urgh

[ratcreature]

One of the downsides of warm weather is how fast you end up with swarms of fruit flies. I do bring down my garbage far more frequently in summer, i.e. way before a full garbage bag accumulates, and they are still a nuisance. Just now I noticed two in my garbage can, which meant I had to take it out again already -- obviously once I spot even one, I get rid of any organic garbage fast, because otherwise who knows how many of them there would be hatched soon after.

That seems enough to avoid true infestations with swarms in my kitchen *knocks on wood* but they are still annoying. And of course the garbage bins downstairs are popular breeding grounds, so you often have small clouds of fruit flies emerging when you open these. :P

I know you can do easy traps with soap/vinegar in water to attract them and do population control, and I'd probably entrap some before I notice any flying around (I mean as soon as you notice a pest it's a safe bet that there are more you didn't see), but frankly the idea of bowls with floating dead insects standing around in my kitchen as preventative measure is also gross.

Comments

[domarzione]

It's not pretty, but oh, does it work. Also, for the record, the bugs do sink to the bottom, so as long as you're not using clear bowls, you won't really see them.

[ratcreature]

That's good to know. Personally I hope the spider(s) in my kitchen will eat them. (The corner near my kitchen window has a regular spider presence though it is probably somewhat aggrieved with me since I started cleaning my kitchen floor regularly, because I destroy the webs when I wipe stuff, even though I make sure it can scuttle to safety to wait the cleaning out and doesn't get squashed.)

[bluemeridian]

I have the same problem most particularly during harvest season - ripe tomatoes draw them in very quickly, even if they're in good condition!

[ratcreature]

They are equally a bane in grocery stores, even if they have attentive employees that remove squashed/rotten fruit fairly quickly. Some of the more upscale supermarkets here have started to cool much of their fresh produce area, but that has to cause enormous energy costs and worsen environmental impact.

[astridv]

That vinegar trap works really well though... I mean, it's gross but the grossness is concentrated in one little spot.

[ratcreature]

True, one gross bowl is better than congregations of fruit flies all over your fruit, garbage and soon your whole kitchen. I'll keep it in mind should frequent garbage disposal be not sufficient any longer, maybe once the local plums become available. Those always seem to be particularly infested.

[lilacsigil]

The flies here persisted until the end of May because we had an unusually mild autumn - usually we don't see them after about mid-April. Horrible things!

[ratcreature]

The only good you can say about them is that at least they don't want to eat us, nor infect you with diseases, so they are better than mosquitoes, ticks, fleas etc.