I have a problem with these horrible tiny flies in my apartment. I’m not the best at cleaning but there are no really obvious places where they could breed in the apartment. I have one plant in the place and some more out on the balcony but I don’t go out there very often. This is central Florida and I suppose they could simply be coming in when I do. I hate them so much. They don’t look like mosquitoes to me. Unlike houseflies they do not land very often but endlessly circle like so many tiny global hawks looking for a target. Does anyone know what they are?
<dale_gribble>
That’s it! How could I have been so blind. They ARE tiny spy planes! This is the government’s latest attempt to spy on my every move! Fortunately, I have my bug killing superpowers. They didn’t plan on that.
</dale_gribble>
Could be fungus gnats, hatching in your plant pot. One site had a simple test to check if the pests are fungus gnats: placing a potato slice on the soil and checking for larvae after 4-6 hours. Letting the soil dry to a depth of 1" will kill the larvae currently there. Repeat as necessary, the adults will lay more eggs the next time you water. No need for pesticides.
You’ve already gotten some good answers, but being a fellow Floridian, I can offer some advice (and sympathy) on this particular type of fruit fly.
Take out your trash (especially food trash) OFTEN. It wouldn’t be a bad idea to have a seperate small sealed trashcan for the organic waste, and dump that very often if not everyday.
Don’t leave fruit laying out anywhere. Just don’t, these little suckers LOVE fruit and have the ability to sense it from great distances. The older the fruit, the more attractive it is to them. A fruit with just a little bit of fermentation going on will be like a fruit fly magnet for all the fruit flies in your general area.
I saw the directions for a trap using apple cider vinegar in one of the links above. I’ve never heard of the ones using a paper cone, but I have heard of (but never used) a similar trap. It’s just a jar half filled with apple cider vinegar, then water is added on top of the vinegar to fill the rest. (In theory, I’m guessing the water and vinegar should stay seperate?) Then a few drops of liquid soap are added to the water. The little buggers can supposedly sense the apple cider vinegar through the water, and they will get stuck and drown in the slightly soapy water in their haste to get to it. Apple cider vinegar=fruit fly crack. Use this to your advantage.
I’ll try it. But no fruit laying about here, except in the fridge. Fruit fly crack? Sometimes I wished I owned even a low power microscope so I could see things like this better (though my scanner at 600 dpi worked pretty well). Maybe I could have seen their tiny nano-crack pipes.
