How do you get rid of fruit flies?

Question

i live by the beach and i have 3 different fruit trees in my backyard... how do i get rid of those damn little fruit flies from comming in my house?

Answer 1

Get some fly Stickers and make shore that all fruit and food is taken care of in the house and cleaning up the yard would help too

here's a web site

doyourownpestcontrol.com/fruit_fly.htm

Answer 2

1. Get a small jar you don't plan on using again ( like a baby food jar or something similar ) and wash it out well. Make sure it is not a jar with a funky smell such as a used pickle jar or anything that use to have strong spices. You want a clean, odorless jar.

2. Take a chunk of banana and place inside the jar. This is why you want a clean, odorless jar - so that the banana smell won't be overpowered by other not-so-tempting smells. Banana seems to work the best, but you can experiment.

3. Fit a piece of plastic wrap over the top of the jar, making sure that it fits tight and well sealed around the edges. Then take a pen or pencil and poke 4 to 5 holes in the plastic, just big enough for a fruit fly to fit into. Once a fruit fly crawls in, it can't get out. You would think they would just fly back out through the holes, but they won't!

4. Place the jar in an area where you have seen the most fruit flies. Depending on the amount of fruit flies you have, you can expect to start seeing the jar fill up within just a few hours. After 24 hours, you will discover just how bad your fruit fly problem is!

This simple, inexpensive & safe method works perfectly and if you don't want the jar on public display, you can always slip it behind the garbage can, in the cupboard or even under the sink (Just don't forget about it!). You will want to empty the jar every 3-4 days before any eggs have a chance to hatch. While adult fruit flies can't easily escape through the holes, their maggots can very easily, and besides that - they are disgusting to see crawling around in the jar. You don't want to see these things crawling on your counter!

Cleaning out the jar shouldn't be a problem. If you have a kind heart, you can choose to let them go outside. Personally, I spray the little buggers with bug spray, wash out the jar and start the whole process over again if I think there are still some fruit flies left to capture.

For bad fruit fly problems, you will want to use this method for a good two weeks to make sure you've captured the majority of fruit flies. You might even want to use a few jars in different places. Before long, your kitchen will be back to normal.

Answer 3

Fruit fly traps
Jar trap
(Potter, 1994)

1. Make a paper funnel.
2. Place the paper funnel into a jar containing few amounts of fruit bait.
3. Place the jar trap wherever fruit flies are seen.



picture discription
Source: University of Kentucky
Department of Entomology

Fruit fly plastic bottle trap
Materials needed

# 1-liter plastic bottle
# 6 mm iron rod
# String
# Scissors
# Bait

Procedure

1. Heat the iron rod.
2. Make holes on the neck using the heated iron rod.
3. Make a hole on the lid, big enough for the string or wire to pass through.
4. Insert a string or wire at the lid's hole.
5. Place the bait inside the bottle.
6. Hung the trap in a shady part of the tree just above the lower leaves.
7. Replace the bait at least 2 times in a week. Fresh bait is often attractive to the flies.

Fruit fly baits
# Ripe banana peel cut into small pieces and mixed with sugar, flour, and water (Mulcrone, 1998).
# Mixture of 1 tsp vanilla essence, 2 tbsp ammonia, ½ cup sugar, and 2 liters water (Mulcrone, 1998).
# Mixture of 1 cup vinegar, 2 cups water, and 1 tbsp honey (ECHO, 2003).
# Mixture of sugar, soya sauce, and ammonia (Better Homes and Gardens, 2004).

Answer 4

Fruit flies are only attracted to busted over ripe and rotting fruit. I suggest you pick all the fruit as soon as they are ripe or almost ripe and clean up the ground around the trees. If there is nothing for them to feed on they will die off and there won't be any new ones to replace them. You could also get mesh for your windows and get a screen door. For some strange reason if you put dish washing liquid in a bowl they will fall into it and drown. They don't even notice that there are other dead fruit flies in there -they all keep jumping in.

