# A cool way to kill escapee fruitflies



## zBrinks (Jul 16, 2006)

I just saw this on a gardening show to get id of gnats and fruitflies on a patio: fill a saucer or bowl with half water, half apple cider vinegar, and it will attract and drown any pests. Sounds like a good idea to me!


----------



## Ben_C (Jun 25, 2004)

Another capture them is use a bottle (or fly culture bottle, something) and place a bunch of yeast in the bottom. Add water so that you get a 'yeast paste.' Next, take a piece of paper shaped into an ice cream cone shape and cut the bottom (the pointy part) off. Insert this cone into the bottle so that the only way into the bottle is through the small hole you cut in the cone.
This will soon fill up with escapees. Put the container in the fridge after it fills up and you can shake the flies into vitamin powder, feed out, and rid your house of some escaped fruit flies 
~B


----------



## rozdaboff (Feb 27, 2005)

Red Wine Vinegar also works very well. But - it is a a good idea to add a drop of dish soap to cut down on the surface tension. This way the flies sink to the bottom instead of walking on top of the mixture.

Ben - how long does the "Yeast trap" work? Is it something you can put on a shelf for a couple of days? How effective is it?


----------



## themann42 (Apr 12, 2005)

i left a glass of water over the weekend and has some dead ones in there when i came home. i felt bad though i couldn't do it intentionally, i hate the thought of drowning.


----------



## rozdaboff (Feb 27, 2005)

vs being broken down by digestive secretions? :lol: :lol: :lol:


----------



## themann42 (Apr 12, 2005)

nice way to put it, lol


----------



## Ben_C (Jun 25, 2004)

> Ben - how long does the "Yeast trap" work? Is it something you can put on a shelf for a couple of days? How effective is it?


You can put it on a shelf for a few days...it all depends on temp/humidity of surrounding area...here, in Utah, it doesn't last too long but you can revive it by adding water. You can also use extra fly media since it is probably cheaper than yeast. Even rotting fruit. Anything should work.
I hope this helps,
B


----------



## dragonfrog (Feb 16, 2006)

> I just saw this on a gardening show to get id of gnats and fruitflies on a patio: fill a saucer or bowl with half water, half apple cider vinegar, and it will attract and drown any pests. Sounds like a good idea to me!


Sorry guys, don't bother, it does not work!!
I have had a bowl of this slop in the kitchen window for two days now and have not "trapped" one gnat. And boy, do I have gnats!!

This must have come from Martha Stewart. She know less about the stock market than she knows about gardening.


----------



## Guest (Aug 1, 2006)

I just tried the yeast & water trick. Within an hour, I caught 6 FFs. I was expecting to catch maybe one or two over the next few days.


----------



## Ben_C (Jun 25, 2004)

> I just tried the yeast & water trick. Within an hour, I caught 6 FFs. I was expecting to catch maybe one or two over the next few days.


We use it in the lab and it works great! We're sub-careful when we feed out so a lot escape...we catch maybe 100 or so overnight per trap (we have 2 traps).
Not a lot of flies, but enough to feed a couple auratus 
~B


----------



## RyanD (Jul 18, 2006)

I always just used a gatorade bottle with a "few" holes in the bottom inch to take care of the flying ones. They fly in to get the bannana or w/e and can't find the hole to fly out.


----------



## FrogOnMyToe (Jun 23, 2006)

Ben_C said:


> Another capture them is use a bottle (or fly culture bottle, something) and place a bunch of yeast in the bottom. Add water so that you get a 'yeast paste.' Next, take a piece of paper shaped into an ice cream cone shape and cut the bottom (the pointy part) off. Insert this cone into the bottle so that the only way into the bottle is through the small hole you cut in the cone.
> This will soon fill up with escapees. Put the container in the fridge after it fills up and you can shake the flies into vitamin powder, feed out, and rid your house of some escaped fruit flies
> ~B


Do you have a picture of this in action? I don't think I understand how they wouldnt be able to re-escape :X


----------



## slaytonp (Nov 14, 2004)

I don't worry much about escaped fruit flies. They either end up in my dinner or cocktail or wine before dinner. They add some extra protein--I've stopped even trying to pick them out of anything before I drink or eat it. They're small. You can pretend they are pepper, or some other spice. I just vacuum up the ones that die before becoming a food source, or end up in my computer key board, where they can collect like a felt pad of dead stuff, preventing the keys from working properly. What I really hate are house flies. Now those are really fun to catch, especially with a kind of electrified tennis racket that you can whack them with in mid air and keep score with an opponent, giving everyone a lot of exercise. There are lightening bolt shiners, that sparkle in mid air, (10 points), dead bolts, (just drop dead, 9 points), and then spinners, (8 points.) Spinners drop out of the air and then spin on their backs and buzz a lot before they die. I think they should be 10 pointers because of the drama, but my opponents disagree. There are friers, that simply cook on the racket strings before dropping off, 7 points, stickers, that stick and cook without going anywhere, so your have to scrape them off the strings, (6 points) and buzzers that whang off the racket, but still live to make a lot of noise (5 points) There are cheaters, where you get a fly against a window or wall (4 points) each with a lower point score. 3 points is when you just smash the fly with the edge of the racket. 2 points is when you break something like the Ming vase, or the plate glass window, but still kill the fly , and 1 point is when you miss the fly entirely and hit yourself in the head with the racket, electrocuting your brain and drop dead yourself. 

