Fruit flies?
katrina7a
6 years ago
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rina_Ontario,Canada 5a
6 years agolast modified: 6 years agokatrina7a
6 years agoRelated Discussions
Millions of fruit flies in my compost bin--is thi a problem?
Comments (58)A few more thoughts: A compost pile made with fresh manure will run hot and will not have worms in it to begin with. Decomposition is done by a wide variety of microbes and insects at higher temps. Worms only inhabit cool piles. The 'worms' that affect animals are different species entirely from earthworms and one should not assume that medications for one will affect the other. They might, they might not. Finally, vet drugs (and human ones too for that matter) undergo a battery of tests in order to be registered for sale in the US. This includes internal metabolism, where and how much of the original compound is excreted, and how fast it breaks down after that. So there is at least some attention paid to that issue. The dilution effect and the general probability of breakdown causes me to not worry about vet medications in manure. I am much more concerned about the persistent herbicides in the hay they ate because there is actual evidence of it harming gardens....See MoreFruit flies in my compost that also seems to cold
Comments (3)You need to shred things up better. The smaller the size of the ingredients you include, the more surface area they have and the faster (and hotter) the decomposition will be. And make sure you have a reasonable proportion of both high N materials (kitchen scraps, plant waste) and high C materials (shredded paper, dried leaves, wood chips). And tumble it often - couple times a day if you can....See MoreFruit flies on my coffee maker out of nowhere
Comments (37)Let me tell you my tale of woe which is still increasing my blood pressure even tonight. For the past 5 days, my house has been inundated with some type of small flies; maybe drain flies, but I have a coffee angle as well. This morning, I used the foot peddle on a plastic Rubbermaid trash receptacle in the kitchen........there must have been at least 25 in the garbage and many flew out all over my kitchen and dining room. I had noticed most seeming to come from the kitchen sink/drains, so I used the foaming disposal/drain cleaner at least twice, but that had no impact. I made coffee as usual this morning, using my Cuisinart 12-cup coffee maker, although I just make one cup and use paper filters and some organic ground coffee. I didn't really look "into" the coffee maker this morning, but I had just run vinegar and water through it the other day for the auto-clean cycle, which it really needed. Like some others in this thread have mentioned, I don't think that the standard cleaning touches every opening within the coffee maker where moisture may be allowed to linger. Later in the day, it appeared that many of these flies were around my coffee maker........to my horror, when I opened the lid on top, there must have been 15 or 20 inside the coffee maker. Even after I rinsed it out and attempted to dry it off, more flies were landing on it. It was like a horror film. I tried putting into two plastic grocery bags, since I didn't have a single bag big enough, and I shortly realized that there were flies getting into the bags like the coffee maker was a magnet. I then cleaned the coffee maker in the sink, and cleaned the canister as well and hand dried each and put the coffee maker into two other plastic bags and put it in my home office at the other end of my house. I put the canister in a separate bag and tied the top and did the same with the basket. (as I type this, there are flies landing on my hands and arms......Alfred Hitchcock can't be far away) I would guess that I have killed about 100 of these flies in the past 4 days and still am not entirely sure where they came from, but I have read that drain flies breed and hatch every 48 hours and I seem to just keep coming. If these things were in my coffee maker this morning, I must have ingested a lifetime's worth. I seem to have two sizes of these flies and the only way to kill any of them is when the land on the counter. When they are flying, it is extremely hard to kill them. I believe they are attracted to carbon dioxide, because they have flown into my eyes, nose and mouth. They sound like mosquitos when they fly near my ears. I may try the apple cider vinegar and dish soap idea before going to bed shortly, but I'm afraid that I wake up with even more tomorrow. I have read that you can add some sugar to this mixture as well. The dish soap is important. Since I could not eat lunch or dinner today because so many were landing on my food and plates, and I had to throw food away, this is really taking its toll. They are going into my kitchen cabinets and have tried to get into the microwave. I am putting many scraps that might have gone into the garbage into separate bags and tying them off. There is no open food or waste in my kitchen. I even sprayed flying bug spray into the garbage when I discovered the infestation there and it made no difference.....nothing kills these things........help !!! UPDATE: I used two suggestions found online that seem to help. One is to build a simple fly trap using apple cider vinegar and dish soap in a cup/container and put plastic wrap on top, secure with a rubber band and poke some small holes in the top with a toothpick. Flies get in; can't get out. Other thing is the suggestion to use a spray bottle and fill with water and dish soap. You can zap flies when they land somewhere and it makes it easier to kill them. Run water and disposal more frequently to make sure there is no "organic matter" that can attract more flies....See MoreI've lost a thread on fruit flies
Comments (16)We put some diluted bleach down each of our drains after reading about that online. For some reason one bathroom also has a couple. No food in sight there so figured maybe they're in the drain lines? The company that I bought the electronic trap from emailed me and asked how it was going. When I told them it wasn't, they suggested putting a cotton ball with wine on it in the trap to help attract the flies. Haven't tried that but it's next on the list. I did notice they were attracted to an empty wine glass that hadn't been washed yet....See Morerina_Ontario,Canada 5a
6 years agokatrina7a
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6 years agolast modified: 6 years agogreenclaws UK, Zone 8a
6 years agoSpanishFly - (Mediterranean)
6 years agoAlisa (Singapore)
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6 years agoKaren S. (7b, NYC)
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6 years agolast modified: 6 years agoSpanishFly - (Mediterranean)
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6 years agolast modified: 6 years agoDanielle Rose
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6 years agoAlisa (Singapore)
6 years ago
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rina_Ontario,Canada 5a