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fruit flies

hot to get rid of fruit flies.put out trap with vinager. please addvise. I mite be over feeding.

Comment by Andrew from California on January 29, 2013 at 1:45pm: You'll also need to freeze food scraps for at least 3 days in order to kill any eggs that may come on fruits and veggies. Instead of vinegar (strong smell), I prefer to use pieces of rotten fruit in a bit of soapy water. If you really have a lot of flies, use a vacuum cleaner VERY CAREFULLY to get rid of most of them quickly.

Here's a discussion with more ideas: http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/verm/msg1219182832031.html

Comment by red stroud on January 29, 2013 at 8:26pm: thank you andrew I will try that.

Comment by Ben on January 30, 2013 at 9:00am: Freezing food was definitely the key to my controlling fruit flies. It's also a welcome step as it helps break cell walls, so it accelerates decomposition once the food thaws. That's important in smaller bins, as it's very easy to get unexpected overfeeding when foods that resist break down (onions, citrus peels, etc) break down seemingly overnight after weeks of just sitting there.

What I'm getting at is that it's much easier to monitor feeding times and available food sources if things break down more consistently. The fact that it also kills eggs is a bonus. For reference, banana peels in particular are notorious for harboring lots of fruit fly/fungus gnat eggs. If you're using them in the bin, DEFINITELY freeze them first.

Comment by Nomar Cuaresma on January 30, 2013 at 11:58am: Use Fly Paper. Hang them in any windows/lights in the same room of the bin. Keep the bin open (lid off) for a couple days. Then after those couple of days, get an unused fly paper, cut off 5 inches from the bottom (make sure the fly paper is stiff and doesn't flop over. If it seems very floppy, take a spare pencil and use it as a support) Hang the top part in a window and take the bottom part with the 5 in. of fly paper and stick it in the bin. Make sure it stands upright and doesn't fall over (use the bedding to bury the cylinder part). The bin needs very good aeration and a lot of dry bedding on the top to ensure that the paper doesn't get wet.

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