Safe removal of fruit flies; from my kitchen!
I cleaned (and ate, yummy) a bunch of strawberries, and found that some fruit flies wanted them too. They settled for the trash, and before I noticed them, they set up shop in my kitchen! Now you can't swat fruit flies, too small. I didn't want to spray sll over my kitchen, but they HAD to go! So how to preform the murders? I decided to trap them.
Fruit flies can't resist rotten fruit, so with apple cider vinegar, I can trap these pests. I took a foam plate, and put the vinegar in it like this:
Then I added water and liquid soap, to break the surface tension the fruit flies use to land, drink, and take off again:
The trap was set, I put it where they were thickest and gave them 24 hours:
It was a bad day for the fruit flies! Reloading the trap for another run right now! There are not many left, YES!
so the water and soap make the surface..what..unstable or shaky?
this is pretty smart but you didn't think of this did you, you got this from
fb or youtube? lol
You can float a needle on water, if you are careful, but if you add a few drops of soap, that floating needle, will sink. The surface tension of the water forms a cohesive surface, and soap is a surfactant (wetting agent) that breaks this surface tension. That is why we use it to wash things. It helps the water to combine with what we wash off.
The fruit flies use this, to land on the surface of the cider, and tank up before they fly off. No youtube or anything, just physics. A lot of fruit flies were surprised when the surface refused to support them!
:) :)ok it's just pure physics.. so there are practical uses for all that brain power is what you're saying. lol
Never that, I am saying that fruit flies flunked Physics, ROFLOL!
:):)lol those dummies
This is a case where flunking a course, was fatal! Oh No; my teachers were right, LOL!
:)lol! sometimes it's deadly to flunk!
I have found that to be true; In life! :)
My problem right now is deer flies and those suckers are huge. I don't think apple cider vinegar will work on them. Hell, even deet doesn't seem to keep them away.
Take two squares of wood, and cut a round hole in one. Make a cone of screen wire that fits the hole, with a 1 inch opening at the top. Wrap all four sides with screen wire, and put four 1x2 support legs on the outside that holds the bottom wood, up about 8 inches.
Put some rotted food under it. and the flies will catch themselves when disturbed. They fly up, through the cone and 1 inch opening; and can't find their way out. Works well!
:)Now I like this eco-friendly fly trap! I don't use any chemicals on my homestead and always look for remedies that will solve the problems without them.
Not enough fruit flies left to sustain a population, but I reset the trap anyway. It has layed waste to them!
Look at the screen wire trap above, that works on regualr flies too.
OH NO, I am a Fly Murder, ROFLOL!
:) :OBut remember, even if you leave a few of these little annoyances, in the very short order they will return with a vengeance. The lifespan of a fruit fly is a mere 21 days. That is why they use them to teach genetics because they can reproduce fast...
NOT THESE, No SCUBA gear, LOL!
:)Of course, if they did have SCUBA; with the soap in the water, would they blow bubbles?
:) :) :)Update, I decided to set a second trap, because I Hate fruitflies. But I found out something unusual. Even though the older trap was weaker (older vinegar) they still went for the trap with fruit flies in it, and left the new one mostly alone. I guess the older trap, looked more inviting, with all the other flies in it. So they are visually attracted too.
:)Perhaps misery loves company? Obviously, they can't tell when their buddies are dead...So maybe use only one trap at a time?
Yes, in this case the second one was wasted. Maybe (if there were still flies) I could move a scoop of them to the new trap. Oh well, it worked too fast to play.
LOVE IT!