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Cleaning Up:  Fruit Flies  |
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campchic
True Blue Farmgirl
312 Posts
Erin
Nebraska
USA
312 Posts |
 Posted - Jul 05 2008 : 06:18:13 AM
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How do you get rid of pesky fruit flys? I am being invaded!
Erin
Farmgirl #190 |
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willowtreecreek
True Blue Farmgirl
4813 Posts
Julie
Russell
AR
USA
4813 Posts |
Posted - Jul 05 2008 : 06:40:02 AM
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First get rid of what is attracting them then try putting vinegar into a bowl near where they are congrigating. The vinegar will attract them and they will drown. If they are really bad you need to look around for eggs and get rid of those as well or they will keep coming back.
Farmgirl Sister #17
Blog
www.willowtreecreek.wordpress.com
Felt and Fabric Crafts
www.willowartist.etsy.com
www.willowtreecreek.com
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Alee
True Blue Farmgirl
22944 Posts
22944 Posts |
Posted - Jul 05 2008 : 06:41:40 AM
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First, find out why they are in your house. Do you have a rotting potato? Do you have a bunch of sweet drinks being left out?
Then an easy way to trap them is take 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar, 1/2 cup water, 1/4 cup sugar. Mix into a mason jar or some other container that has a smallish mouth. Then take a plastic bottle and make your own clear funnel out of the top. Insert this into the mason jar or the mid and bottom portion of the plastic bottle that you just separated the top from. The fruit flies fly down the clean funnel to get to the "yummy" liquid below and can't get out.
Alee
Farmgirl Sister #8
www.awarmheart.com
Please come visit Nora and me on our new blog:
www.farmgirlalee.blogspot.com |
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babysmama
True Blue Farmgirl
931 Posts
Elizabeth
Iowa
931 Posts |
Posted - Jul 05 2008 : 06:58:06 AM
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I second the apple cider vinegar. I put it in a cup or bowl, add a small drop of dish soap, and by the end of the day almost all the fruit flies are dead in the bowl/cup. Works every time!
-Elizabeth |
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simplypaige
Farmgirl in Training
15 Posts
Paige
IN
USA
15 Posts |
Posted - Jul 06 2008 : 3:18:55 PM
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| I too had fruit flies lately. I did the apple cider and vinegar. I caught alot of the liitle guys. However I could not find the source of what was causing them. Someone recommended using drain cleaner. I did and they were pretty much gone in a day. |
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campchic
True Blue Farmgirl
312 Posts
Erin
Nebraska
USA
312 Posts |
Posted - Jul 08 2008 : 11:50:02 AM
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Do you mean drain cleaner in a dish or down the drain? The apple cider vinegar is working. I still see some buzzing around.
Erin
Farmgirl #190 |
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simplypaige
Farmgirl in Training
15 Posts
Paige
IN
USA
15 Posts |
Posted - Jul 08 2008 : 5:18:09 PM
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Erin, just pour it in the drain. I assume there must have been something trapped in my drain, because I had tried everything and this solved my problem.
Paige |
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Bear5
True Blue Farmgirl
13055 Posts
Louisiana/Texas
USA
13055 Posts |
Posted - Jul 25 2008 : 12:51:37 PM
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I am going to try the vinegar to get rid of horse flies. Those things bite!
Have a great day girls.
Marly |
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SandyJ
Farmgirl in Training
19 Posts
Sandra
Waitsburg
WA
USA
19 Posts |
Posted - Jul 25 2008 : 2:56:55 PM
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We always have a glass of red wine on the window sill when the knats get bad. It's in a pretty glass and looks just right and I guess the knats like it as well as we do.
SandyJ |
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kissmekate
True Blue Farmgirl
890 Posts
Kate
Delano
Minnesota
890 Posts |
Posted - Jul 26 2008 : 10:35:33 AM
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quote:
Originally posted by babysmama
I second the apple cider vinegar. I put it in a cup or bowl, add a small drop of dish soap, and by the end of the day almost all the fruit flies are dead in the bowl/cup. Works every time!
-Elizabeth
I use this also, and it works like a charm. They fly into the vinegar, and the dishsoap coats their wings and makes it too hard to fly out of the vinegar, and they drown.
Don't miss out on a blessing, just because it isn't packaged the way you expected. ~MaryJo Copeland |
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chickabella
True Blue Farmgirl
177 Posts
D. A.
Austin... ish,
Texas
177 Posts |
Posted - Jul 26 2008 : 12:44:38 PM
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To cut down the smell, you could also use half cider vinegar and half water. The few drops of soap is important: the soap weakens the surface tension of the water, so the fruit-flies and gnats cannot "stand" on the surface. They'll sink.
I've also found that a soap/water solution in a spray bottle will kill ants right away. Since the surface tension of the water is weakened, the water will make its way into the ant's breathing/noses, and will drown them. Without the soap, the water tension is such that it doesn't go into their tiny "nose holes", and they can swim out of it.
I use a bucket of water/soap (biodegradable) mixture on the fire ant hills that pop up around the animal pens. Works like a charm.
[got the info on the whole "water tension" issue by a wildlife biologist]
 Farm blog: http://farmnatters.blogspot.com
Tips blog: http://allingoodhealth.blogspot.com
Heart of Texas Farmgirls Chapter: www.maryjanesfarm.org/HenHouseSnitz/default.asp?CAT_ID=46 |
Edited by - chickabella on Jul 26 2008 12:48:53 PM |
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ali2583
True Blue Farmgirl
404 Posts
Alison
Winnipeg
Manitoba
Canada
404 Posts |
Posted - Jul 27 2008 : 5:28:34 PM
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I had a very bad fruit fly problem last year...the apple cider vinegar trick really, really works. Just put some in a shallow bowl, with a small squirt of dish soap and you'll be amazed what you get.
"God's gift to you is life. What you choose to do with that life is your gift to God" |
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campchic
True Blue Farmgirl
312 Posts
Erin
Nebraska
USA
312 Posts |
Posted - Jul 29 2008 : 05:34:34 AM
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Well I found where they are coming from. Our aluminum can bucket. Outside it went. The fruit flies stayed behind.:( I think they're mulitplying. Back for more cider vinegar!!
Erin
Farmgirl #190 |
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Cleaning Up: Fruit Flies |
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Fruit Flies
