While I was at the hospital with the birth of my second little one, I left 2 banana muffins on the counter and they were still there when I came home, along with a small colony of fruit flies. We have since cleaned, cleaned, cleaned and no such luck. We have put away fruit from our fruit bowl and constantly take garabage out of the house. Without using lots of harsh chemicals, how to you get rid of these little buggers?
Thank you, thank you, thank you. You gals are lifesavers once again. I used the applecider vinegar and dish soap in 2 places in our house and after 15 mins have already noticed many flies congregating and dying.
We had that problem two years ago. It was horrible. I looked up ways to catch them and get rid of them on google. Those worked, but so did leaving out a glass of wine. They loved it and would jump in. Eventually I had them all, but it took about a month.
Good luck!
Get some fly strips.
Hi H.,
I keep a compaost bin on the counter so i get these little buggers too. Make a trap....
You'll need a jar a piece of paper and apple cider vinegar. Make a funnel that will fit in the mouth of the jar and not too large of a hole at the point. place the funnel on the jar, make sure there are no gaps on the glass. If it fits remove it and add apple cider vinegar to the bottom of the jar and put the funnel back on. It works like a charm. They can get in, but they can't get out! (if you leave it around too long, they will figure out how to get out.
I hope that helps!
L.
I had the same problem and found a great remedy on this site. I put small ramekins with apple cider vinegar and some liquid dish soap in my indoor herbs and would catch 20 or so gnats a day. Love a natural, cheap and EFFECTIVE solution!!
Congrats on the little one!
Take an empty soda or water bottle and cut the top off about 1/3 of the way from the top. Put some juice (red seems to attract them) in the bottom part and turn the top upside down like a funnel. They will fly in to get to the juice, but because the top is small and it's inverted, they can't find their way back out and get stuck. When they are gone or you want to clean it up, you can just throw it away and make a new one as needed. Works for bees and flies, too.
leave a bowl of vinegar (apple cider works best... white vinegar doesn't work so well) with a little dish soap in it on your kitchen counter near where you have the problem. Vinegar attracts them, dish soap kills them. =)
I saw this just after I read your problem. You can always try it. go to http://www.thethriftyhome.com/2009/09/how-to-get-rid-of-f... and read that article. That is how she solved her problem. Hope it helps.
I didn't read the other responses you might have gotten this tip but I will tell you anyway. Pour baking soda and vinegar down your drains and watch it bubble. When the bubbling goes away poor boiling water down the drain. You'll want to do all the drains, kitchen, bathroom, tubs, wherever the gnats are. The most important thing is to keep the drains plugged when you aren't using them. Good luck!
I haven't tried this myself, but I was given a paper with different interesting homemaking advice on it, and one of the points was how to get rid of fruit flies. So try it and let me know :)
Fill a small glass with 1/2" with apple cider vinegar and 2 drops of dishwashing liquid. Mix well. The flies will be drawn to the liquid and die in it.
Try putting some vinegar in a bowl and then put a little dishsoap on your finger and touch the vinegar. The fruit flies will be attracted to the vinegar and will not be able to escape. The dish soap breaks the barrier of the vinegar so the flies can get in, but not get out. Just place on counter and change vinegar when it seems full or they don't seem attracted anymore. It usually works pretty quickly. Good luck.
I found this online, and it worked fairly well last year when we had the same problem:
Pour some apple cider vinegar into a container, cover it with saran wrap, wrapped tightly, poke a couple of holes with a toothpick. They climb in, and most of them drown. Some do get back out, but if you leave it for a few days, it got rid of all of them for us. If anyone has better ideas, I'd be open to them, too!
So sorry! They're gross, aren't they?! We got some organic figs, plums, and something else last summer plopped them in the fruit bowl on the counter (like always!) and the fruit flies came with them. I went to a few different hardware stores after looking online for a safer method of ridding our house of them because we have two small kids. Tried some weird ideas, and then we ended up putting bleach/clorox/comet cleanser on everything in our kitchen, especially the disposal in the sink and leaving NOTHING food related out in the kitchen for days. They went away-really did.
good luck.
We have a recurring fruit fly problem too. In addition to the apple cider vinegar/dish soap solution, fill a spray bottle with rubbing alcohol and spray the ones that congregate around, but not on or in the vinegar. Downs them on contact. If they don't die, you can wipe them up with a paper towel. Then bleach all of your drains twice a day for a few days and it should take care of your problem. You'll also have to get rid of anything they can eat on the counters like fruit and bread (yes, they can get into the bags). Good luck!
I do a lot of canning so the fruit flies like my house too. To get rid of them I get a bowl, fill it half full of vinegar then put in a pinch of sugar and a drop of dish soap. Then I mix it lightly, put a peice of plastic wrap on and a rubber band around to keep it in place. Then I poke a few holes on top with a pin and one by one they find their way in but can't get out again. The sugar atracts them the soap makes them stick and the vinegar kills them. This works really well for me. I hope it works for you too. P.
I saw little fruit-fly traps at Walmart on the cleaner aisle. I didn't realize they even existed!
I just had to comment on your "A Little About Me." My husband used to say, "I wish I could just stay home and play with our son." Ha! You're lucky that your husband is starting to "get it."
Congrats on your new little one!
