Any idea on how to combat these bastages? Generally speaking I'm a fairly tidy person, but somehow these effers have taken over my place. Last week I did probably the most thorough cleaning of a place I've ever done (I mean sterilized to the point to where you could perform open heart surgery in), yet they're STILL here. There's a group that congregates around the kitchen sink, but they're still found all over.

The numbers do seem to have dropped a bit, but still too many to annoy you. I've tried a few store bought "Home Depot" remedies, and those haven't worked for ***** Am I doomed until the weather starts turning cold? Any ideas?

So, I started off with a fly swatter, and I paid my kids a quarter for every 10 they killed. Then the fly swatters broke. Then I tried the Apple cider vinegar, sugar, and dawn dish soap. That was effective, but slow. I find the extension on a vacuum cleaner takes care of large amounts in a short period of time. Unlike a fly swatter, if you miss, the power of the vacuum sucks them up if they are still in short range.

We had them bad the last couple of summers with three little ones who love to eat fruit halfway and spill/smear/hide the rest. Three products used together have finally eliminated them:

Garsum Window Fly Traps https://a.co/d/iPCTESG

PT Alpine Pressurized Fly Bait https://a.co/d/iBDqkHB

TERRO T2503SR Ready-to-Use Indoor Fruit Fly Killer and Trap https://a.co/d/ds4vNpz

I've never actually seen a dead fly in the Terro traps but I can't argue with the results.

I'll second those terro traps. I've usually been able to find them at ace hardware. It may may take a few rounds, but the flies will eventually disappear.

As someone else said, make sure you're taking trash out of the house timely, and clean all drains well with hot water/bleach.

Thanks for the recommendations. Never thought of the vacuum trick before.

Agree with a practice all those suggestions above but here's some other weapons that getRdone:
> spray bottle adjustable mist to distance spray - filled with iso.alcohol - knocks 'em down to smash or drown.... gets easily mosquitoes
> soft towels located near windows & mirrors can squash 'em w/o fear of breakage
> TomCat cheap glue boards (even if cut in half)
> Whatever refuse they like to eat, placed on oven-safe dish/bowel inside oven w/door open .... after awhile, slam the door shut, turn oven temperature up beyond 200F (gnats/other thrive in temperatures between 70 degrees and 80 degrees Fahrenheit)
> NextDoor.com has even more ideas
> Maybe ... sometimes ... this works .... needs to be cleaned w/o shocking self at times .... MaxTry Zappers plug into outlets

apple cider vinegar, water, drop of dawn dish soap.

They've been really bad for us since the spring. The apple cider vinegar/soap trap doesn't work for us for some reason, but what has is BEER. We put beer (the darker the better) in a small bowl or ramekin, cover with Saran Wrap, poke holes, and then I actually cut up sticky fly trap tape and stick it on top of the Saran Wrap. I catch a ton that way.

The other thing is concentrated peppermint oil spray. You can buy it on Amazon. It won't kill them, but it does repel them so I spray it around all doors, windows, down the sink, and anywhere else they congregate.

Our exterminator also has something they can put down the drain that kills the eggs, which helps a lot too.

Good luck!

The one good thing about the daughter having two indoor cats is they'll take care of any invader from fruit flies to scorpions.

The internet doesn't have the bandwidth to list the downside of two indoor cats.

I find they congregate around the sink where I brush my teeth. Pour bleach down that drain and make sure there isn't any "dried" toothpaste on your counter. They love sweet.

We had them bad in the kitchen this year. Did some research and did the apple cider vinegar traps like mentioned above. But what really eradicated the issue was cleaning the underside of the rubber sink drain thing. Its gross af so would recommend wearing gloves. Get paper towels, stick your hand in there and clean the underside really well.
Actually had larvae under there…

Years ago we had this problem at our lake house. Went for months with the cleaning and the traps and the gadgets. My wife nearly moved out.

Final solution was two fold, 1) pumped septic 2) put better screens on the plumbing vent stacks

Most likely they are coming from your drains. You have to treat the drains over a period of time. It does work, but you must treat all the drains or else they will move from one bathroom sink/kitchen sink/shower to the next.

Used Green Gobbler Fruit fly killer. Follow their diresctions.

CLB2008 said:

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We had them bad in the kitchen this year. Did some research and did the apple cider vinegar traps like mentioned above. But what really eradicated the issue was cleaning the underside of the rubber sink drain thing. Its gross af so would recommend wearing gloves. Get paper towels, stick your hand in there and clean the underside really well.
Actually had larvae under there…

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Really good advice. We have a little compost container that was attracting them and we started emptying that sooner and a lot of cleaning. It took us a month or so, but once it got hotter and drier, they pretty well disappeared.

Sims said:

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Years ago we had this problem at our lake house. Went for months with the cleaning and the traps and the gadgets. My wife nearly moved out.

Final solution was two fold, 1) pumped septic 2) put better screens on the plumbing vent stacks

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Not saying you're wrong, but are you sure you aren't talking about drain flies rather than fruit flies?

P.H. Dexippus said:

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Sims said:

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Years ago we had this problem at our lake house. Went for months with the cleaning and the traps and the gadgets. My wife nearly moved out.

Final solution was two fold, 1) pumped septic 2) put better screens on the plumbing vent stacks

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Not saying you're wrong, but are you sure you aren't talking about drain flies rather than fruit flies?

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I put so much effort into that issue I probably could have recited their DNA code to you a few years ago.

We have been having luck with the Raid blue night light plug-in, it has sticky insides and traps them. Not for a full fledged infestation, but it helps with errant flying buggies.

Thanks for the suggestions all. I did a combo of some of the recommendations in this thread, and I'm pretty confident they've been eradicated. I can finally cook/eat in peace again.