Fruit Flies

quote:

Originally posted by WEc:
Seems like every year in September, fruit flies appear out of nowhere and floods my wine glasses/decanter/bottle. Is this also a problem for anyone else? Where do they come from? Any fixes?

Dude(et) have you considered moving to a non bug infested province?

quote:

Originally posted by Gigond Ass:

quote:

Originally posted by WEc:
Seems like every year in September, fruit flies appear out of nowhere and floods my wine glasses/decanter/bottle. Is this also a problem for anyone else? Where do they come from? Any fixes?

Dude(et) have you considered moving to a non bug infested province?

Where would that be ?

quote:

Originally posted by Mishy:

quote:

Originally posted by Gigond Ass:

quote:

Originally posted by WEc:
Seems like every year in September, fruit flies appear out of nowhere and floods my wine glasses/decanter/bottle. Is this also a problem for anyone else? Where do they come from? Any fixes?

Dude(et) have you considered moving to a non bug infested province?

Where would that be ?

Tibet!

We don't have fruit flies in Atlanta.

Mosquitos, yes. Fruit flies - no.

And we have a house for sale in my neighborhood. Let me know if you're interested - the agent is a friend of mine.

Cap your decanter or bottle with the sediment filter from your decanter funnel.

Cap the bottle with the screen out of your favorite pipe...

Hate to tell you, but you're in a bad spot. Ontario is right on the southern migratory track for fruit flies. In early autumn, they leave their summer grounds in northern Canada, and head to their winter breeding spot in the mountains of eastern Michoacan, Mexico. Give them another couple of weeks, and they should move on.

I was at a pool party a few weeks ago and came back to my glass of dark Buller Tokay and took a sip and a yellow jacket stung my tongue. I will carefully inspect my glass in the future.

well, ... i deal with fruit flies by putting a thin little hard plastic cover on the top of my wine glass that i just poured for myself and friends,...and i always put a top/stopper on an open bottle of wine (these are available anywhere especially neat/novelty ones at wine stores). I do this because i am really anti-bug-in-my-wine type of guy. Apparently, there is a way of getting any flies out of the home atmosphere/environment by placing white wine vinegar in a glass (about a half inch or so, along with dish detergent--just a couple of drops of this,though) and that is it! ... in the morning all the fruit flies will be at the bottom of the glass gauranteed .... this is a recipe from my sister-in-law and she swears by it ...i have yet to try it though.

Fruit flies are getting pretty busy in Seattle as well. They seem to materialize out of thin air...

Google 'fruit fly traps'. They work. Also, get rid of your fruit basket in the kitchen. Worked for me.

They're a huge problem here in Denver too. Thank you Ogopogo for the vinegar tip, I will try that! Oakville_al, I've already removed my fruit basket, but they're still here.

Thanks Ogopogo, I'll try that out tonight.

oh, one more thing... apparently it must be "wine" vinegar not just plain vinegar.... i going to try this out to and see if my relative's recipe is just a old wive's tale or not...

quote:

Originally posted by Ogopogo DUDE:
oh, one more thing... apparently it must be "wine" vinegar not just plain vinegar.... i going to try this out to and see if my relative's recipe is just a old wive's tale or not...

Yeah, must be something in the wine. The fruit flies all stick to my ceiling during the day, even with fruits lying around. They somehow just ignore it. But as soon as the cork flies off the bottle, they swarm the table. I suppose I should clarify in that the flies ending up hitting the liquid is generally not an issue. It's the distraction of them buzzing around that is. I swear they come out of the sink!

WEc- I just spoke with my mother who confirmed Ogopogo's vinegar solution, but she also told me they *do* come out of the sink! She said to pour about a cup of bleach down both sides (if you have 2) of the sink and that should do the trick.

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Originally posted by Zingirl:
WEc- I just spoke with my mother who confirmed Ogopogo's vinegar solution, but she also told me they *do* come out of the sink! She said to pour about a cup of bleach down both sides (if you have 2) of the sink and that should do the trick.

