lady of the flies

Ok, so it doesn’t carry quite the cachet of “Lord of the Flies” but what can I do about that? I don’t know exactly where they come from, or how they can suddenly swarm my fruit bowl, but I detest fruit flies. After trying several different approaches to eliminating them from my kitchen, this is what I’ve come up with. It’s a simple solution that seems to work quite well and I want to share it with you.

To make one of these masterpieces, you need a container (bowl, yogurt container, jar, etc.), vinegar (cider, wine or balsamic), clear kitchen wrap, a rubber band and a fork. Pour the vinegar into your container, stretch plastic wrap across the opening, secure with a rubber band. Then take the fork and pierce some holes in the plastic wrap. I’ve tested the 3 types of vinegar mentioned above, and can’t detect any preferences with the fruit flies. Of course, it is difficult to do a body count with the dark colored vinegars. I say use whichever one you have lots of. I’ve left these traps on my counter for extended periods of time. They don’t seem to lose their effectiveness. I realize that keeping all your fruit in the refrigerator works too, but if you want fruit to ripen, it has to be out, doesn’t it? Sorry you can’t see the fruit flies very clearly. They aren’t particularly easy to photograph. Hope someone finds this useful!