Drosophila melanogaster. Probably the one Latin name I will never, ever forget. In University you learn all about them. They are the basis for much of the understandings we have of genetics and I think they were the first genome translated. At UBC I always hated walking the third floor Genetics wing of the Biology building since it always had that icky yeast smell that you can only associate with a fruit fly lab.
But beyond that, every summer, try as I might, and as hard as I try to keep fruit and vegetables away…it’s hard with a bird in the house. He needs his fruits and veggies… and every summer, when the weather heats up…there is a sudden, parthenogenesis-like, explosion of the things. One day there are none, the next one flies by your nose…the next day there are four million! I can just never understand it!
And so the killing spree begins. The cats whack at them in the window…and we take more aggressive measures.
So how do you get rid of fruit flies without chemicals or traps? Easy!
Take one glass. Fill it halfway with water. Add about 3 tablespoons or so of apple cider vinegar. Finally, add about one or two drops of dish soap. Place this in a corner of the kitchen (or wherever the majority of the flies are located) and wait.
Within hours there will be little black bodies at the bottom of the glass and there will be hundreds of flies in the vicinity. Just leave it alone and it will do all the work. Within a day or so, your problem should be under control.
It does go without saying that you should also put any ripe fruits that are on the counters into the fridge since they provide nourishment and a breeding ground for more flies.