I don't think that can be can it? So they only come out of the kitchen sink? And isn't there a half loop in the drain that's filled with water? Either case, I will definitely do the vinegar and bleach thing. Thanks.

I am happy to report that there are currently three flies on the lip of the glass of vinegar. Hopefully, I will find them floating inside tomorrow morning.

quote:

Originally posted by Zingirl:
WEc- I just spoke with my mother who confirmed Ogopogo's vinegar solution, but she also told me they *do* come out of the sink! She said to pour about a cup of bleach down both sides (if you have 2) of the sink and that should do the trick.

They also come out of rags. If you leave a pile of rags in the corner, you get fruit flies a couple of days later. Those damn Drosophila melanogaster !!! Damn them to hell!

Take out your trash people.

Fruit flies drive me insane. Never throw anything 'fruit' related into an open garbage container as in Banana peel, yogurt container, apple core. I agree that those fruit fly traps do work. I might try the wine vinegar thing next time.

The vinegar/detergent is working phenomenally. There are 9 of them suckers floating in there!

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Originally posted by WEc:
The vinegar/detergent is working phenomenally. There are 9 of them suckers floating in there!

Congratulations! That accounts for, what, 3% of your fruit fly population?

If you're touring the Napa / Sonoma area when the fruit flies are around, you'll find glasses of wine left sitting out on window sills and such. It seems that the wine is more readily available for those folks than wine vinegar. And it appears to work, so why not use something that you already know attracts them. Try putting out a glass of cheap wine (or one you don't care for too much), mixed with a touch of soap, and see which works better.

quote:

Originally posted by SD-Wineaux:
Congratulations! That accounts for, what, 3% of your fruit fly population?

If you're touring the Napa / Sonoma area when the fruit flies are around, you'll find glasses of wine left sitting out on window sills and such. It seems that the wine is more readily available for those folks than wine vinegar. And it appears to work, so why not use something that you already know attracts them. Try putting out a glass of cheap wine (or one you don't care for too much), mixed with a touch of soap, and see which works better.

At the moment, I feel like I am bordering retardation. Sometimes, the obvious eludes me! LOL! Thanks!

WEc, you're not alone here. I just read the post and I've put out one glass of vinegar and another of Zin, we'll see what prevails in the morning.

Clearly, Mensa is not looking for my application

Results: Glass of wine vinegar held 18-20 fruit flies this morning and the glass of Zin held 4. Glasses were put out at the same time, and bleach was dumped in the sink right after glasses were set out.

I've not found a single fruit fly today!

Thank you Ogopogo, it worked! No more fruit flies!

No such luck for me. Had it out for over 2 days and not a single fly caught. I don't have a huge problem, though. Just one here and there that flies between me and the computer screen or tv.

Ok, so the great Drosophila rodeo is on. Anybody have any ones with white eyes, or funky wings? If so, take it down to where the kids at your local University's biology department hang out and you'll be a Rock Star.

indy, please let me forget the tedium of examining the eyes and wings of Drosophila melanogaster under a stereoscope. It's been a while since college genetics and I can still remember what a pain in the butt it was.

So true,

It's been 15 years, and I still have fond memories of regular 24 hour checks of the nasty growth media to see if the friggin' eggs had hatched. Glad I had a cute lab partner.

Haha, I studied drosophilia in high school, and will NEVER forget the little tubes full of food the flies lived in...red eyes, white eyes, two wings, four wings, heterozygotic...good times

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Originally posted by Board-O:
indy, please let me forget the tedium of examining the eyes and wings of Drosophila melanogaster under a stereoscope. It's been a while since college genetics and I can still remember what a pain in the butt it was.

......boy that sure does bring back memories of university (pre-med) genetics ...what a waste of energy categorizing the characteristics of fly that is the size of a sesame seed...all i could remember thinking the whole time is ...."oh GODD..let me have my B- and allow me to move on to a career,...any career but one that doesn't involve this bs ..."

The famous Drosophila M. experiment, and memorizing the Krebs Cycle, and every friggin' part of the spiny dogfish were in my so called "weed out" classes. Designed to flunk out half the underclass. Glad I made it through (barely ).