How do you get rid of fruit flies in your garden?

Question

I have a medium size garden next to my house with cherry tomatos and regular tomatos, jalepenos and green and red peppers. When I went to go out to pick some things, I noticed an infestation of fruit flies. I know some of my cherry tomatos that were buried started to rot. How do I get rid of the fruit flies??? Will they ruin my garden?? Help!

Answer 1

You can kill them with a Fly trap:
Fill a quart jar with this mixture.
3 cups of water
¼ (one quarter) cup sugar
¼ (one quarter) cup white vinegar
Mix, punch holes in the lid, and set it where needed.

Here's some fly repellent ideas :
http://www.moniteausaddleclub.com/flyspray_recipes.htm
Flypaper, traps, Citrus or vinegar repellents, using BASIC H. or liquid soap & water. Some add vinegar to spray flies.
Sweet Basil is said to keep flies away. This site has an interesting discussion about using Basil, among other things, to help them keep flies away:
http://ask.metafilter.com/19342/flies

You'll have to bury the rotten tomatoes away from your garden or add them to a compost pile. Make sure they're at the bottom of the pile or buried deeply into the soil (if you don't have a compost pile).

Good luck! Hope this helps.

Answer 2

Usually fruit flies are in moist places.

Let the surface of the soil dry out before watering again. It is likely you are waterng a bit too much.

Remove all dead and rotting vegitation and fruit. Pick what is ripe quickly.

Keep a compost pile away from where the veggies grow. Cover it.

Entice some flycathers, like warblers and 'flycatchers' to your garden. And bats too. And even dragonflys.

Make sure there is good air circulation. Ya know a gentle breeze.

Answer 3

It sounds like it is time to start picking your veggies.

Don't let the tomatoes get a deep red before picking. The flavor will not be good; the birds will start feeding on them, and the fruit flies will stay in your garden.

The flies are after rotting or sweet veggies.

You can spray your body or clothes with DEET (OFF) to keep the flies from bothering you while you are in your garden.