chances are their life cycle is very short and they will eventually die off. we had a similar problem and it was found that they hatched from some new indoor potting soil we purchased. it is also a problem with fresh cut christmas trees. in the mean time hang some sticky fly strips around.
We have a problem with small flies for the last 2 weeks in our house. They are like fruit flies. We have tried all kinds of remedies to get rid of them and they are still flying around. There is no vegetables or decayed food laying around anywhere and we can't figure out where they are coming from. We were told to put little dishes of apple vinegar with syrup to catch them. This works, but has not solved the problem. There's always around 10 or 15 dead ones in the little dishes. Do any of you have any recommendations to help us solve this problem? Thanks for your help.
But, according to you they draw flies.
Agreed.
Chances are by the time the OP reads this the problem is already gone.
Of course they could always get a pet "bat".
AMUN
Wow. We've had the same problem nearly all summer. Little tiny black flies. Clouds of them that simply won't go away by themselves. We've NEVER had this kind of problem with flies in nineteen years at the same house. It's like the Amityville horror. Where do you live (approximately)? I'm in a semi-rural part of the central California coast.
We finally got aggressive with them about a month ago. Cleaned EVERYTHING out of the cupboards, used airtight containers for stuff like potatoes and onions, and for anything else that might conceivably be food, and for kitchen trash. We recycle all our aluminum cans, and now we put them in an airtight can in the mud room until we can move them outside to the big recycler. We bought fly strips and put them up where the flies seemed to be the worst, and we used a whole can of aerosol fly spray in the space of a week any time we saw more than two or three at a time.
This helped enormously. The flies went from swarms of dozens to maybe one or two a day. Lately, I haven't seen any of them. We're hoping that the cooler weather coming will eliminate them completely.
-Frank
Small piece of advice for you, Dave. If you let obnoxious postings irritate you that much, the Internet is going to put you in the looney bin.
+
Had a similar problem a few years ago and they were coming from a sink drain!! Why didn't they wash down? Don't know but I used a foaming drain cleaner so that it would expand into any creave where they might be hiding. It worked and have had none since. Just a fluke.
As others have noted, the life cycle of these little buggers is short, so they will die soon. However, they do tend to reproduce, so you need to handle this in more than one way. I recommed the sticky fly strips to catch the flying ones. The ones I use work amazingly well. I had some of the flying visitors, and now they are totally gone.
I recommend searching a bit more thoroughly for their food supply. It might have started out with a piece of rotting fruit in the trash, but now might be something in your sink drains or garbage disposal, or maybe under the rim of a toilet. Give your house a good, thorough cleaning. Try pouring a little bleach down your kitchen sink drains. Also check behind the stove or refrigerator for something that might have fallen.
+I had a similiar problem - after 3 days of fruit flies, finally decided to do a top down search of the area.
Found a forgotten apple in a bookbag that had dissolved into a brown lump.
Retched a little, then got rid of the former fruit, cleaned out the bag with hot-ass soapy water and that was it.
Tell your wife to keep her legs tightly together.
WHY DON'T YOU GET A LIFE YOU DUMB SON OF A BITCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The foul-mouthed idiot sure is unappreciative...
Wonder why he asks for help if he doesn't really want it?
I would suggest bringing the outfield in a little and looking for faster outfielders who can read the ball off the bat better.
:We have a problem with small flies for the last 2 weeks in our house. They :are like fruit flies. We have tried all kinds of remedies to get rid of them :and they are still flying around. There is no vegetables or decayed food :laying around anywhere and we can't figure out where they are coming from. :We were told to put little dishes of apple vinegar with syrup to catch them. :This works, but has not solved the problem. There's always around 10 or 15 :dead ones in the little dishes. Do any of you have any recommendations to :help us solve this problem? :Thanks for your help.
I get these every year during the summer. Interestingly, I've had almost none this year. I don't know why. It probably has to do with the fact that I've been pretty fastidious this year in not leaving my back door open. My thinking has been to keep houseflies from coming in but it has the added effect of keeping those little flies out too. I think they're called "fruit flies." Yes, they are annoying, although not so much as house flies or horse flies (which I get too, if I leave a door open).
You could try the newsgroup: alt.consumers.pest-control
: :Dave wrote: :> We have a problem with small flies for the last 2 weeks in our house. They :> are like fruit flies. We have tried all kinds of remedies to get rid of them :> and they are still flying around. There is no vegetables or decayed food :> laying around anywhere and we can't figure out where they are coming from. :> We were told to put little dishes of apple vinegar with syrup to catch them. :> This works, but has not solved the problem. There's always around 10 or 15 :> dead ones in the little dishes. Do any of you have any recommendations to :> help us solve this problem? :> Thanks for your help. : :chances are their life cycle is very short and they will eventually die :off. we had a similar problem and it was found that they hatched from :some new indoor potting soil we purchased. it is also a problem with :fresh cut christmas trees. in the mean time hang some sticky fly strips :around.
Yes, I have used those pest strips too. I bought them one year when the problem was especially bad. I had dozens and dozens of those tiny flies at the time and the pest strips virtually solved the problem. However, there's always a few that survive. Better to resolve the problem another way. I still have most of my strips but this year I don't think I've seen more than 1/2 a dozen of these flies - insignificant problem.
On Wed, 14 Sep 2005 08:54:58 -0700, Frank J Warner wrote:
:In article , Dave :wrote: : :> We have a problem with small flies for the last 2 weeks in our house. They :> are like fruit flies. We have tried all kinds of remedies to get rid of them :> and they are still flying around. There is no vegetables or decayed food :> laying around anywhere and we can't figure out where they are coming from. :> We were told to put little dishes of apple vinegar with syrup to catch them. :> This works, but has not solved the problem. There's always around 10 or 15 :> dead ones in the little dishes. Do any of you have any recommendations to :> help us solve this problem? :> Thanks for your help. : :Wow. We've had the same problem nearly all summer. Little tiny black :flies. Clouds of them that simply won't go away by themselves. We've :NEVER had this kind of problem with flies in nineteen years at the same :house. It's like the Amityville horror. Where do you live :(approximately)? I'm in a semi-rural part of the central California :coast. : :We finally got aggressive with them about a month ago. Cleaned :EVERYTHING out of the cupboards, used airtight containers for stuff :like potatoes and onions, and for anything else that might conceivably :be food, and for kitchen trash. We recycle all our aluminum cans, and :now we put them in an airtight can in the mud room until we can move :them outside to the big recycler. We bought fly strips and put them up :where the flies seemed to be the worst, and we used a whole can of :aerosol fly spray in the space of a week any time we saw more than two :or three at a time. : :This helped enormously. The flies went from swarms of dozens to maybe :one or two a day. Lately, I haven't seen any of them. We're hoping that :the cooler weather coming will eliminate them completely. : :-Frank Yes. Add to that an effort to minimize the opportunity for them to fly into your house from outside and you should have solved the problem.
Dan
Are you in the city or country? If you are country and have livestock, there are these little flies that accumulate on manure. They get in everywhere. I have horses and know all about them.
They also build up in septic tanks, might you have a hole in a pipe?
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