Catch flies with vinegar, not honey

[foxfirefey]

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.

Comments

[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!

[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.

[madelienegrey]

Not if only I could find a solution for the ants!!!

[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.

[destinyislands]

This is the same method I use to get rid of those pesky flies. Always works great.

[holyschist]

I used this, sans vinegar, to catch fleas this summer. It at least cut down significantly on the flea population in that room.

[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...