Here’s a Great Way To Rid Your Home of Fruit Flies
They may be tiny, and sure, they're harmless, but that doesn't make fruit flies any more fun to have around. In my case, just having one fly by the corner of my eye is enough to have me come out of my skin. So once I spot one, I quickly pull out an old tried-and-true remedy I found online a few years back to keep their numbers down. This year, however, I totally lost control!
For the last week and a half, I have been on the losing end of a battle of wills with these little suckers, and came dang near to losing my mind in the process. They were everywhere! EVERYWHERE!
In years past, I could stick a "death trap" as I've affectionately come to call them (a small jar of apple cider vinegar mixed with some dish soap, covered in saran wrap with a couple of holes punched in the top) in the kitchen and the bathrooms, and that would take care of any and all fruit flies that dared enter my house. Check the traps once a week, appreciate the fruit fly carnage, and be done with the problem.
This year I have nine of these traps out. NINE! And they're in every room -- even rooms that don't have food, and they're still flying about in clouds. I've been checking the traps daily. And they're full....like 40-50 flies per trap...and there were still more flies.
I had to figure out where in the world they were coming from!? So I did some digging online and found that fruit flies like to lay their eggs in drains. So I boiled some soapy water, and ran it down every drain in the house, to kill the eggs. But that didn't solve my issue. I still had swarms of them everywhere.
What. The. Heck?!
Back to the internet I went. Most sites recommended the "death traps" I already had going. But one mentioned something about being able to spray straight up rubbing alcohol on them, and that that might be a way to kill them. Since I was at my wits end with these little beasts, I figured I'd try that.
Let me just say, not only does it work (kind of -- I'll explain in a minute) it is SO SATISFYING to kill them this way!
I filled a little spray bottle and headed up to the upstairs bathroom, where I'd trapped a bunch inside by closing the door. I opened it up and fired away with my beautiful booze gun and WHAM! Every fly that had been circling in flight above my head was now stunned and down on the floor and the sink. I does't entirely kill them as much as it does kind of knock the wind out of them. Then it's up to you to finish the job with a good old fashion thumb smoosh -- and let me tell you, after trying to kill these guys all week, there were a ton of bug-guts on this lady's thumb. It was glorious!
I was almost gleeful as I went room to room, stunning and smooshing the flies. And then I discovered where they had been coming from! We have two obsolete Diaper Genies in my house. Apparently my children did not get the memo that we were no longer using them. They've been using them, as trash can, for months, without my knowledge.
I pulled out a bag that resembled a science experiment. THOUSANDS of flies trapped in a blue diaper genie bag. THOUSANDS! So I sprayed them all with my booze bottle and laughed.
I went on a 5-hour killing spree last night. And I don't regret a thing. I may have the blood of thousands on my thumb, and my house may smell half-drunk, half like a hospital, but the flies are gone...for the most part...and those left better be quaking with fear...because now I know their weakness. And the tables have turned.