridgerate your fruit, that's the end of the fruit flies.

( I know, banana's should not be refidegerated) but as the saying goes "You can't kiss all the pretty girls".

That being said, on average we consume about 1lb of bugs per year per person.

Of course we don't see those bugs.

They are in almost all of our foods.

Chocolate

Tomato sauce

Pizza sauce

Jams

Jellies

Breads

Fruits

Almost all veggies.

The FDA published what is called an action defect level which gives the allowable amounts of bugs, bugs parts and rodent hair allowed in a certain measurement of food.

I can send you that link( I hope your not squeemish)

Bottom line?

Be happy your seeing them. Remember,

It's not the bugs you see, it's the bugs you don't see( those are the ones your eating).

I'll edit and send you a link( and it's true).

here you go.( a little gross but you get use to it).

http://www.sixwise.com/newsletters/05/06...