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African Violets

Tiny flies and fly paper

16 years ago

Recently somebody wrote here about putting fly catcher strips out among the av's to catch the little "mold flies". I tried that method, starting last Friday. I have been bugged by two types of flies: one is a really tiny grayish, almost transparent creature which looks a bit like a mosquito through a magnifying glass. This type hangs out among my bonsai trees.The other is a brownish fly a wee bit bigger than the other and it goes more for fruit in the kitchen. Neither kind is in the least interested in my fly paper, although two of the "tiny grayish things" did blunder into one. However, I made a discovery last night: they all like wine! They dive into our wine glasses, become inebriated almost instantly and never make it back out. So I set out some small cups, each with about a tablespoon of wine (they don't care if it's red or white) and as of right now I have netted several of each kind.

Krys

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Comments (4)

robitaillenancy1
16 years ago
Voila! Introducing the new KrysFlyTray!

Nancy
fred_hill
16 years ago
Hi Krys,
Most of those little fungus gnats are attracted to something that is yellow. You could also try putting a yellow dish with water and save the wine for yourself. Then again if you drink enough of the wine you just won't give a damn about the gnats.
Fred in NJ
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krystyna1937
Original Author
16 years ago
Fred,
I like to think they swim around a bit in the wine, singing bawdy songs before they pass out.
Krys
irina_co
16 years ago
Krystina -

you have

1. Drosophyla - the fruit fly - that's the kind the geneticists are making their PhDs breeding them and counting how many inherited red eyes, short wings or fuzzy whiskers. They are abundant now - because it is so much ripe and rotting fruit outside - think crab apples. If you do not have a food for them at home - they will peter out with the coming winter.

2. fungus gnats - they do not like your wine or apples, they look like moskitoes and their larva lives in your bonsai pots feeding on organic materials in soil and young roots of your bonsai and african violets. That's the ones you want to get rid off. Nancy just recently posted something about watering your pots with a weak solution of the Clorox bleach. Look it up and try.

irina

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