foxfirefey: A guy looking ridiculous by doing a fashionable posing with a mouse, slinging the cord over his shoulders. (geek)
[personal profile] foxfirefey posting in [community profile] homeeconomics101
I've recently discovered a cheap, marvelous, safe way to catch flies.

Put a little bit of water with a dash of dish soap mixed in with some balsamic or apple cider vinegar into a little plastic food container (like yogurt comes in!) with a hole cut in the middle of the lid. Wider is better than taller, I think, but have not scientifically proven--I'm suspecting the closer the liquid is to the hole, the better.

The vinegar attracts the flies (that old adage about honey and vinegar? not true! at least for fruit flies), and the dish soap breaks the tension of the water so that they can't get out.

Date: 2010-10-15 11:52 am (UTC)
haruka: (Default)
From: [personal profile] haruka
I found this suggestion a couple of weeks ago by Googling 'how to kill fruit flies' and have been using it ever since. It really works! So far, though, there have always been at least two that escaped so we keep having new outbreaks, but we're not done with them yet. Last night we bought another huge bottle of vinegar and are starting another round!

Date: 2010-10-15 01:25 pm (UTC)
From: [personal profile] delladea
Neat! I've had some luck using a juice glass with about 1/2in of wine at the bottom, but after a time the alcohol in the wine evaporates and the flies are no longer attracted to it. I may give this a try next time we have a fruit fly outbreak.

Date: 2010-10-15 02:22 pm (UTC)
From: [personal profile] madelienegrey
Not if only I could find a solution for the ants!!!

I'm Just Now Exploring this Comm

Date: 2011-01-07 03:59 pm (UTC)
jumpuphigh: Pigeon with text "jumpuphigh" (Default)
From: [personal profile] jumpuphigh
Diatomaceous Earth! Since I started using it, I haven't had any major ant outbreaks but prior to finding out about it, I'd have horrible outbreaks every July with several types of ants. I live in the desert and by July, they were all pretty desperate for water. It also kills the scorpions and cockroaches and fleas. Really, it's just a great all-purpose bug-killer that is environmentally friendly and safe for pets. Wherever you get it from, make sure that it is food-grade.

Date: 2010-10-15 02:30 pm (UTC)
ninetydegrees: Art & Text: heart with aroace colors, "you are loved" (Default)
From: [personal profile] ninetydegrees
You can also cut a plastic water bottle in half and reverse the top to shove it into the bottom part and create a funnel. This has always worked for me.
Oh and some beer diluted in water works for flies too.

Date: 2010-10-15 03:01 pm (UTC)
From: [personal profile] destinyislands
This is the same method I use to get rid of those pesky flies. Always works great.

Date: 2010-10-15 11:09 pm (UTC)
holyschist: Image of a medieval crocodile from Herodotus, eating a person, with the caption "om nom nom" (Default)
From: [personal profile] holyschist
I used this, sans vinegar, to catch fleas this summer. It at least cut down significantly on the flea population in that room.

Date: 2010-10-19 10:48 pm (UTC)
landshark: My dog trying to distroy a kong. (Default)
From: [personal profile] landshark
This reminded me of something I'd seen a few times on the Oregon coast. I kept seeing old shops with the doors wide open and little ziploc sandwich bags 1/2 full of water tacked to the door jam, hanging right in the doorway. I finally asked about it and apparently it it keeps flys out. i can only guess it has something to do with the reflection of the water and their freaky eyeballs...

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