These rackets have a warning label on them: "This is not a toy!!" The hell they aren't. They are one of the best toys I've ever played with. 

For the past two years, I've unleased a lot of preditor wasps upon the horse manure on the ranch, and they have done a really good job controlling the flies, so the game isn't as fun as it used to be, although this year with some extra moisture, we're whacking flies again. I need some new rackets. They are battery operated, and you have to push a button to electrify them at the proper time, so it takes some real practice and skill. They don't have a brand name, and I'm looking for some replacements. It's a wonder they haven't caught on much better than the "Pet Rock" and mood rings did, at least. 

Fruit flies? Just eat those that land in your food and drink and vacuum up the rest.


----------



## Guest (Aug 1, 2006)

Patty i *have* to move portions of this post to the classic board quotes thread! you just just made my afternoon.


----------



## Ben_C (Jun 25, 2004)

> Do you have a picture of this in action? I don't think I understand how they wouldnt be able to re-escape :X


No picture here...however, I quickly drew a diagram...hopefully it makes sense...sorry for the crappy artistic value 










Let me know if it doesn't help and i can try to snap a picture when i get home...

~B


----------



## Frank H (Nov 3, 2005)

:lol: :lol: Patty, Thats some funny writing.. Probably true which makes it even more hillarious! 

Frank


----------



## Steve (Apr 8, 2006)

I have said this before and no doubt will say it again. Patty.. you are the best. You should write a book. I would have to do loads of sit-ups before i read it though, just to tone up those laughing muscles.

Regards

Steve


----------



## joshsfrogs (May 6, 2004)

I use just straight apple vinegar in a fruit fly cup. I drown hundreds of flies each week. I also use yellow tape, bug zappers, and free-roaming spiders.


----------



## Grassypeak (Jun 14, 2005)

Patty, being the clean freak that I am, I can hardly bring myself to comment. Funny stuff though. 

For me, the free ranging spiders do the job. The only problem is that nasty pile of black muck under each web.


----------



## slaytonp (Nov 14, 2004)

Chris, I have some free-ranging spiders, too, but they aren't terribly efficient-- just don't eat enough. There are a couple of jumping spiders that hang out around my computer--I love these guys. One of them gets on the screen periodically and chases the mouse pointer around. They don't build webs, though, so get their prey by chasing it down one at a time.

The most efficient, are the small, immature black widows whose messy corner webs capture a lot of flies I vacuum the webs periodically and try to suck up these particular spiders, as I don't want to chance getting bitten, even by a very small one, but I rarely get the spider itself, since they are quick to get in a crack and hide. Neither do they march around deliberately biting people. The big breeding adults all stay in my nearly full basement and root cellar, with an extended crawl space beneath the house where they belong, and I don't bother them-- although both the plumber and my boys flame them with a blow torch before entering the crawl space for any repairs in that area. It's a wonder more houses haven't been burned down by plumbers torching their way under houses.

My tales are all true. I don't even decorate them up much, because I don't have to. Usually life as one observes and handles it, doesn't need any further exaggerations. It's interesting enough as it occurs--no more imagination needed.


----------



## Grassypeak (Jun 14, 2005)

Patty,

I love jumping spiders. I have yet to have one chase my mouse arrow around, but I’ll definitely try to tempt the next one that lands on my screen :wink: . Despite having several wood piles on the property, I’ve never seen a black widow. I’m within the range of the Southern Black Widow, but they seem to be replaced by the American house spider, 
_Achaearanea tepidariorum_ in this area. The primary fruit fly eaters in my fish room are Basement Spiders, _Pholcus phalangioides_. Based on the black mess under their webs, they must be doing a good job  .


----------



## slaytonp (Nov 14, 2004)

Chris, you inspired me to look up and attempt to find the first book on spiders I ever read, perhaps in the third grade, (1943) but I never forgot it, and have seen the charm of spiders ever since. I found it, and it can be accessed and printed (if you have enough ink and paper) for free--so I did this. 

It is called simply The Life of the Spider, and was written by J. Henri Fabre in 1887, and translated into English in about 1912. It's a worthy read even today, and is very entertaining. It's a great book for arachnophobes. http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/8/8/1887/1887.txt


----------



## Grassypeak (Jun 14, 2005)

Thanks Patty. I have a friend who is the head curator of a local wildlife refuge. She runs a summer camp for very young children, where she introduces them to the wonders of nature. She is an admitted arachnophobe so maybe I’ll print “The Life of The Spider” out for her. I’m sure she’ll get a kick out of it.


----------



## masterbreed (May 9, 2006)

zBrinks said:


> I just saw this on a gardening show to get id of gnats and fruitflies on a patio: fill a saucer or bowl with half water, half apple cider vinegar, and it will attract and drown any pests. Sounds like a good idea to me!


you can also add some oil its been working for me


----------



## kingfisherfleshy (Mar 17, 2012)

As an outdoors person...Im okay with eating insects...in fact I have eaten amphipods off the bottom of rocks, and water gliders off the tops of trout streams.

But for some reason Im hoping that once I get my cultures rolling I dont have fruit flies in all my food and drink. 

Im thinking my roommate and our houseguests will feel the same way.


----------



## hydrophyte (Jun 5, 2009)

Beer draws fruit flies too.


----------



## kingfisherfleshy (Mar 17, 2012)

Great, now my beer is ruined. Whats left to live for?!


----------

