How resilient are fruit fly larvae?

For some reason, this summer, the fruits I got had lost of fruit flies. It led to an infestation in my apartment, which I got rid of using a cup cont aining a shallow amount of apple cider vinegar, to which I added a few drop s of dish detergent. I covered the cup in saran wrap in which I poked 3 ho les that were more than big enough for a fruit fly to enter through.

Part of the problem is that I don't change the kitchen garbage every day. It is a 10L garbage can, and it would be very wasteful to change it every d ay because I generate a neglegible amount of daily waste. So even though m y cider trap kills the existing fruit flies, whenever I lift the garbage li d to throw stuff out, more flies come out. They eventually get trapped by the cider, but it's annoying. I've taken to squirting the vinegar into the garbage can whenever I open it. It seems to keep the problem under contro l. In fact, lately, it seems to have eliminated any fruit flies even when lifting the garbage lid. The vinegar does dry up, so it's probably too hos tile an environment for the flies to mature form the larvae stage.

However, I have found larvae around the edge of the garbage can. It's a go od quality can, [SimpleHuman 10L]

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They seemed quite inanimate, probabl y due the the vinegar. For good measured, I soaked them again, then wiped them up. Unfortunately, dead-looking larvae also seemed to be in crevices in the garbage can that required vacuuming. Now, I took the precaution of tossing the vacuum bag, but it was a huge waste because it was largely empt y.

So my question is, how likely is it that these dead looking larvae are actu ally alive but inanimate because of the vinegar trauma, but still have a po tential to revive? What if they are simply very sedentary and not dead?

P.S. Some of the crevices were such that even vacuuming left one or two, an d I drenched them in 70% isoproppyl alcohol. I later read that fruit flies saturate they offspring with alcohol, so that probably wasn't a great idea .

P.P.S. I posted this to [usenet]

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orum/alt.home.repair) and [Stack Exchange]
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Reply to
andymhancock
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Seems like a lot of trouble, when all you got to do is empty your trash daily. -OR- Keep your trash can outdoors.....

Reply to
Paintedcow

Kill the sink drains too. Kill and use stoppers then fill with some water t o act as a barrier. I use simple human products too but the flies don't giv e a damn. Put can outside and make it like new or toss it and start over. D o a real fall cleaning. Whether it helps or not I believe running my kitche n power vent grabs a Rouge fly here and there too while on a cleaning ventu re.

Reply to
Thomas

It's an environmental thing. A huge bag every day goes to the landfill.

Reply to
andymhancock

to act as a barrier. I use simple human products too but the flies don't g ive a damn. Put can outside and make it like new or toss it and start over. Do a real fall cleaning. Whether it helps or not I believe running my kitc hen power vent grabs a Rouge fly here and there too while on a cleaning ven ture.

The larvae are coming from inside the garbage. I'm just wondering whether I can trust that they are dead, or whether I have to change the nearly empt y vacuum bag every single time (and hopefully there are no other times this year, since it seems to be seasonal). Can they even survive and breed in a dust bag? The vacuum bag isn't sealed.

Reply to
andymhancock

Forgot to mention....hard to keep the trash outdoors because I live in an apartment. No balcony, I don't think that it would be a good idea to put garbage out there if I had one.

Reply to
andymhancock

Andy,

Take out the trash daily until the infestation ends, then go back to your old routine. Rubbing alcohol or bleach will kill them. I doubt that vinegar is effective.

Dave M.

Reply to
David L. Martel

If you were really concerned about the environment, you would NOT use trash bags.

I rarely use them. I live on a farm, so we do not have garbage pickup. I put all burnables (paper, plastic, etc) in one trash can (no trash bag). I put all cans and bottles in another can (no trash bag), which I take to the recycling center. I dont keep food scraps in the house, it goes right outside to the compost pile.

Reply to
Paintedcow

On Tuesday, October 11, 2016 at 7:40:59 AM UTC-4, David L. Martel wrote: "Take out the trash daily until the infestation ends, then go back to your old routine. Rubbing alcohol or bleach will kill them. I doubt that vinegar is effective."

That's what I had in mind after Paintedcow's suggestion, taking garbage out every night until the problem disappears. Environmentally hostile, but only a temporary measure. Thanks for corroborating.

Reply to
andymhancock

Just a heads up...vinegar is not the greatest thing to spray into a garbage can. It may be a high end stainless steel can, but the screws will turn into molten pulps of rust. Isopropyl alcohol is a good alternative.

Reply to
andymhancock

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