My mom's kitchen was inundated with fruit flies earlier this week. The abundance of Katie's garden was too tempting for them. Fortunately, we learned how to trap fruit flies when Nick was working/volunteering in a research lab. The lab was studying poison dart frogs, but had to breed fruit flies to feed the frogs. When you fed the frogs, a few flies would always escape. Nick would set these traps out to wrangle in those escapees.
1. Remove anything the fruit flies are enjoying, this includes emptying the garbage and running the disposal.
2. Get a cup.
3. Shape a cone out of paper, big enough so it will be bigger than the cup at its widest, with the tip of the cone above the bottom of the cup. You can leave a tiny opening in the tip of the cone, or just cut it with scissors. The opening should be about half the size of a pea.
4. Place a piece of fruit in the bottom of the cup. Banana slices work really well. We didn't have banana, so I used a cut up grape.
5. Place the cone in the cup, narrow side done. Seal the side of the cup to the cone with tape.
6. Leave trap out for a day. Fruit flies should make their way down the cone and into the cup, and then not be able to figure their way out. You will want to release the flies outside after about 48 hours, and start all over with new fruit and cone if you still have flies around. If you keep the trap around for much longer than that, it will have become a fruit fly incubator.
5 comments:
I might just test this one out. I miss you and your practical, sound advice.
This would have great to know about 5 years ago when my apartment was overrun by fruit flies. I'm filing this one away for future reference.
I was about to say the same thing as opticwalrus. Except it was more like 8 years ago in my case.
Yes simply Sarah. I remember your problem. "Bring back the Bat!"
That's good advice. I hope I can remember this one. You are nice to let them go outside and not torture the little fellas.
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