Tammy's Recipes
RSS Feed
PollNew RecipesWho's onlineThere are currently 1 user and 37 guests online.
Online users |
Ridding your kitchen of fruit flies It's that time of year again... when fruit flies just love to congregate in our kitchen. They love it when I buy bananas, or leave out a few dirty dishes overnight. We can't stand gnats (who really likes, them, anyway?!), so here's our quick, cheap, and effective recipe for exterminating them! 1. In a small bowl, combine about 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar and about 1/2 teaspoon dishwashing liquid.* Mix very gently to avoid creating lots of bubbles. 2. Set bowl in gnat-prone area, and watch them die!! In fact, just a couple hours ago, I made one of these traps because I noticed a few gnats in the kitchen. About ten minutes later, I saw three fruit flies in my trap. This trap will seriously attract and kill every gnat in my kitchen. Joshua invented the recipe after ill-success using regular vinegar. Now we have this new-and-improved gnat trap recipe, and it sure works for us! And, of course, if you really want to do away with fruit flies, it's best to make sure you're not leaving anything else around for them to eat. Wash every last dish, dump your garbage, and wipe down the counters really well, especially before bed. I like to store my bananas out on the enclosed porch if possible, since those seem to be one of the biggest attractions for bringing fruit flies into the house. *I use a clear Dawn dishwashing liquid, but others will work also.  Because we've never caught a spider in one! Oh, wait... we don't have spiders. We have house centipedes. I wish it would catch those nasty creatures! :D We have a spider in the southern part of Wisconsin called the brown jumping spider. It actually hops, is bigger than the normal spiders you'd whack, and really, just gross looking. We had one of these critters running around our apartment for a few weeks, and I was getting really annoyed with it. In fact, I got so annoyed, I named him Spike. My neighbor stopped by the other afternoon because he heard banging and smacking noises and me yelling. He thought something bad was happening, but I was just "playing" with(read: trying to kill!) Spike. I'm glad I didn't actually kill him...he was a pretty big critter. ;) Fruit flies are driving me nuts! I made asmall trap for them a few weeks ago but it didn't seem to work, I'll bet the dish soap will keep them from getting out! Also, we discoverd that they were breeding in our sink drain. The pipe has a small bend in it (to keep it from backflowing into the sink) and that is where they were laying eggs overnight. I now cover my drain/disposal each night before bed. Ugh, I know, years ago I had an apartment that must have had bad plumbing. The garbage disposal reeked of mildew. It was gross, I had it replaced w/a new one, and to no avail didn't work. I'm not a compost person, I'd rather feed the birds, I throw out bread and basically anything else. I don't want to have bugs or anything. I'm pretty much a clean freak. I scour the counters after every meal w/Comet. And thankfully, the highchair has a double tray one being dishwasher safe! Does anyone else have to deal w/these creatures? I was at the grocery store today, and was over near the veggies, and the fruit flies were all over the onions. (yucko!!) Needless to say, I didn't buy any! I didn't know that about fruit flies breeding in sink drains! Does anyone know if boiling water poured down the drain solves the problem (even just temporarily)? Also, I'm not sure if the dish soap traps the fruit flies, or if they ingest it and it kills them. I was thinking they drank the red wine vinegar (with the soap) and the soap killed them. But they do end up at the bottom of the bowl, and that's all that matters, I guess!! :) The red wine vinegar attracts the fruit flies because they like the smell and the dish soap affects the surface tension, which causes them to fall in and drown when they land on the red wine vinegar! I have tried vinegar(regular) and cider vinegar. Didn't work for my gnats. I tried wine - the sweet kind. I have 50 gnats in there in the course of 3 days. Now, I know what works!  Thanks for this post...my husband and I are going crazy with fruit flies and it makes me feel like I have an unclean kitchen, which I know is not the case b/c I clean after each meal. With a little one now, we ALWAYS have bananas on the counter, so that must be the difference this summer. I can't wait to try this tomorrow! Thanks! Fruit flies do appear when you have old fruits in the house but it is really hard to get rid of them cause they hide in the plumbing with the debree I heard that if you wash your fruit, even the bananas, it will prevent any fruit flies from being a problem as well because you are washing off the eggs that are on the fruit from the store. Any ideas or suggestions on safely ridding a home of sow bugs a.k.a. pill bugs or roly poly's? I think they're breading in our basement! I really have not had a problem with the flies, but I clean my drains alot. ( watch now that I said this I will get them. ) But I clean the kitchen drain with Vinegar, baking soda and boiling water... put the soda in the drain about a 1/2 cup or so... have boiling water ready... Pour the vinegar on top of the soda... it will bubble up. Then flush it all with the boiling water.. use more water if you feel you need to. Sue Fruit flies can breed in my DRAIN!? Egads, I wish I hadn't read that. I am throughly grossed out now. Ick. I will definitly be dumping bleach down the drain tonight. I have used this method to keep the drain clear, it leaves the sink drains smelling sweet and clean. If sinks can smell that way :) That we've been having this problem!! I'm going to try this your way. I've tried so many ways, but nothing that gets rid of all of them. They were BAD, though. Things are better since we used or threw everything out, closed up the house and went away for a long weekend!!! Did you know that fruit flies WILL find their way into the oven??!? I made a peach pie and when it was cool, I covered it with plastic wrap and put it in the (cold) oven for safekeeping. At least 15-20 fruit flies were in there the next morning. Ugh!!! I'd just wash off an apple or piece of fruit, but I couldn't eat the pie. :( Too gross! when I have this problem I too pour a little bleach down my drains, I do it right before I go to bed so it can soak. A man from the county extension service where I live told me to do this several years ago and it works. Uggh..the fruit flies are driving me nuts! I am going right now to pour bleach down the drain. Thanks for the tips! Post new comment |
Recipe of the WeekSearchRecipes- Appetizers (53)
- Breads (51) - Breakfast (45) - Desserts (215) - Cakes (34) - Cookies (14) - Misc. desserts (52) - Pies (13) - Drinks (12) - Main Dishes (277) - Beef (60) - Chicken (53) - Fish & Game (5) - Meatless (30) - Miscellaneous (9) - Sandwiches (12) - Side Dishes (99) - Fruit (4) - Salads (19) - Vegetables (31) - Snacks (31) - Soups (20) - Food Preservation (11) Guest ChefRecent comments
News Categories |
Our "pet" spider, Spike, died today at the hands (or bowl?) of the fruit fly remedy. He must have crawled in...he will be missed. A memorial service will be held on Friday at 11 am.
;) Just kidding. If that was the spider I've been trying to kill for weeks, great! This is a double remedy ;)