To ask how to get rid of fruit flies

[Givemeabreak88]

I’ve had fruit flies in my house for months, I’ve not been able to get rid of them, I’ve tried vinegar traps multiple times and although it gets rid of some I just can’t get completely rid of them?! Any one now how to get rid of them for good they are driving me mad 😖

have you got houseplants? my DH had to repot all ours or at least change the top layer of the soil on them all as that was partly the cause.

Yes I do have house plants but it started when I found a mouldy Apple behind the sofa covered in them, since then I just can’t shift them! Will have to see what I can do about the plants, the flies are everywhere!

We had vinegar traps, the stickers you put on the windows to poison them, steam cleaned all the overflows and drains, all the plants went outside and no food or crumbs or used glasses/cups anywhere til they were gone.

Nightmare to get rid of. The window stickers seem to catch any odd ones we get now. Vapona I think, in the shape of sunflowers.

Oh thanks will check out the window stickers! Why doesn’t fly spray just kill them 😞

You can also get smoke bombs to kill them, which is not as bad as it sounds! However, you have to stay out of the room for a few hours, and pets for longer.

Be absolutely vigilant about cleaning and making sure no food at all is left uncovered. No crumbs or bits in the drain. If there’s nothing for them to eat, they’ll have to die off.

Yep the food is a big issue I have an autistic child and she just doesn’t get that she can’t just throw food around and needs to use bins! Ive been pulling the house apart to make sure there is no food thrown behind anywhere, I’ve had fruit flies before but they usually go very quickly this time around they just seem so stubborn

They are such a pain! You need to have nothing at all that they can feed off for several days (gestation period of a couple of days), so all food packed away, all surfaces wiped clean of crumbs and stickiness, plants and flowers away outside. If after a few days new flies have hatched and are thriving then chances are you have another apple core or similar hidden somewhere.

are you sure it's fruit fly?
or are they fungus gnats?

fruit flies: do not leave fruit outside the fridge. put veg and fruit peel on the compost outside or the bin outside.

fungus gnats: yellow sticky cards into each flower pot. takes a couple of weeks to catch all adult ones to stop them reproducing. their eggs are often in shop bought compost or potted plants.

I’ve banned my daughter from eating anywhere other than the dining room for now just so I can make sure she’s not throwing things anywhere. I’m going to have to check out fungus gnats I haven’t heard of those before

I got an infestation of fungus gnats. I've had to put aquarium gravel over the tops of all the soil in the houseplants as everything else was just a temp fix. Makes the pots quite pretty though.

Are your neighbours having the same issue? Our whole village was plagued with fruit flies a few years back. It was traced to a pile of rotting potatoes on a nearby farm.

Jam jar with small holes in the lid, I used the tip of a corkscrew, with an inch or 2 of lager in the bottom! They absolutely love it. They will all gravitate into there and then you can try and tackle where they’re coming from. For us it was the kitchen sink drain so lots of bleach and boiling water.

Apple cider vinegar! Put some in a cup- cover with clingfilm and poke small holes in the cling film. Put in areas of the house e.g kitchen and bathroom- it attracts the fruit flies they fall into the cup and drown.

Also don't leave any food out.

No food. Anywhere. Crumbs, wrappers, and stating he obvious, fruit in a fruit bowl.

Don't overwater any plants.

Bottle of white wine, drink it, leave a tiny bit in the bottom. They can find their way in, but not out. I usually leave a couple of bottles out - works amazingly well and the traps are fun to make too.

I used house flea spray which has rid our house of them. Fly spray also works. It doesn't affect the plants.

I found you need to try multiple things at once.

1. white wine vinegar (I did mine uncovered)
2. bug spray
3. the fly sticky strips
4. keeping the place really really clean to take away their food supply

Good luck!

I use old jam jar lids, and put a drop of oil in them, and put them by the houseplants. For some reason oil seems to work far, far better for me than vinegar traps.

I put copper coins in a bowl full of water, in the kitchen and it got rid of them.
I have no idea why, or if there is any science behind it.
It's an old wives tale I think but I found it worked.

Ooh great tips. I have fungus gnats i think, i have carnivorous plants but they seem to avoid them! Going to try the vinegar jar & sticky stuff

@Wotsnewpussycat

Apple cider vinegar! Put some in a cup- cover with clingfilm and poke small holes in the cling film. Put in areas of the house e.g kitchen and bathroom- it attracts the fruit flies they fall into the cup and drown.

I do this; I get them every summer for some reason. I add a drop of washing up liquid to the vinegar, as it breaks the surface tension; and the little b*s drown instead of sitting on the surface.