Our home has been invaded by fruit flies. I have set traps for the little boogers in almost every room of the house.
The girls and I have tried to get rid of every piece of produce that’s been sitting on the counter in the kitchen. We diced peppers and popped them in the freezer; roasted peppers and popped them in the freezer; made 2 runs of pear jelly; and then locked the apples and bananas in the microwave.
THEN the girls cleaned house and stood in every room with the vacuum running and sucked up as many of the little bitty things as they could. The result: we still have fruit flies.
The girls are keeping the vacuum in their bathroom and take turns sucking up the varmints every time they enter the room. We’ve all laughed at the sounds of Chatter killing the flies while she’s taking a shower-she has an on going conversation with them as she hits the wall in an effort to annihilate them.
We’ve had the invasion of fruit flies before during the summer and I told the girls they’ll soon disappear just like they appeared one day. Chatter said she sure hoped so because she was ready to put leashes on the flies and walk them like pets. Chitter chimed in and said if they didn’t leave she was going to figure out how to harness the flies so they could pull her chariot.
Fruit flies and The Pressley Girls = lots of laughs.
Tipper
Tipper I have read somewhere that if you take a can of cheap hairspray {dollar tree} & spray them it will kill them or at least stun them so you can kill them. it works for wasp also but is not as bad for you as wasp spray. I was going to try it but have not been to Dollar Tree yet. if you use hair spray you might want to try it & see if it works. if it does let us know.
Hi Tipper, this works for me: Leave a little orange juice in a short glass overnight. In the morning, the juice will have evaporated a bit and therefore be even more appealing to the fruit flies, so there will probably be fruit flies in the glass! Take a white paper plate or napkin, and cover the top of the glass so they can’t escape, then dispose of the juice and fruit flies outside away from the house. It is my experience that fruit flies can’t see you coming if you are coming for them with something white — not sure why this is 🙂
Hate fruit flies! Sounds like all the standard remedies have been suggested above. I try hard not to leave any veggies or fruits in the kitchen but Larry tends to bring stuff in and leave it when I’m not looking. I’ve avoided the flies so far, but now the peaches are coming in and I bet the flies arrive with them.
That flute fry ploto is a real trick. Howd you get him to hold still fer that? Er was he stuck in sum’em?
Tipper,
I can feel for you about the fruits flies, we have filled jars with beer and attached a funnel so when they go down to drink they can’t get back up. One must have got drunk , he flew up my nose .
those pesty little pest are one of God sent insects who has a purpose best known unto God.
Thanks for getting your stories right on pitch I call it. People from the South can relate to most all them. Thanks for such pleasure to me as a reader.
Tipper,
I hadn’t called our Christian Radio Station since Donna Lynn went on Vacation. She’ll be back sometime next week so I called Tim Radford just before he went off and requested a song by Chitter and Chatter. “Angles Rock Me to Sleep” and I’d been missin’ that Harmony. They’re my Favorites! …Ken
Wow, Tipper! You and the girl make “fruit flies” fun to read about with your inventive ways of getting rid of them and/or of utilizing them as harnessed “animules” to do your bidding!
I think this has really been “the summer of airborne varmits.” This very morning, two “fruit flies” greeted me as I put the coffee on to perk! Did one of them mix up with the fresh black coffee grounds I loaded into the filter?? I’m not sure; anyway, I couldn’t enjoy my coffee as much as on morning when I see no varmints buzzing and entering!
And the flies! Without a single window or door being opened all night, one morning I awakened, entered my kitchen, and found dozens of black flies (not the big ones, thankfully, but common house flies) buzzing around and crawling up and down the glass on my kitchen door/window leading out onto my carport! They definitely weren’t there the night before when I turned all the lights out in that section of the house. But early in the morning–say 5:00 a. m. for I’m an early riser by some standards–there were those dozens of pests to make me wonder: “How were these crawly, unwelcome guests invited into my house?” And then, with no doors/windows open, I reasoned that they must have come up through the heating/air-conditioning vent in front of that top-of-door to bottom-of-door adjoining window to my glass kitchen door. A fly swatter made little dint in the swarming critters. I went to my supply of sprays and found some to try–varmint-ridding spray, mainly for roaches–for it was days yet before the “regular” visit of my friend, the pest control man. I sprayed the window/door, knowing later in the day a cleansing that I hadn’t planned would have to be forthcoming! I sprayed down into the opening in the floor where air enters the house from the air-conditioner/heating unit (a big combination get-up that has really been working overtime during this humid, extra-hot summer!). Maybe I was too vicious in my attack, because the whole army of flies soon lay dead upon my kitchen tile near the window! And the next morning, and the days since: No invasion of flies.
And then there’s the mosquitoes; Every venture outside this who spring and summer has been an invitation for mosquitoes to attack and bite me! I didn’t notice so much as they did their dirty work on my skin, but believe me, later on, in the house, I saw “welts” swollen up on my skin, and my, I scratched like crazy, even bringing the blood in places! And what to do about the mosquitoes outside? I have no idea. Someone told me to rub face, neck, arms and legs with a sheet of “dryer” paper before going out, that something in the clothes-softening dryer sheet repels mosquitoes. I tried it the next time: And yes, I could tell a difference.
Something else big this summer: On August 21, plan to watch the solar eclipse! It’s geared to be dark in places for over 2 minutes, and one of those places is my beloved hometown of Blairsville, GA. Watch with caution and protect your eyes!
