Been fighting a fruit fly invasion...

[Riverwolf]

Maybe 6-8 weeks ago we were given a basket of homegrown plums and pears and apples.
Not knowing that while looking nice on the counter, they were slowly rotting on the bottom.
Then one day we have a happy horde of fruit flies.
We have been making the banana traps seen on youtube.
They work, disgustingly so, and now the population is down to just a few.
Besides cleaning everything and flushing the drains with hot water and bleach...
Anyone have more tips?

[Acousticado]

On the rare occasion that we experience fruit flies, we use this. Works well.

[Dogma]

They also like to breed in drains so attention to this as well as traps is important. I am not sure what is considered to be the best treatment for the sink drain but I'm sure google will turn up a suggestion or two. Bleach solution? Boiling H2O?

[godfreydaniel]

This worked for me:

https://youtu.be/XPQ1wxHUD38

[JCave]

Originally Posted by godfreydaniel

This worked for me:

https://youtu.be/XPQ1wxHUD38

It also works with wine.. We set it up in the garden window all summer long.

[fitness1]

Well, this is how we take care of mosquitoes in Michigan, so it might work for fruit flies

[Riverwolf]

Originally Posted by Acousticado

On the rare occasion that we experience fruit flies, we use this. Works well.

The banana and funnel and cut-off soda bottle works well too.
Problem is they breed on the rotting fruit and lay eggs.
Then you have little white maggot worms crawling up the inside.
Yuck!

Originally Posted by Dogma

They also like to breed in drains so attention to this as well as traps is important. I am not sure what is considered to be the best treatment for the sink drain but I'm sure google will turn up a suggestion or two. Bleach solution? Boiling H2O?

Maybe we should pay more attention to our drains.
We can't figure what they are eating or where they are breeding.

Originally Posted by godfreydaniel

This worked for me:

https://youtu.be/XPQ1wxHUD38

Yeah, same idea.
But they just keep coming.

Originally Posted by JCave

It also works with wine.. We set it up in the garden window all summer long.

Do they eat and breed before they die?
Do you have to keep changing it out?

Originally Posted by fitness1

Well, this is how we take care of mosquitoes in Michigan, so it might work for fruit flies

Best answer yet!

[Acousticado]

Originally Posted by Riverwolf

The banana and funnel and cut-off soda bottle works well too.
Problem is they breed on the rotting fruit and lay eggs.
Then you have little white maggot worms crawling up the inside.
Yuck!

Yuck, is right if it gets to that point. We’ve never had that happen. I guess we change the fruit pieces often enough...we tend to use strawberry tops in the plastic apple container after I’ve cut them off for my daily breakfast.

[Dogma]

I am remembering more about this now. I used to own a small ice cream production facility. The fruit flies would gather in the summer when we had a lot of fruit in our kitchen, but we noticed that they were around even when the fruit was not. Eventually, we noticed that they seemed to cluster around a tub of towels that was always waiting to go to the laundry. We started keeping a mild bleach solution in the tub and the towels in the water/bleach. This completely solved the fly problem. I assume they were living and or breeding in the towels before we started the bleach regime.

Take-home observation: Check your sponges and other items like that in addition to your drains. Dishwasher w/dirty dishes?

[tinnitus]

Last couple months were pretty obnoxious here too, and I killed dozens every day in multiple rooms. They drown in apple cider vinegar or wine with dish soap to weaken the surface tension. They also love to congregate around any sink drain that smells like toothpaste or mouthwash. So besides the kitchen, the bathroom is a good place to set up traps too.

[Riverwolf]

Originally Posted by tinnitus

...any sink drain that smells like toothpaste or mouthwash. So besides the kitchen, the bathroom is a good place to set up traps too.

Hmm, toothpaste and mouthwash?
Yes we have noticed the bathrooms traps having lots of them and wondering why.

[NormanKliman]

There's always flypaper, which I think I'd only seen in cartoons before having to deal with a minor infestation a few years ago. The photo in the Wikipedia entry is pretty much how it looks nowadays. You pull a sticky ribbon out of the canister it's sold in and you hang the whole contraption in the affected area.

Sounds like flypaper isn't going to be a definitive solution to the OP's problem, but I'd think it would only make things better (well, not for the flies) in the meantime.

[JCave]

Originally Posted by Riverwolf

Do they eat and breed before they die?
Do you have to keep changing it out?

We use a small open mouth container too. The ingredients attract the bugs. The bugs love red wine. They crawl in for a drink and die. You'll have lots of dead bugs to dump out. Reload and do it again.

[kizz]

A good trick is, sit on a chair and stare them down, they dont like that

[leew3]

Also from Michigan. The only way to get rid of them is with a crucifix...but you have to hit them really hard with it!