Fruit Flys

We are going through the same thing here. What I did after all of this is that I bought a fly hanging trap thingie. I hung it above my sink. In the morning I gave a little bang on the sink and all the frit flies this morning flew to the fly sticky. Now, i got literally hundreds of them on the sticky thing and the fruit flies are nearly all gone.

Fill a glass with vinegar and some dish soap. The smell of the vinegar draws the fruit flies and the dish soap kills them. It really works.

Good luck!
L.

I agree with the vinegar suggestion as over the past 3 days I've caught around 15 fruit flies with this (we keep score in my house!) - just to refine the suggestion a little:

Use Apple cider Vinegar (or other "Sweet" vinegar such as red wine). You don't need to use a lot of dish soap - just a tablespoon to a 1/2 Cup Vinegar. Fill in jar or up with plastic over it - - use pencil to poke holes in plastic. Flies are drawn to sweet vinegar and trapped by soap and plastic.

This method works so well for me - and is so much better than using chemicals.

I have the same problem!!!!!!!!!!!! I don't know what to do either! It's driving me CRAZY

Instead of using Draino, you might want to call a plumber to get to the heart of the 'slow drain' problem. Although Draino will break up the gunk, sometimes it just pushes it farther down the pipe and the problem still persists.

Shelly,
When my husband and I moved into our newly built home, we had fruit flies coming up the drains. We had the pest control people come--several times. They said they were drain flies from the open sewers from when our subdivision was being built. We poured bleach down our drains and made sure we ran hot water everyday down every drain. Our problem wasn't completely solved until winter, unfortunately. They never came back, but it was a long, frustrating process.

P. S.

I had the same problem last fall. Try using apple vinegar (its sweeter). Put the vinegar in a cup w/a funnel and it'll draw the fruit flys in. Make sure you keep checking the funnel and get the flys out of the house.

Hope this helps!

Hi Shelly,

We had a similar problem at our business. We tried bug spray etc. and nothing worked except covering the drains. If you don't need the drains then I would suggest taping them up at least until the weather gets a little cooler. Good luck!

Pour about 2 cups of bleach down each drain and let it sit. Part of the problem is not having enough water in the trap. If it is from the drain then those flies are not fruit flies but sewer flies. Do you have any floor drains in your basement? If so then do the same thing.

Have you tried a citronella candle? They like damp, dark, odorous locations, but to find out what they hate is all you need to do. My case manager suggests vacuuming them up with a hand-held vacuum. Everytime I have had a problem, there has been a hidden bag of onions or a pop can or a piece of fruit fallen under a counter for them to breed in, but it IS the worst season for them.
http://www.doyourownpestcontrol.com/fruit_fly.htm

Anderson Pest Control told me to pour bleach down the drain, and it worked. I hope something works for you soon. I know how annoying it is to have pests like that in the house, especially when you're a clean freak like me. Good luck!

Yuck!I get these bugs too.(I have never been able to tell if they come from some fruit I have bought or the drain.) To keep my drains clear w/o using too many chemicals I use baking soda and vinegar once every few weeks in all my drains.Yup...just like the volcano project from 5th grade. Pour in about 1/2 C baking soda followed by 1/2 C vinegar. Then pour or run really hot water to rinse it away. Hope this helps.

Please be carefuly with all the chemicals you are using. Many of the kitchen cleaners say right on them dangerous for humans and pets. Soap and water are great! Also, my brother used a lot of draino in his last house and it ate away the pipes and caused a whole host of different problems. Fruit flies come in b/c it is that time of year! Has nothing to do with the cleanliness of the house. Actually, research has shown that exposing your kids to germs is a good thing! Anyway, put out a cup of cider vinegar with a drop of dish soap and the flies will go to it and drown. We did this last summer and they all drowned! So far this year it has not been such a problem, but we have had the air on so much...they are so small they come in through the screens. Try the cider vinegar, I promise it will work! No chemicals needed!
K.

My mom had this problem. It turned up there were coming up from the drain in the basement on the floor. She poured some crystal draino in there and waited a bit then followed with water and they were gone. We had the same problem at our last house and it worked like a champ. Good luck getting rid of those pests.