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| Our composter |
Yes, I mistakenly left the lid of the composter container askew. It's a lovely pot, created by a Muskoka artistan. It's easy to fill and empty, but you do have to ensure that the lid in on straight, or those dratted fruit flies take full advantage of them!
Obviously, there were a million fruit flies, as I took the composter out from under the shelf. They flew up in a mass, ticked off that I'd disturbed them.It was early November, and it was chilly, with temperatures fluxuating above and below zero. I figured they'd be taken care of outside. Outside it went, until I could deal with it.
I cleaned the pot, after emptying it in the outdoor composter. Then, what to do with the kazillion fruit flies in the house? They were everywhere! Bathroom, on the mirror (admiring themselves?), and the cats were no help.
Firstly, I covered the bananas with a tea towel. Then I realized just how many there were! It was the beginning of the month, and we regularly clean out out kettle and coffee drip with vinegar. When the kettle was lifted, they all flew up. They like vinegar! Aha, an innocuous bait for a trap. I searched and searched for the wasp trap. This works when the bugs fly up and in, but cannot figure out how to go down and back out. It was no where to be found.Plan B: the fly catcher strips. They worked. VERY well! I placed it beside the bread box, and we captured most of the flies.
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| Fly paper, bread box |
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| Can you see them all?! |
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| I'd found the wasp trap when putting out garbage, since I'd found some more flies. We'll see if this works! |
7 comments:
Good morning! Fruit flies? They are a very challenging little beast. I wouldn't wan to have what you've got. they seem to go in cycles.
Don't you hate when that happens. They seem to multiply so quickly.. or at least tell their friends where to find the good stuff. Glad you've found a fairly quick solution. They say that malt vinegar works best to attract them but I hate the smell.
Hari Om
Yikes - they are every where it seems... I always associated them with tropical living, but now any climate will do!! Good luck in their riddance. YAM xx
Eeuuww, Jenn, I hope you got them all. It seems to me I've had one in the house for months, right here by my computer. Every time I kill one (which is difficult with my eyesight challenges) another one takes its place. It's been months since I've seen more than one at a time, though.
I was just thinking about composting yesterday when peeling potatoes and putting the peels into the garbage. I have plenty of friends who compost successfully, but I've never managed to do it right. A flaw in my upbringing, I imagine.
Luv, K
Must be warm indoors for the fruit flys to hatch, you need the frogs to come in and a few spiders to help get rid of them
I'm glad you solved that problem quite well. That was quite frustrating. The birds will have a feast outside.
In the Fall (when we're in Oregon) they are terrible and just from the regular fruit and vegetables that we had in the house. They used to attack my wine glass every evening (and I didn't want to share)...so I came up with the idea of putting a shallow bowl of wine on the counter. We'd find hundreds drowned every morning. Vinegar is probably better -- visitors will just think you are extra clean, instead of what they probably thought about me!
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