Ruddy ruddy ruddy ruddy FRUIT FLIES

[FrannyandZooey]

Help! Ruddy fruit flies getting worse and worse. There is no mouldy fruit in the house exactly, but we do save our composty stuff in a flip top thingy until it gets taken out each night - so that's usually full of smelly banana peels and so on. They can't actually get in the flip top thingy, I don't think, but they obviously like hanging around it. It's on my kitchen worksurface so it's horrible to have these little flies round the chopping board etc.

Every day I swoosh a lot out and every day new ones are either coming in or ? horrors ? are they breeding? It is getting worse, ie more every day. Where do they come from and how do we persuade them to stop?

[Uriel]

Are you washing it out thoroughly?

Can you keep it outside the back door?

[FrannyandZooey]

yes we are
yes we could but it negates the convenience of having it there in the kitchen
(I know this sounds utterly lazy but I am 40 and a half weeks pg and can't bend down)

[FrannyandZooey]

as you may have noticed I am kind of resistant to your sensible advice that the answer is to move it

could you please find some magic cure so that I don't have to? Thank you

[cornsilk]

someone linked to an electric fly repeller thing that sends them away a while ago. Think it was from B and Q or something.

[FrannyandZooey]

oooh
gadgetry

[MsDemeanor]

From another thread and it WORKS!
Get a clean jar. Put in a bit of banana - nice and ripe. Seal jar with cling film and pierce it with a quite small hole> I had one small slit from a knife tip. Place on a shelf out of the way. (I also put in a little water to speed the rotting process and drown a few buggers)
Flies can find their way into the little hold because of the smell, but can't find their way out. After a few days/week all flies will be in the jar and your kitchen will be fly free. It's a wonderful feeling!

[FrannyandZooey]

oh my god how cunning
and revolting
am not sure if I can be responsible for all that flyicide
but may mention to dp

you know I think these are NEW ones coming in though
we have a big cull every evening and then the next morning there they all are again

[Tatties]

Franny I have cut & pasted my reply to a question on this a couple of months ago. Obviously they are being attracted by the compost (banana peel especially) but if they can't get into that it is possible they have found another source to breed on:

Basically you want to be checking for any bits of food which may have fallen down the side of cupboards unnoticed and getting rid of them; also they like standing water so places like the little drainage tray at the back of your fridge (if you have one) and the u-bend under your kitchen sink - empty these of any water and clean thoroughly (with bleach). If there is any standing water outside near your kitchen window, in drains for example, this can also be a source.

[FrannyandZooey]

"bits of food which may have fallen down the side of cupboards unnoticed"

erm
they are not exactly unnoticed Tatties

erm
oh dear

so it means we have a filthy kitchen basically? this is not an extreme shock to me, but the thought of having to do something about it is

[Tatties]

I tried the banana in jar thing but it didn't work for me - in my kitchen there were other sources they were attracted to (drip tray behind fridge and kitchen sink u-bend) which needed to be tackled before the flies disappeared.

[tinierclanger]

We had a fruit fly problem - managed to get rid of them by leaving out bowl of vinegar - they are attracted and plunge in and drown! Might be worth a go, if you can't dispense of the actual source of the problem.

[MsDemeanor]

Don't be a wimp F&Z and it doesn't have to be flycide (though frankly that bothered me not at all) you can 'liberate' the flies once you have caught them.
It works fantastically well and is so simple. You don't even have to bend down! (imp when 40weeks pg)

[FrannyandZooey]

oh yuck this is so revolting isn't it
thank you all
I am wishing I hadn't asked

[Tatties]

No you don't have a filthy kitchen, it's just that once these little buggers get in they can breed in lots of places that wouldn't occur to you. I was totally freaked out and twitchy about it but the a from our environmental health dept gave me all the tips about locating sources of standing water and that's what got them in the end

[Tatties]

the man from environmental health, not the a

[FrannyandZooey]

Tatties did you have LOADS
I am not wanting to believe that we have got them breeding in the kitchen
we've only just about got on top of the mouse thing (god we sound so filthy )

[Tatties]

Also, he said they are not a health hazard, just annoying

[FrannyandZooey]

oh really? that's good
I keep wondering if the places where they have been walking are contaminated now

[Tatties]

Yes we had LOADS, like you I was frequently culling, then every morning there they were again!

[FrannyandZooey]

well we have LOTS but maybe not LOADS [hopeful] [denial]
can we name figures here?

[indianajane]

we had them behind tiles in the bathroom and the kitchen - had to take them off and regrout them to get rid.

[FrannyandZooey]

uuurgh


why are there so many things that can infest your house? it is not on

[Tatties]

It is not on is it.

Right when dp gets home order him to empty and clean the drip tray at the back of your fridge and bung a load of bleach down the sink - plugholes and overflows

[FrannyandZooey]

you know this drip tray thing
where is it? you don't mean they are breeding INSIDE the fridge?

[FrannyandZooey]

if they are please LIE