Tuesday, August 10, 2010

How to Get Rid of Fruit Flies

First, I have to say I have a cold. A sore throat, stuffed up, cloudy-brained head cold in the summer. How crummy is that? The answer: Very.

I'm certain air conditioning is not helping it, so I've been turning it off and sleeping with my windows open. It's so humid though, I feel like the heavy air is crushing my brain even more! Ick!

Okay, let's get back on track, shall we?

Is it just me or does anyone else seem to have the next coming of the fruit flies going on in your kitchen right now? I've been taking out my garbage more often, keeping fruit and dirty dishes off the counter, and I still seem overrun by the little guys.

I have finally managed to wrestle back control of my kitchen counter this week after I discovered this tip in MaryJanesFarm magazine (a post in itself no less):

"To get rid of fruit flies, just place a small dish containing 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar and a few drops of dishwashing liquid on your counter."

If you want to experience the definition of "white on rice", you need to try this in your own kitchen.

Like hypnosis, the fruit flies immediately started flying into the dish. I've emptied and refilled the dish daily, and by dinner there are always more who have succumbed. I certainly understand why the vinegar works. Every time I walk into the kitchen, I have to remind myself I DON'T have a rotting bowl of fruit on my counter. If I can smell it, I am sure it is even stronger for the flies and once they get in the dish, the dish soap makes it impossible to fly back out.

Slightly tragic? Yes, maybe. Fruit fly problem? Not anymore.

You can check out more organic home care solutions and more at Home Safe Home on MaryJanesFarm.

3 comments:

  1. Your not the only one that has this problem- my place was covered in them a few weeks back! It was wild! Andrew did some research and found a few different methods on how to trap them. What we ended up doing was filling a cup with a bit of coke, put saran wrap on the top of the cup and poked a few small holes in the wrap. I guess the sweetness is suppose to attract them to the cup- you can also put any type of fruit or sweet snack in there as well.

    You should have seen the flies we caught! Within hours they were all gone. Worked wonders :)

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  2. wow great tip! I am definitely going to try it at my place :)

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  3. Thanks for the tip! I love that it is a natural solution

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