Anyone else suffering from Fruit Flies?

I get them late summer particularly when bring own apples in Have you brought stored fruit in ?
Touch wood nothing at this time of year

We once had a plague of fruit flies, eventually traced to some conkers (horse chestnuts) that the children had stashed under the stairs.

In the summer I repotted my houseplants, I have about twenty, and since then we have been inundated with lots of flies.

I think they must have been in the bag of compost.

My DH became exasperated with them and has launched a campaign.

First he bought some sticky yellow plastic square things which attracts the flies, they have been very successful and became plastered with hundreds of flies. Not attractive to humans though.

Second he sprayed each plant with dilute peroxide, it didn’t harm the plants but I don’t know if it works as we still have yellow plastic flags as well.

Third he sprinkled the surface of each pot with diatomaceous earth which is fine but has to be repeated if you water the plants.

Now it seems to have decimated the number of flies but there are still a few about.

I know he would have preferred to throw all MY plants out but at least he is trying (in more ways than one!).

Gwyllt

I get them late summer particularly when bring own apples in Have you brought stored fruit in ?

No, I did bring apples in from the fruit tree in the garden, but that was at the end of summer. The pesky little midges are still hovering around the kitchen. I thought they would have gone when the colder weather arrived 😕

My houseplants are full of tiny flies and taking over the house since I repotted with fresh (expensive) houseplant compost. Have tried gravel on top, sticky tabs and watering with dilute bleach, to no avail. As a last resort banished plants to the shed - kill or cure. Couldn’t stand it any longer. Think only solution is washing the roots and repotting with hopefully gnat free compost. No guarantee of that so can’t be bothered…….

I wonder if you have fungus gnats rather than fruit flies. They resemble mini mozzies.

They are very persistent! I’ve trapped literally dozens and dozens over the past few months using the yellow sticky traps, but also by letting houseplant compost completely dry out for a few days. Apparently, this kills off the larvae in the soil and interrupts the breeding cycle. Seems to be working - so far…!

fairislecable those little things that hang around plant pots are not fruit flies I forget the name will have to look them up but yes they can come in the soil ….the answer is to get aquarium gravel and top the soil with it then they can’t get to lay their eggs and will quickly die off

Farzanah we completely banished them from my grandaughters pot plants with the gravel method every plant had them in thousands but they d all gone within a few days after we put the gravel over the soil

Everyone I know seems to have had fruit flies this year. I even think I spotted one the other day. More astonishing to me, I visited my son in America in October and they had a fruit fly trap in their kitchen because they’ve been plagued by them all summer as well. It seems to be a widespread problem.

This reminds me of an incident we had a few years ago. We bought some wild bird food to take down to one of our local ponds. We put it in the cupboard in the hallway and forgot about it. A few months later I started seeing these tiny black dots on my kitchen and bathroom floor. (I live in a flat). Then they started appearing in my lounge. I opened the cupboard and it was riddled with these tiny insects. I was horrified. I bagged everything up that I could throw away and cleaned everything out. My boss got in touch with a pest control man and he came and sprayed everywhere in our flat. Thankfully we never saw anything again.
A few months ago I bought some bananas from a local shop and when I went to pick one up it was covered in fruit flies. I've not bought any fresh fruit since and although a nice shop I noticed a lot of flies round the fruit section.

We have an infestation of flies slightly bigger than fruit flies. We have finally decided that they were in the compost round a cutting I was given. We have been away for the week and the whole worktop was covered in dead flies. I’ve put the pot outside and will repot the plant. In the meantime DH has ordered a gizmo from Amazon that you plug in and it attracts the flies and zaps them.

Squiffy is right - they are fungus gnats. Very similar, but they sound a lot worse, don't they?

I got them in some compost too, and use the yellow sticky things. They are very effective, but you have to persevere with them for longer than you think. They are persistent little blighters.