Something else on our horizon besides fruit flies, flies and mosquitoes: On AuguOn
That ain’t no flute fry. Somebody’s left the top off the fennel seeds. You can’t let any moisture get into your fennel seeds for they will germinate and fly off. The good thing is, if they fly into your soup, you don’t know which is what and just eat it anyway. If you can catch them and dry them out, you will have fennel seed again.
Now celery seeds turn into something called otorhinolaryngology flies that like to dive bomb your ears, nose and throat. Otorhinolaryngology flies are edible especially the ones that fly way back in your mouth.
Tipper,
I can feel for youn’ze cause a neighbor use to keep a couple of Mules. He finally got rid of ’em, but I ’bout wore myself out swatting flies. And they’re the reason those boogers got in. …Ken
Hi Tipper, I saw a pic of one of the girls sitting near what looks to be a raised garden bed. I would be interested in hearing what you know about starting one of these as I would like to start one myself, I believe it to be easier to maintain then a regular garden. Please share what ever you can on this subject. I also want to tell you that I love your blog and enjoy earring about the Appalachia area. I especially love hearing the picking and playing of Pappy especially the old hymns.
This made me laugh, too! But, if the solution to fruit flies is NO FRUIT, I’ll take the little critters any day!
Knock on wood but we have had very few this year. My son always makes the apple cider vinegar traps when we need them and it’s amazing how many go in. he covers the jars with plastic wrap with tiny holes poked in it. My sister in law had some different ones–she had the vinegar in the bottom of a mason jar with a cone of notebook paper in it not quite touching the vinegar.
Little bowls of vinegar with a small layer of dish soap on top. The vinegar attracts them and the dish soap traps them.
Tipper, When we have the fruit fly invasion, I pour white vinegar down the drains to help the removal. My pest control service suggested I try this and it does seem to help. we are in the process of asking the fruit flies to move on at our house as well.
“Time flies like an arrow, but fruit flies like watermelon.” — Groucho
Have you ever wondered where fruit flies come from when you bring fruit in from the store and the house is closed up tight? An old friend came to visit one day and walked in as I used a vacuum cleaner to fight my war with fruit flies. He asked me how I planned to keep them in the vacuum once I turned it off. I hadn’t thought about that. I taped the end of the nozzle from then on.
When I worked for one of the the grocery store chains in the south, we would put dishes of apple cider vinegar out to get rid of the fruit flies. It is not harmful to humans, but the flies light in it and drown.
Wow, I have always found they leave with the food. Let us know what eventually works
Tipper,
Take a couple of old fruit jars…fill one quarter of the way with apple cider vinegar….may mix it with a bit of water…Put a piece of saran wrap over top of jar….secure with a rubber band, make sure the saran wrap is drum tight…take a knife and punch several holes or just a couple of holes in the saran wrap….place trap where you see the most fruit flies…leave overnight and pour out the vinegar and flies the next morning…This may take a couple of replacements to get them all…I set up two jars about five feet apart on my counters…
Also right before everyone goes to sleep…pour apple cider vinegar down into the sink drains…leave until morning…turn on the very hot water the next morning and it washes them down the drain…then pour a mixture of bleach and hot water to clean the drain. of fruit orders…
This worked for us….sometimes while the traps were working…I would sneak up where the fruit flies were gathering on the cabinet. Then turn on the vacuum cleaner. Wave it around and give those fruit flies the “Dollywood rollercoaster ride” of their life, right down the wand of the vacuum.
“DOWN THE TUBE” so to speak!
Learned real quick from last year…two old folks can’t eat and put up a bushel of apples without getting a zillion of fruit flies…Next time I emptied the apples on a flat surface and checked immediately for any with spots and used them first…
Hope this helps…
Thanks Tipper,
PS…You missed the cooler great weather for the Worlds Longest Yard Sale! The trail runs from Alabama thru Tennessee and on to Michigan. Usually it is so hot, just about right this year.
Sold a lot of vintage, mid-century modern glass. Pink and green depression glass is still selling well, albeit a bit slower, Sold all of a green set of “Florentine” that used to not be very popular and nearly all thirty pieces of lavender depression “Hairpin Lace”, as well as some sugar and creamers of pink, crystal, yellow, amber and green… Peoples tastes in colors change thru the years… Sold a large oval cast iron fish skillet and a hanging pot, for use on campfires, etc. Vintage fruit jars and newer canning jars, old iridized milk,soda bottles, salve and medicine bottles went to new homes as well. Two antique table radios only lasted a day or and one man picked out forty 78 records and was trying to find old victrolas. I have two I would sell but didn’t take them this year! Shucks!
They are picking up our forty by forty tent today. The rain, with heavy downpours, came yesterday and cooled everything. It was a blessing while we packed up under the tent! Needless to say we are tired puppies today. I spread the word about the Blind Pig gang and blog! I met the sweetest lady from NC, which purchased one of our vintage McCoy vases and a cookie jar. Didn’t know until I was wrapping her purchase as she told me, but somehow knew we were kindred spirits while we were talking about the purchase…mountain magic I guess…Ha
Thanks Tipper
They started here a few weeks ago and I got some of those sticky things that hang down, They are pretty disgusting but they do help. You are correct, they invade this time every year but this seemed to be a larger invasion than usual. It wouldn’t be so bad if they weren’t so aggressive…in my face, in my food…disgusting!
On the bright side, they make me clean up more!