The compost bin on my balcony has, so far, been a success. My worms are still alive, so that’s a good start, and I’ve been pretty careful about balancing the pH of the soil, making sure there’s a good variety of greens, starches, coffee grounds, egg shells, wet newspaper and so on. I stir it around every now and then, too, just to make sure it’s getting enough air.
But the downside is that if any fruit goes in there whatsoever, I’m guaranteed a whole swarm of those itty-bitty flies will invade and eventually sneak into my apartment, too.
However, I can’t exactly whip out the bug spray, especially not if I want to keep my precious wormies alive and pooping. So instead, I’ve decided to kill off the fruit flies in a more natural way: alcohol poisoning.
I poured a little (seriously, just a little — no way am I about to waste more than a drop of wine, even if it is cheap Ontario plonk) into a cup, then stuck a bit of cling wrap on top, poked some holes in it and perched it above my compost bin. It’s only been a few hours so I can’t report yet on the effectiveness of this strategy, but either way, I hereby pledge to continue using the greenest way possible to kill the crap out of stupid bugs.
What a great idea (if it works). I get fruit flies in my kitchen if I don’t cover everything up, but I hate using cling wrap and aluminum foil. Let us know if it works!!
Looking forward to your interview with Jake Gyllenhaal!
I have a similar trap on my counter right now and it totally works. Instead of alcohol, you can use fruit juice with a few drops of dish soap; that seems to do the trick as well.
If you aren’t too keen on using cling wrap, I think you can also just put a similar solution in a wine bottle. They get drunk and drugged and can’t find their way out of the narrow opening.
Sounds like you got yourself some drinkin’ pals!
Wow! Checking the pH of the soil and everything! I just got some worms this past week. I have two bins I’m trying to run: a kitchen scrap bin, and a ‘litter’ bin (we have a rabbit). How do you know if the worms are doing okay? I read a book about them, and it says that the best thing to do is to leave them be… but I have to keep resisting the urge to check on them every five minutes!
Thanks for the tip on fruit flies. We always have a few buzzing around. Another idea which might work instead of a wine bottle is a very narrow-necked vase (you know, like those chemistry flasks?) if they got drunk, they probably wouldn’t be able to find their way out.
We do the same thing for fruit flies, except we pour a little wine in a glass, then make a funnel out of a piece of paper, either by folding it into a cone, or cutting the corner off an envelope. Put the funnel in the glass– then we usually tape the funnel to the edges of the glass, so those little buggers can’t find their way out after they go in and get drunk!!! Works like a charm every time!! (plus, if I don’t have any wine open, it give me an excuse to open a bottle and drink some myself
OK, so I work in a lab with fruit flies and we also have problems with renegade flies (ones that escape). First, off I want to let you know that you maybe able to catch some fruit flies and reduce their numbers a little but I guarantee they will be hanging around to some extent until it freezes. They come with the compost territory and are extremely fecund (one female can lay more than 400 eggs!) . Anyway, the funnel idea is how we do it (comment by KO) but I wouldn’t bother wasting any wine. Cider vinegar with sugar mixed in (until it’s dissolved) is a great way to catch them. When you make the liquid an inch or so deep they cannot resist it, they land to drink and they they drown in it. But wine should work as well and grape juice is another option. Good luck!
My mom sets “Fruit fly traps” around our house to tame the swarms inside by using left over fruit (or whatever has started to go bad and is attracting the fruit flies in droves). She puts it in the bottom of a champagne or wine glass, sprinkles some yeast on it, and tapes a paper funnel to the top, like one commenter mentioned. It works really well! Whatever you decide, good luck getting rid of them. Any ideas for ants?
I use skinny juice glasses with about an inch of apple cider vinegar & dish soap. Works like a charm; they seem to LOVE the smell of the vinegar! I don’t even have to use a funnel or anything when I use these type of containers (or anything with an opening smaller than the container works, too, I believe. I don’t know why, but the dish soap makes a difference.
Lori V., I’ve read that the dish soap changes the surface tension of the liquid making it easier for the little buggers to slip in and drown.
I’m too sleepy to read through all the comments so someone may have mentioned this but I was interviewing someone who taught worm composting and she said the best way to get rid of fruit flies is to freeze any peels/fruit you have before throwing them in the compost bin. Of course, now that I think about it, this isn’t going to help you since you don’t have a freezer right now but she said it worked really well and now you know. That doesn’t help get rid of the flies you now have, but maybe in the winter it will reduce your fly problem.
Burying fruit in the compost pile should help keep out fruit flies. If you want, you can even keep some damp newspaper on top.
Hi Sunil and anonPosting the cemomnt in the wrong place can lead to very humorous results. I think the previous cemomnt was about Sunil’s great post on dosas and not this post on flies.
lwdjjj aryiaptcxcxo
red wine vineage with a drop or two of dish soap works wonders too!
hey, i have these little nates, its winter, and i have my plants inside, i think thats where they are comming from, how do i get ride of the wetness around the plants and nates?
For a sturdier version of the envelope-corner-in-a-glass trick mentioned above, make a funnel by cutting the top of an empty, capless 2L pop bottle about 1/2 ” before it starts to narrow (just above the label) Then take that funnel, turn it upside down and insert it into the bottle and tape the joint so no flies can escape. make sure the funnel itself is clean and bait free and does not touch the bait (so they can’t climb out. The baits mentioned worked for me but not as well as a piece of banana or banana peel. They love that stuff. Any trap should be peiodically emptied or cleaned. I like to put it in the freezer to kill the bugs inside and then return with the same bait. Freezing does not make the bait unattractive at all, at least not bananas which I freeze for future bait.
Forgot to mention above: put the bait in the trap before sealing it (ofcourse)
I use a glad food container and put a little fruit in it and some coffee grounds they seem to love that. I keep the lid about 1/2 way on the container and then sneek up on it and hurry and shut the lid. then I take it outside. I was just opening the lid and letting them fly away, but then I started wondering if they are somehow getting back in, because I seem to always have them and cant seem to get rid of them. So I started leaving them out in the cold 18-20 degree weather overnight. I have not tried microwave yet, but sounds like a good idea.
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