Answer 5

Exclusion and Sanitation,locate and eliminate there breeding sources.Look first for fruit fly sources in areas where fruits and vegetables or fruits are stored outside refrigeration.Other sources are,garbage cans,under appliances,and recycling bins.
When searching for fruit fly breeding sources,remember that the larva can only survive in decaying organic matter that is moist.
Whenever possible,food and materials on which fruit flies can lay their eggs must be removed,destroyed,as breeding medium,or isolated from the egg-laying adult.
Killing adult fruit flies will reduce infestation,but elimination of the fruit fly breeding areas is necessary for good management.
The fruit fly larvae may feed on the inside 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.(Note)Pouring bleach down the drain is not affective.Use a bacterial digester like df 5000.It may be used to break up the organic debris.Or Gentrol Aerosol,it is a insect growth regulator to kill fly eggs and discourage immature fruit fly development.Apply into drain,under appliances,floor mats,around plants,dumpsters,etc.
Go to www.doyouownpestcontrol.com to read the rest.

Answer 6

Fruit flies NEED rotting fruit stuffs to live & multiply on. Go outside & get rid of ALL the fallen fruit you can find- & either bury it, or put it in a double plastic bag & put it out in the trash. The little pests don't live very long- so if you can clean the place up good- they should be all gone in a week or so.

Answer 7

My mother taught me the answer to this one, she had this problem especially with bananas. She always kept a couple small little bowels of vinegar around the kitchen, one by the sink, the little buggers gotta go for water some time, and are attracted to the vinegar and fall in and drowned, she always had one in a window sill, by the fruit itself and in a room close by that they flies would go into. So yes vinegar works wonders, but also dont keep fresh fruit on the counters too long either, thus attracting them to your house! Store your fruit in your fridge if you dont plan on eating it within a few days, also keeping them out. Good Luck!

Answer 8

they are a nuisance , and i do sympathies
Fruit fly lay their eggs on rotting fruit
where the larvae thrive , and pupate and hatch in a very short span of time
If you can ( and this is not always possible ) pick up ,all fallen fruit before it rots that will reduce their breeding area.
.

Another preventative is to spray the ground around the trees with a Jeye's fluid mixture . this needs to be done over several dry days.

I find that sticky fly strips ( though disgusting ) catch and kill a great many of these tiny, annoying flies.

I don't like to use poisonous pesticides, as i have dogs and also hedgehogs and many birds in my garden .

As soon as the weather starts to get cooler , this pest will diapeare naturaly ,.If that is any comfort.

>^,,^<


we have an influx of "daddy long legs" ( crane fly),
just now and they are driving me nuts .
They hatch out of the lawn , " leather jacket pupae)" ,
as soon ,as the ground becomes soft and wet enough
AAAAAAAGH!

Answer 9

It's almost impossible to keep them from coming into the house, but you can get rid of them very quickly. I have five apple trees and a giant garden, so we often have fresh fruits and vegetables in the kitchen.

I have found that if you save your bread bags for a few days, you can use them for fruit fly traps. Put a piece of over-ripe fruit (or a banana peel) in the bottom of the bag, then put the bag on the counter with the top of the bag arranged so that a fly could get in, but have trouble finding it's way out (just smush the top down a bit and tuck it behind a fruit bowl or a toaster). Leave it for 24 hours or so, then grab the bag, twist the top shut so the flies can't escape, and throw it out in the garbage outside. After a couple of times the fruit flies will be gone.

Answer 10

Use apple cidar vinegar. Cut the bottom off of a plastic disposable cup leaving about 3 inches. Fill the cup with a.c.v. full to the top and leave it where the flies are. It will smell but it kills the flies way better than any spray out on the market. Every couple of days, empty out the a.c.v. cups because they get a little gross with flies. Don't leave a whole lot of room between the top of the cup and the a.c.v.

Answer 11

You can't really, unless you wanted to get rid of your fruit trees. To stop them from actually coming into your house you would have to make sure your windows and screen doors are shut, and keep the fruit in the fridge.