Fruit Flies INVADING!

I totally owe a post on our fantastic house warming party last weekend, but it's been a bit of a hectic week and a half. I just got home from trip to NY where I officially resigned from the company where I have been very happy for 3 years. I am moving on to a great opportunity so the whole trip was a bit bitter sweet.

I got a rude awakening when I got home and realized that alas the world had moved on without me. The fresh cilantro that I had in a glass of water on the counter since the end of last week has accumulated a thriving community of fruit flies in my absence.

As soon as I walked in, I smelled the rotting sickly sweetness that comes with fresh herbs or flowers left in water too long, but JR hadn't noticed it for 2 days. I pulled the glass of green gooey muck from the counter, and a swarm of fruit flies took off into the apartment. I tried to kill as many as possible, and the walls now display a nice smattering of dead bugs, but I couldn't come close to getting them all. So I had to call in the re-enforcements.

I did a quick search on "fruit flies" in good-ol' Google, and found this site, which had a couple of recommendations. I tried the funnel trap.



* Make a cone out of the sheet of paper (like a funnel). Tape the outside of the cone so that it stays in place.
* Check that the cone fits snugly into a glass or cup.
* Cut off the tip of the cone so that you now have a funnel.
* Pour a small amount of cider vinegar into the glass or cup. (Rum mixed with orange juice also works very well - additionally, a half teaspoon of baker's yeast in water can also suffice)
* Insert the funnel into the glass or cup, but don't let the bottom of the funnel touch the liquid. Tape the funnel in two or three places from the outside so that there is no gap between the glass and the cone.
* Place your newly created trap on a flat surface. The flies will be attracted by the smell of the fruity vinegar and fly into the cone. The flies will slip down the cone and will either land in the vinegar and drown or will be trapped and not able to get back out. If you leave the trap overnight, the trapped fruit flies will eventually fall into the vinegar and drown.

Within 10 minutes those suckers were swarming and headed to their doom. You'll notice this picture has LOTS of little black dots, all fruit files that have previously been enjoying their stay.