Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Housekeeping Tips Part 4

Actually I'm seeking household tips for getting rid of fruit flies. (Other than keeping a clean kitchen-----In all fairness though, the current infestation seems to have stemmed from an onion that expired while we were out of town for a couple of weeks.)

I felt wickedly clever when I tried to lure them to their doom with some vinegar and a piece of fruit left in an open microwave oven.(Should I patent this idea?)

I allowed them to gather for about an hour, and then slammed the door shut and started it up on high. I stopped when the plum slices were unrecognizable, sizzling masses. I opened the door, and at least one fruit fly zipped out!

I wonder what the next generation of them will be like now. HELP!

8 comments:

Steve said...

The vinegar is the right way to go. Use that, red wine works the best, and put a couple drops of dish soap in it. The flies fly in and the dish soap lessens the surface tension and the flies fall in!

kerfuffler said...

Ah, dish soap!

That sure beats spraying clusters of them with Lemon Pledge and wiping them up after they plummet with those heavy, waxed wings.

djinn said...

Well, there's also my method from last night--leave a glass of wine out - lots of dead fruit flies floating in the morning, whom presumably died happy.

kerfuffler said...

I have seen fruit flies drowned in wine also, but have also swatted others that were plainly engorged with red wine. Since many of them can escape (without soap) there will still be another generation of them.

djinn said...

Yes, but they're easier to swat when drunk. Though it gets annoying when they set up bars, AA meetings etc., in the nooks and crannies of your kitchen. Soap it is!

kerfuffler said...

You are such a merciful exterminator,letting them die happy in your wine. I just keep on racking up the bad karma, enticing them into the microwave, dropping them with Lemon Pledge, examining every kitchen item for its potential deadliness. Hmmmmmm.....so this is what the brulee torch was destined for!

djinn said...

My fruit flies burn at both ends;
they will not last the night;
But ah, my foes, my little flying foes--
they give a lovely light!

With apologies to Edna St. Vincent Millay

djinn said...

George thought that I had posted this and was quite surprised at my, uh, diligence; he is well aware of my live and let live attitude towards diptera; and my aversion to the microwave.