Why do I have so many fruit flies?

[PackedintheUK]

I've never known anything like it.

I've scrubbed every surface and swoop on any left over food to be disposed of, nothing left out at all. Regularly pouring boiling water down the sinks.

I was assuming it's a particularly bad year but I went to my mum's just round the corner today and she has a fruit bowl and food waste bin in her kitchen and no flies!

I've had this on and off over the years, often for no apparent cause. Some things I've done in the past:

• Completely empty the fruit bowl, just incase there is a manky, mouldy fruit in the bottom
• Check behind the fruit bowl, incase something fell behind it
• Other than fruit, vinegar, wine etc, I was told that coffee can attract them too. No idea if that is true, but was told to clean the underneath of cabinets, incase residue is left when liquids have spilt over the edge of surfaces and dried underneath
• make a trap! 1/3 fill a glass with cheap red wine and/or vinegar and a few drops of washing liquid. Put cling film over the top and put an elastic band around and put a few small holes in the top. They get in, but can't fly out.

We seem to have loads recently. The DIY traps work well.

Same this year, I’ve never even heard of a bloody fruit fly before this. We left some jars of apple cider vinegar around the kitchen and it did the trick after a few days.

This happened to me this year! I almost went mad. It turns out they found an onion in my onion keeper and went mad. They love onions.

Are you sure they’re not fungus gnats? They lay eggs in the soil of house plants.

Are you sure it's not fungus gnats or sink flies?

We've got this too. Have noted that they like the bottom of the dolce Gusto machine, and also to a degree, our plants, and definitely any fruit that is past its best (although chucking away all old fruit and replacing still brings them). Watching with interest to see if anyone has cured the issue. I'm still eating the fruit, having assumed (perhaps wrongly) that they don't do any harm - although must admit it is a bit off-putting.

I've had this a few weeks ago. There were so many in the kitchen and utility room. Like you I scrubbed my counters the fruit bowl was fine. I don't know where they came from 🤷

I used vinegar and washing up liquid in a cup cover it with cling film and rubber band stick some holes in. I also killed a good few with a fly swatter. I didn't think the cup was working till I opened to have a look omg so many flies were in it.

I've trapped a revolting amount of fruit flies in vinegar but then I worry that it's just attarcting even more of the little sods to the house...

Top tip - do not leave your glass of red wine unattended.

Check some fruit or veg or even fruit peel isn't hidden or fallen somewhere in your home where you can't see it. You could try following one to see where they are going
I worked in a hotel many years ago as a student and there was a problem with them, a potato had fallen behind the ice machine which was harbouring a load of the little fuckers

We had an infestation last year. They just kept coming, fly traps helped but more every day…eventually I found the source: old potatoes it was rank. If you have lots tans more keep appearing, I’d suggest hunting to ensure there’s not a spot where they’re breeding.

They might be scariad flies rather than fruit flies if you have lots of house plants. You can kill them off with nematodes - you buy one pack, mix them
with water (one pack makes huge amounts) then just water your houseplants with the mix - problem solved. To stop it re-occurring, make sure you use compost which is for house plants, cover the top of the compost with slate or other chippings and only water when needed rather than keeping the compost constantly moist. I have learnt this through bitter experience!

Watching with interest to see if anyone has cured the issue.

Yes, but ours weren't actual fruit flies, though will go for fruit too

Cinnamon sprinkled on the soil around plants & cover soil with pebbles kills/stops fungus gnats

Thick bleach regularly put down plug holes & overflows in your sink & baths to kill the sink fly larvae

We’ve had them like crazy this year too. A friend has them too. I think something has happened this year that’s caused an influx. I’m sure the ecosystem must have been affected somehow during the lockdowns. Especially the first one.

I before found coffee machine to be the issue

There are loads at the moment. And they are bigger than usual (I think).

Apple Vinegar with a squidge of washing up liquid usually gets them.

We've had them badly some years - not this one, oddly.

The best way to get rid I found was buy some cheap red wine (I found a British one worked well, LOL), put it in a container and stretch cling film across the top with a few small holes poked in. Loads of them flew in there and were trapped and it ended the infestation in a week or two.

That’s because they are all here! Little sods

We've had similar in house plant pots, so might be worth checking those.

We had a load of fruit flies earlier this year and it turned out it was because my OH (who was working from home at the time) had been eating bananas at his desk then putting the skins in his office bin and not emptying his bin... Ever. When I finally discovered the cause, the peels had begun to turn into a grim black banana soup. He's now been banned from eating bananas upstairs because he can't be trusted to empty his own waste paper bin.

Same here. I found an old jar of apple sauce in the cupboard which I think might have been attracting them. And the coffee machine ... which is new this year.

We had them this year and they came from DS2 bedroom, he had tidied it but left a black bag with food stuffs in it.

I binned the bag and they came downstairs to the dolce gusto coffee machine so I emptied that and they're gone for now.

I read a good tip was to get a bottle of wine and leave it in the room so they go to that and can't get out

I had this problem for years and then someone recommended keeping a cork in the fruit bowl. Hey presto - it worked! Tried the same thing when I noticed the little flies coming from houseplant soil and again it works. Meant a few bottles of wine had to be consumed to get the corks but it has pleased me no end to be rid of these the little pests! I notice them every now and then and worry the corks have lost their magic but I just rearrange the fruit bowl and check that it's clean and it seems to resolve the situation quickly. I hope it works for others and hasn't just been a file for me!

As others have said: vinegar and washing-up liquid traps. Plus rinse all fruit the minute it comes in the house – hot water and vinegar. Hunt down your kitchen for a rogue potato or peel or berry; check pot plants and supermarket herbs.

Same here used a plastic tub with a lid filled with normal vinegar and pricked loads of holes in the lid. Then placed near fruit bowl result :)