My kitchen has become the gathering ground for flies. Ugh. No little fruit flies. Big honking, mating ugly flies.

My only advice is clean, clean, clean. Take out the garbage religiously. Use a covered can in the kitchen. And wipe all surfaces with some bleach and water.

I wish it were that simple. I'm a clean freak (well, kitchens and bathrooms), so it's not that. Somehow they came into the house in a shopping bag or packages of fruit and they won't go away.

Do you have houseplants?

I feel for you Gina. I've gone though this twice in the past year. I removed all garbage and garbage cans from the house and cleaned and sprayed them. I used the 2 gallon ziploc storage bags for garbage until the flies were gone. Everything went in those bags and was zipped up.

Now this is going to sound stupid, but instead of using bug spray to kill them I used my regular kitchen cleaner which is Cinch. Worked like a charm.

Tracey

I'm guessing houseplants too, maybe fresh herbs, I don't know for sure about that one. They are attracted to vinegar(apple cider)....set out a bowl or put some in a jar with a lid with holes poked in it. You need to find the source though or you will still have them.

David

Fruit Flies!!! is your problem. They are a pest all summer when you have out fresh fruit or veggies from the garden or store. Here's what I do. Put some old fruit in a deep pot or bowl and set it out of the way of traffic and the flies will swarm to the fruit [an hour or two or so.] Have a large towel laying at the base of the bowl. Then sneak up on the bowl because if they see you coming they'll fly off. Slowly grab towel and cover bowl VERY fast. Then march them outside and remove towel, shaking it and shooing the flies from the bowl. take bowl back inside and repeat process.

My mom got rid of them with the vinegar method. She put a bowl of cider vinegar covered with plastic wrap on the counter. She poked a couple holes in the wrap and the suckers went in and couldn't get out.

Fruit flies live and breed in moist conditions....rotting ( or moist) fruit and veggies are prime....but so can be the soil in house plants and the kitchen drain!
yep...look at your drain. For a day or so, cover it with a plastic bag at night, or during the day when you are at work. When you take that plastic off of the drain....do the little buggers swarm out of the sink?
Then clean your drain...
If you find the source and eliminate it...they will be gone in hours. Fruit flies live only hours, so if the next generation doesn't come along quickly....those little buggers are outta there!
If not....then....HMMM? LOL!
Linda C

Hey Gina~

Can't help you with your gnat issue, but I saw your sweet message over at KF and wanted to say hello and hope all is well!

Hi Gina - I've done this a couple of times - seemed to work.

But then again, I think they die when it gets too cold, so it's definitely seasonal here.

Stacy

Here is a link that might be useful: gnat traps

I noticed that the instructions said you could use {{!gwi}}

I made a trap with banana in a bowl that I covered with plastic wrap and then made tiny holes in the plastic wrap.

Lars

There is a brand of "duct tape" that is called "duck tape"....has a picture of a duck on the front.
Linda C

Here is a link that might be useful: duck tape

LOL, Lars, I loved that picture, even if there IS really a product called "Duck" tape!

I had a plastic bee trap that I used in my kitchen, put an old banana in it and let the fruit flies congregate, then took the whole trap outside and let the little buggers freeze to death.

Might not work in California, but you could put it in your freezer, LOL.

Annie

Gina , I feel your pain! I had a mess of them in late summer. I tried everything! One night I left a used wine glass with a wee bit of red wine still in it on the counter overnight. It was filled with the damn flies...I mean filled!

So I placed some small containers with red wine in the kitchen and they were all gone in 24 hours. Made me cranky to share my wine with the little buggers but it worked!

I posted something yesterday but it isn't here - oh well.

I do keep a tray of small orchids in the kitchen because of the light and warmth. I know sometimes houseplants get gnats but these are all clean.

I put all the fruit in the fridge (baby bananas, a pineapple, apples). But I left out a tray of unripe persimmons. I don't want to refrigerate them before they're ripe, and the gnats weren't bothering them - yet.

Last night I put out a vinegar trap and this morning 2 gnats were in there and no others were to be seen. I left it out. I poured some salt down the drains for good measure.

Come to think of it, the orchids have been getting epsom salt solution - I do it this time of year to promote blooming in the winter. Maybe that's keeping the gnats away from them.

When I get home I'll tie a cloth loosely around the precious persimmons before they start getting ripe and attract the gnats again.

Hi Pauline!

Thanks everyone!

If you can get a good picture of one of them, a proper ID will go a long way towards finding their breeding spot. Fruit flies, fungus gnats (the houseplant flies), and drain flies are visibly different critters if you're into that sort of thing...

I'm ready for my close-up!

Here is a link that might be useful: (Credit where due.)

Well, see, if that WERE our suspect, we'd know he wasn't a fruit fly since they have stubby antennae.