Tiny bastard flies - how do I get rid of them?

[StanfordPines]

I’m fairly sure it’s related to the house plants which I have got more of over the last year.

They are all up in my shit all the time.
Bastards.

How do I make them stop?

Definitely not fruit flies? We had a huge infestation at my student flat and i recall a dish of apple cidar vinegar did the trick.

Fruit flies - vinegar with a paper funnel
Gnatty type - sticky fly paper

@Isababybel

Definitely not fruit flies? We had a huge infestation at my student flat and i recall a dish of apple cidar vinegar did the trick.

I don’t think so, but how would I know.

Sticky fly paper, we had some that came out of some compost and suddenly they were everywhere!

Sticky fly paper seems old school. Is there not some lovely spray?

I know these arseholes. "All up in my shit" is one of the best descriptions I have EVER read anywhere about anything. The rage I have for these tiny twats is off the scale. No advice. But I get you. People who haven't experienced a tiny fly up in their shit during lockdown, homeschooling and working simply won't understand.

I spray the top of the soil of my house plants with fly spray occasionally!
If I can also see the little bugs crawling about in the soil, I also stop watering them until they are bone dry and then water them from the bottom only. The longer you can leave them completely dry, the better.
It seems to work most of the time!

Sticky paper things are still the best and don’t over water the plants as that’s how they thrive.

Sprays I find don’t work

Fruit flies are on orangey colour and theres never just 1 or 2 there's always loads of the bastards.
Try the trick i said:
www.thespruce.com/get-rid-of-fruit-flies-1388144

Apple cider vinegar did nothing for my flies, nor did sticky paper. I had to tear the kitchen apart to find the source of infestation (rogue potato hiding at the back of the cupboard) and once that was gone, I never saw them again.

I have these too, and I gat all up in their shit by swatting the little fuckers. They are definitely because of the houseplants.

I'm not one for old fashioned remedies but apple cider vinegar did actually work for me. I filled a couple of ramekins with it, then put cling film over the top with tiny holes poked in. They flew in for the scent then got trapped and drowned.

I had an infestation of fruit flies, I'm convinced they came from a bagged salad. Fortunately they stayed in my kitchen, so everytime I went in there i sprayed around the bin, in the bin and other random places I saw them.
My cat was not impressed, but because the spray had a distinctive smell she wouldn't go in the kitchen until the smell disappeared.
The 2 years before that I had a false widow spider, on my window, who was most obliging. Lots of dead carcasses but better than the fucking things buzzing round my flat.

Big bastard fly swatter?

Sounds like they are fungus gnats, if they are in the soil.

www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?pid=804

Since last summer when I was shocked to see hundreds of tiny fruit flies in my kitchen due to the punnet of strawberries I had left uncovered by accident overnight, I have not had a fruitbowl since! All fresh fruit is kept covered or in the fridge and this is no problem as I tend to eat fruit within a day or 3 of buying it so it does not have time to go bad.

As for houseplants I also got rid of mine. One very realisitic looking pot plant is all I want or need now.
No more little flies have been anywhere near my home since. Or if they have they are not visible to the naked eyes.

@Pippapotomus

Fruit flies - vinegar with a paper funnel Gnatty type - sticky fly paper

I get them every summer; I use cider vinegar with a dash of washing-up liquid. (Breaks the surface tension, so they drown instead of floating)

I just hoover them out of the air.

Don't use sprays- the pesticide gets in everything.

The sticky traps (neat squares, not dangling rolls of paper) mean the flies get caught without pesticide affecting other creatures.

I've also gotten massively into houseplants this last year, so I have these, they're fungus gnats. They lay eggs in the damp soil on the top of the pots, so it can reduce them if you bottom water your plants (the top of the soil stays relatively dry that way). (I still can't be bothered with that, I top water).

Apparently a hydrogen peroxide solution is very good for getting rid of them, but I've not tried it.

I bought some yellow sticky trap things (a bit like fly paper, www.amazon.co.uk/s?ref=nb_sb_ss_sc_3_17)&crid=TC3WMO1L0LY&sprefix=fungus+gant+traps%2Caps%2C152&k=fungus+gnat+traps+dual+yellow+sticky+in+bee+shaped&tag=mumsnetforu03-21 that you stick in the soil and they catch them as they start to fly. They aren't the prettiest thing in the world, but they seem to work fairly well.

Re: the new houseplants, have you got into watching the houseplant blogs on YouTube where people unbox their new houseplant buys and walk you round their house showing you their favourite plants? They're fatal, you'll find yourself buying so many more..... (Yes, of course I need a life...)

@SummerHouse

I know these arseholes. "All up in my shit" is one of the best descriptions I have EVER read anywhere about anything. The rage I have for these tiny twats is off the scale. No advice. But I get you. People who haven't experienced a tiny fly up in their shit during lockdown, homeschooling and working simply won't understand.

I’m not home schooling but teaching from home! Trying to do video calls when these bastards are flying around your nose is impossible. They are more annoying than children.

@picklemewalnuts

Don't use sprays- the pesticide gets in everything.

The sticky traps (neat squares, not dangling rolls of paper) mean the flies get caught without pesticide affecting other creatures.

Ah little squares might be a better option. I have been clapping on the bastards but I have to be choosy. DH is of the ‘we don’t kill things’ school, even flies, and normally I am too, but these bastards deserve to die.

You have my sympathy OP

I bought 2 punnets of strawberries once and didn't realise they were riddled with the little bastards. Took weeks to get rid of them from the house.

They're SO in your face because they're totally shit at flying!

They're flies for fuck sake. They have one job

There seems to be a breed of fly that comes into my flat in the summer, that flies in a hexagonal shape. How they get in is beyond me. They choose a place and spend the rest of their lives flying in one spot and occasionally bumping into each other. Most other flies fly in, buzz around and fly out.

Check your potatoes aren't musing.
Have you got amaryllis bulbs in the pots indoors? I found Loads were breeding on the bulb in the soil.
Given by a relative bought from Lidl. I had to chuck it out. Shame as it was stunning.