Fruit Flies....YUCK!

I was so excited to have a gathering of friends over this week for a Pampered Chef party.  I cleaned my house spotless and had planned wonderful snacks to go along with what the consultant was cooking.  I am a Pinterest JUNKIE and I had decided to try an adult drink recipe that I had found on it that includes fresh raspberries.

Click for the recipe

Well it was fabulous! The only thing I changed was I used Pinot Grigio instead of the Moscato.  

Now for the downside....with the raspberries came FRUIT FLIES!!! After meticulously cleaning my house for two days, the last thing I wanted to see was my guests swatting flies off!  After the embarrassment,  I researched tons of ways to kill these little boogers.  Finally, I came across DIY life's post on testing the different types of bait. She used everything from toothpaste to tequila!  I found tequila to be the best bait.  I did not have apple cider vinegar which tends to be a favorite of others.  I also used wine and red wine vinegar with dish soap (the dish soap helps make it harder for the flies to get out and they drown easier).  Both of these worked pretty well, but the tequila blew everything out of the park!

In my process, I also tested the effectiveness of different types of traps.  I used the plain old shallow dish method.  This catches the flies, but I also had several hanging out on the sides of the dish...not acceptable for me.  I tried the cone trap shown here.  This trap worked great, but then I still had to look at live fruit flies buzzing inside of it.  Finally, I saw that someone used a mason jar to trap them.  Using the reasoning of a shallow dish, I opted to use a pimento jar instead.  It is very small so it can be hidden easily for discretion.  Also, it is shallow, so flies do not have room to buzz around.  

All you have to do is use a thin nail to poke holes in the top.  You want the holes big enough for the flies to get in, but small enough that they cannot easily get back out!  

In one day, it was amazing how many flies I caught.  YUCK!!  

Remember, that you should also eliminate other things that could be causing the problem. These pests like to lay their eggs on decaying fruit, so refrigerate fruit if possible.    Use a covered trash can and clean up spills in a timely manner.  In your bathroom, hang washcloths to dry.  Fruit flies like places with moisture to lay their eggs. Clean sinks well -  filling them up with bleach then letting it all drain at once will make a swirling motion that will help to clean pipes as well.  I even read that you can pour oil down your garbage disposal to keep fruit fly eggs from sticking.  

I seem to be winning my battle against these gross flying insects, hopefully this information will help you win yours as well!  Let me know how it goes.