I read on line that the fruit flies are attracted to cider vinegar. I got rid of dozens of them in the summer by leaving a shallow dish of the vinegar with a spot of washing up liquid added, to lower the surface tension. The trap I bought caught nothing!
Good luck!

BlueBelle

fairislecable those little things that hang around plant pots are not fruit flies I forget the name will have to look them up but yes they can come in the soil ….the answer is to get aquarium gravel and top the soil with it then they can’t get to lay their eggs and will quickly die off

I’ve tried this, stopped watering (practically killed the plants) tried sticky traps, all to no avail. Couldn’t put up with it any more.
I did read you could get nematodes on line, but afraid it’d be a waste of money as they need to be fresh and probably die in post.

Yes, a few. I think they came in with some apples but I also have them buzzing around my compost bin outside.

Yesterday there were two spiders creating webs on the outside of the kitchen window. I think the whole of nature is confused by the mild Winter we have here in the Midlands/South. I wonder if it's the same in Scotland?

I use the yellow sticky things in the Summer - must see if I have any left in the shed!

Just my luck to get one in my glass of white wine! Only turned my back for 2 seconds and there it was swimming around. The only fruit or fungus fly I’ve seen since the summer as well.

Arrrgh, Dh has just spotted two in our kitchen! We’re in Scotland and there’s snow outside. Cold temps clearly not a deterrent.

Shysal the trap my ds had was a home made cider vinegar one. It was a tumbler with a mix of something sweet (jam?) and cider vinegar, with a cone of paper to lure them in.

BlueBelle

fairislecable those little things that hang around plant pots are not fruit flies I forget the name will have to look them up but yes they can come in the soil ….the answer is to get aquarium gravel and top the soil with it then they can’t get to lay their eggs and will quickly die off

Dear BlueBelle I could kiss you!💋
My indoor plants have been blighted by those little devils all year since I re potted them.As I have hardly any garden to speak of I like lots of indoor plants.I will dash off to a garden centre and get some this week.

Ohh er thank you 🥰 Oreo
It completely cured my grandaughters bedroom she had about half a dozen plants and each plant was inundated in tiny black flying things I googled it and that was one of the answers You need to completely cover the soil though because they breed in soil and can’t get out through the shingle it definitely worked for us and she’s never had them since

I’m not sure they are all fruit flies - some, I think are fungus gnats. I’m not sure the compost available to us these days keeps them at bay - I don’t remember seeing as many in my house plants as in this last couple of years. They’re annoying little blighters.

I had some in the summer and hotter times. Got rid by filling a jam jar about a third full of apple cider vinegar and putting cling film on top with a few holes in them, worked a treat. Also cider vinegar with a few drops of dish soap seemed to trap them too.

Thank you for your suggestions of how to deal with these annoying little pests. I think I'll have a go with the cider vinegar that some of you have advised. I've also looked online at fruit fly traps which SueDonim mentioned.

I've got them and they seem to hang around my lemon tree which is growing in a pot in the living room. It's gone quite sticky including the pot.
I think I'll try the cider vinegar. They do seem to like drowning themselves in my glass of milk or whatever I'm drinking in the evenings.

Some may have a problem with fruit flies but I think the majority of these buzzy little pests are FUNGUS GNATS as people have said.
Their eggs arrive in your house in potting compost, so you have to sterilise the compost. Put in a sieve and run boiling water through the compost and then microwave for 3 minutes, giving it a stir. When cool then repot your plants. Maybe shake the infected soil off the root ball if possible and rinse under the tap in case there are eggs or grubs attached.

BUT the problem is keeping those clean plants protected while you do the rest of the plants. If you leave them unprotected the gnats will land on them and lay their eggs! I'm at this stage at the moment, but am determined to repot my plants in clean soil.

I honestly think there is an absolute epidemic of fungus gnats because every type of potting compost sold on Amazon has complaints that the soil is swarming with them. The only way is to microwave the little buggers.