I’ve had two mini-pumpkins on my dining table for a while now. When one started to have a bad spot on one side (about two weeks after purchase), BOOM there were 5-10 fruit flies in 24 hours.
When some tomato soup was left out for a day, BOOM there were fruit flies swarming around it (5 or 6 or so).
When we bought bananas, BOOM…you get the idea.
I really hate to ask this, because I don’t think I’ll like the answer, but are there just eggs everywhere? And what tells them to hatch? How do they know, “AH-HA! They left out tomato soup! GET 'EM!”
I’ve killed about 6 of them today. WHERE ARE THE BASTIDS COMING FROM?
Sorry. The web is filled with stuff on Drosophila, but most of it concentrates on its use in the exploration of genetics.
It apperars that it is simply highly attuned to the odor of ripe and overripe fruit and will travel several miles to find it. Given that there is probably some fruit rotting somewhere nearby on most occasions, (even if it is wild fruit and not cultivated), it does not seem to be that hard to figure out that they are simply attracted by the first whiff of overripeness.
That probably holds true even in the winter. We are constantly going to warmer locations to transport fruits and vegetables all year round, so their eggs are probably coming in on “fresh” (but ripe) fruit from distant locations.
(You can also search for “vinegar fly,” which appears to be the more common British name.)
Hence the expression, “Time flies like an arrow, fruit flies like a banana.”
You live in SoCal, sweetie, they’re everywhere. They live outside, and when they smell rotten punkins on your dining room table, they jes’ naturally assume that it’s an invitation.
The name “medfly” ring any bells? Not that that’s necessarily what’s living in that can of tomato soup in your kitchen, but still…
http://www.aphis.usda.gov/oa/pubs/fsmedfly.html
As you might expect, “friggin’ fruit flies” come from riggin’ fruit flies.
Sorry, I coudn’t help yself.
An old science fair booklet I had suggested getting you own fruit flies by buying some bananas and waiting – the eggs are often laid right on th fruit, apparently. Even if you live in Massachusetts and have the screens up, you’ll get fruit flies if you have fruit.
if you want to get rid of them . Get a glass, fill half way with apple cider vinegar, fill the rest of the glass with water add a couple of drops of dishwashing soap on top of the water and you got a fly death trap
Ok what I think we all want to know here (well after reading this I want to know) is since the fruit flies always appear on ripe/overripe fruit left out - were they there to start with - in otherwords do all (or most) fruits come with the flies (or eggs) already in them when we get them or do they only come after we put the fruit on the counter?
No apple cider vinegar immediately on hand. Anyone know whether or not raspberry vinegar is likely to turn the trick? (The girlfriend is giving me the fish-eye, having finally figured out that those avocados that I allowed to rot on the windowsill probably had something to do with the sixteen hundred fruit flies we have meandering around the kitchen for the last 2 weeks). Or care to venture a guess? (I’ll let you know if I end up with a paper cup full of pickled fruit flies)
Maybe the bartenders have some advice for you!!! (See post on this).
We had a problem at my workplace w/ flies. My boss in his wisdom tells me that fruit flies LOVE the bottom of drains. Like a kitchen sink with lots of goodies flushed down it, they fester in there. Pour 2 glugs of bleach down the sink and it’ll knock um out. (I assume my boss has been trained in this stuff, this is a school dining hall so we take this stuff more seriously than many of the profit seeking groups out there). Anyway we started doing that to our sink where we dump ice cream and all sorts of junk down and the fruit flies went away. Also I have heard (much less reliably) that good air circulation (the occasional draft should do) will keep em away. They like ‘stagnant air.’ I suppose this makes sense - they arent as strong of flyers as their housefly buddies.
It could be that they are fungus gnats. They are commonly mistaken for “fruit flies.”
Got any houseplants, Ruffian? That’s where they like to lay their eggs.
We get infestations on a regular basis. Here’s what we do:
[ul]
[li]Keep the kitchen scrupulously clean (especially if we’re going to be gone awhile)[/li][li]Make sure the houseplants dry out on the surface before watering again (kills the eggs)[/li][li]Smack the buggers whenever we see them. This actually will reduce numbers considerably. Fewer numbers reduces the rate at which they breed, and they breed like… you know.[/li][li]Once eradicated, hope like hell it’s a long time before one follows you in through the door.[/li][/ul]
Oh, and sweet wine works as well as cider vinegar. I know 'cause I’m always fishing 'em out of my wineglass.
For a weapons grade remedy, get some yellow sticky traps from a garden center. We used that when they really got out of hand once.