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?

Perhaps you haven't got a drainage tray, F&Z?
I haven't.

I bet I have and I don't know and it is absolutely RANK

Franny they are NOT breeding inside the fridge. You might not have a drip tray. And it won't be rank if you do. I am not meaning to frighten you but it's just one of those places you would never think to check iyswim. I never know we had one either and you are supposed to empty it regularly Ours slots into the back of the fridge at the bottom

knew grr lots of typos today

gosh well if we have a drip tray this is a new revelation to me

I have a plan
I have swatted swooshed out as many of them as I can find
there is only about 5 left in the house
I am going to keep all the windows shut until tomorrow morning
if there are 20 of them then I know they have bred and I will set dp on the drip tray
if not then I will do the banana peel clingfilm thing

sorted?

I think ours were in our ubend. I got a super nasty drain cleaner thing and squirted it down the plug. Didnt see any after that for quite a while.

You see, the u-bend, that was the last place we thought to blitz and that's what finally got them

right u bend is bleached
will that do it?

right we shut all the windows so they couldn't come in from outside
and did the bleach thing
and not many this morning
SO either they were coming in from outside
or they were in the u bend
or they don't hatch out overnight and more will appear later today

we shall see

It is rather grim isnt it. I also found a lot hanging around some of my pot plants. They were all on the compost [barf]. I chucked said plants out of the window and left to the elements. That also removed a great number from my house.

much better today
tomorrow will try with window open, and see if they all come back
if they do, we'll have to stick the compost thing outside I suppose

Good stuff. Just saw in thread you are nearly ready for baby. Good luck. By the time you have had it, hopefully they will all be gone

ok, what you need to do is, either get some grape juice and mix it with a small amount of washing up liquid, they fly in can;'t get out. Or, get some bakers yeast and put it in a cup, if you have a kitchen funnel, put this oer the cup, flies are stupid, be unlikely to be able to get out. I used to work with flies and this is how we caught the escapees.

um, you need to mix the yeast with water first

Time flies like an arrow and fruit flies like a banana.

Just thought I'd share that with you

Thats funny, i like it

Have had that particular one-liner in my armoury for a loooong time.

Seemed apposite.

nothing today
have daringly opened a window
watch this space

Not sure why...

Glad they have buggered off!

I know I know it is thrilling
but try to remain calm

Tatties i think we have just prevented them from coming in tbh
although they might have been in the U bend
this investigation is still in its early stages

well nothing conclusive yet

I think there are a few more possibly but will have to wait till tomorrow to do a meaningful count

I am thinking of installing a webcam so you can share the excitement minute by minute