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Tuesday, March 8, 2011

The Days of Wine and Flies

Okay, let's face it, caustic chemicals and poisons are bad for any house.
When I found my exterminator putting white powder along my baseboards with two toddlers and a crawler in the house, I kicked him to the curb and took over pest control internally.
 And we started figuring out how to get rid of the stuff we didn't want to live with versus 
giving a cat nerve damage.
So lets discuss fruit flies.
I like wine.
They love wine.
This does not lead to camaraderie and a few laughs. It leads to fishing out swimmers with a spoon.
And it leads to clouds of unwanted visitors heralding Spring.
It's time they left.
First, locate the breeding ground. We found ours under a marble slab the dog water dish was sitting on.
I thought I was protecting my precious, precious floor.
I'd built a neo-natal unit for vermin.
Now, let's try three different traps.
Oh, and we're going to ignore the traps that do live capture so you can release them outside into the wild.
BECAUSE MY HOUSE IS OPEN AND THEY'LL COME BACK IN.
First trap:
An olive jar
Apple cider vinegar
A sheet of printer paper
Tape
Make a cone with the paper with a small hole at the bottom. Secure with tape.
Pour a little apple cider vinegar in the jar so there's maybe half an inch between the surface and the funnel.





Next, you need:
A salsa jar
Some squishy blueberries
Red wine
Stretchy plastic wrap
A pencil
Put the blueberries in the bottom of the jar and cover them with wine. Weep softly. Stretch the plastic wrap tightly over the mouth.


Poke a few very small holes in the plastic.
Just to be fair, I also put an inch of wine in a glass, then set them all side by side to see what we got.
Warning: dead bugs ahead.
Ready for the nail biting, edge of your seat results?
Cider vinegar: the lesser of the methods. Still effective, 
but not quite the box office draw I'd been lead to believe.
Fruit and wine: they flocked like a free brunch in South Beach.
Wine alone? Let's face it, there's a reason I made drink caps!
However, I'll probably stick with the fruit and wine method.
Why?
Half a dozen wine glasses with remnants sitting around the house might attract DCFS agents.

12 comments:

Mrs BC said...

Those blueberries look so yummy in the wine, I don't even have to be a fly to know where I'd be heading!

Heather{Our Life In a Click} said...

That's amazing! Good luck with your fruit fly elimination!

Musings from Kim K. said...

I'm showing Chris this post too. We don't have fruit flies yet, but when warm weather finally breaks, they'll be back looking for a wine glass to inhabit. We had a vinegar experiment going last fall, but your blueberries & red wine concoction looks far more appealing.

Deb said...

We had a problem with fruit flies last year and tried the viegar trick with a soda bottle. Worked like a charm :)

Michelle L. said...

Wow! A scientifik experiment!!! I am excited to try this once fruit fly season is upon us. You mix the coolest stuff in with your crafts, Sunny!

Anonymous said...

LOL! You can do anything! Painting, crafting, scientific experiments..... genius. Maybe you can come up with a jar experiment for DCFS workers if they come sniffing around! :-)

Life in Rehab said...

I'd had just about enough of that gang of flies terrorizing my pinot noir on Sunday, and I was out for revenge!

Unknown said...

Ewww. But necessary.

Heather said...

You come up with the best ideas! I hate any kind of flys. They can really ruin dining alfresco!

Michelle @ Dream Home DIY said...

Blech! Oh but im so glad you found something that worked :0)

An Oasis in the Desert said...

You crack me up. Once I stop laughing, I'm going to try one of these methods. I haven't used the professional chemical guys in years.
CAS

Cari said...

HA! Totally have this problem...especially with bananas!! We can't ever eat them all in time. Totally wrapped them up in plastic wrap and poked holes in it with the same conclusion! I, too, hate those pesky little bugs!