Well, I spoke too soon because a few days ago we began to notice them and there seems to be more every day!
My husband told me to put some vinegar and sugar in a small bowl and begin to watch their numbers diminish. I started doing that yesterday and although LOTS of them congregated on the dish and drank the mixture, they flew away again :o(
I did a google search this morning and came upon this video which explained why they were enjoying the mixture, then simply escaping ~ I needed to add a few drops of dish detergent to break the water tension so the little flies could NOT get out of it --- I've just done that and hope by supper time, their population has decreased considerably!!
UPDATED
After only a couple of hours, I noticed dozens of these little bothersome gnats dead in the BOTTOM of the dish of my fruit fly brew which ultimately consisted of --
- vinegar
- a tad of wate
- a couple of teaspoons of sugar [because I didn't have apple cider vinegar]
- 2 drops of dishwashing liquid
But, it'll be interesting to see how long before we're no longer pestered with them at all :o)
10 comments:
I can't see the the video because I'm on my BlackBerry, but I will try the recipe you gave. Here in the South we have them by the hundreds all summer and fall. Thank you!
Oh, me too! We had a problem back in the winter and now they are here again. I have tried the cone in the tall glass but it didn't do much good. I had googled it too. John read that gnats can come from the soil of potted plants (especially those over watered). I left little bottle cap fulls of apple cider vinegar on the soil and caught some. It was suggested to cover the soil with a layer of sand but that isn't something that I wanted to try.
Amazing how something so little can be so annoying. I can't even begin to imagine the plagues of the Old Testament!
Well, I think I will go and set out another bottle of fruit fly/gnat brew.
Dallas ~
I've heard of doing this, also, but haven't had any fruit flies to try it out on. (Now that I have said that, will I get some? :~O )
Do let us know is it works!
Have a 'fruitful' day!
Now THIS is very helpful! Thank you, Dallas!
Blessings Dallas, I hope you are well and abiding in the Shadow of the Almighty as always. I love visiting with you but haven't been able with trying to finish up painting. So glad you posted about fruit flies-we don't(I hope)have them here but sure did in Ca.
Have a joy filled day my friend.
Noreen
Thank you for posting about this, I'm going to try it.
I had to laugh though when she talked about people thinking that killing fruit flies is animal cruelty. I'm an animal lover but really, flies?!
Fortunately that is one thing we don't get - but if I ever do, I know where to find the recipe.
Glad to hear that we're not the only ones with this problem!
I have to tell you that the method I described worked PERFECTLY ~ by the next day there were only a few left and by the following day there were NONE!!!! Yah!!!!!
Enjoy a wonderful weekend with your loved ones :o)
A year or so ago we had little winged insects in our kitchen....I tried honey first and that didn't work. Then I put vinegar in an old water bottle and lots of those bugs went right in for a drink and never came out. I stopped saying you can catch more flies with honey than vinegar.....cause I just don't think it's true anymore.
Mrs Mobunny,
:o)
I now know you can catch more flies with vinegar, sugar and a drop of dish detergent :o)
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