Making a fruit fly trap

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MyQul

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If like me your a messy brewer you probably end up with wort all over the kitchen by the end of brew day. Despite meticulously cleaning it all up so you don't get a tongue lashing by SWMBO when she gets home, there can still be miniscule amounts left that attract fruit flies, in particular at this time of year - I always blame them on the fruit bowl, "nothing to do with brewing love,honest" :whistle:

This is where a fruit fly trap can come into it's own to maintain domestic harmony.

You'll need:
a jar
some white wine vinegar or cider vinegar
washing up liquid

Fill the jar with about an inch or so of vinegar. Then put a drop or so(quite literally about a drop) of washing up liquid in with the vinegar. This is to break the surface tension of the vinegar so the little fiends dont use the vinegar as a skating rink. That's it

Then watch the little buggers go to their DOOM!!!! Mwaaaaaahhhhh!!! :evil:
 
I've got an infestation of them in my brew shed. With my last brew one of them flew into the stream of wort being poured into the FV and disappeared under the foam. I'm hoping it was a particularly clean fruit fly and is not going to spoil my 19 litres of porter :wha:
 
I've got an infestation of them in my brew shed. With my last brew one of them flew into the stream of wort being poured into the FV and disappeared under the foam. I'm hoping it was a particularly clean fruit fly and is not going to spoil my 19 litres of porter :wha:

OMG :eek:, I'm a bit OCD on the sanitising side of things and I so do not want to hear things like this :cry:

If you're ever up for a bottle swap, please completely forget that I even exist :rofl:
 
supposedly slugs are also best attracted by yeast(/beer) (in garden slug traps).
this makes evolutionary sense though, because organic matter left around for a while will ferment and rot naturally, so its a good indicator of food sources.

On another note, i have noticed a lot of fruit flies have found themselves in an old apple squash drink that i have left around.

Also, for the more active fly killer, these are not only very effective but a damn site more rewarding when they go crack
http://www.poundland.co.uk/electronic-insect-terminator
 
When I was searching for methods to kill fruit flies I read they like to lay eggs in the overflow from sinks so I regularly pour boiling water down both plug holes of my kitchen sink.
 
There's quite a few in my trap now. It's like a little morgue. I had the idea that if the traps were shallow then it might attract more flies. So I tried using some small saucer like dishes that I have but it didn't attract/catch one fly. I seems tall jars work much better than wide shallow dishes. May be the smell (or whatever attracts them) is more focused or something in tall and narrow and more dispersed in shallow and wide?
 
I put cling film over the top and poked some holes in it with a pen, I assume they land on it then go inside then cannot fly out.
 
supposedly slugs are also best attracted by yeast(/beer) (in garden slug traps).
this makes evolutionary sense though, because organic matter left around for a while will ferment and rot naturally, so its a good indicator of food sources.

On another note, i have noticed a lot of fruit flies have found themselves in an old apple squash drink that i have left around.

Also, for the more active fly killer, these are not only very effective but a damn site more rewarding when they go crack
http://www.poundland.co.uk/electronic-insect-terminator

I like the sound of that. I've got one of those electric rackets for midges. I'm going to tape down the on button and leave it above my fruit fly trap :evil: Happy trapping!
 
Make a cone out of paper and place it in the jar, so that the narrow end is above the liquid inside. It's easy for them to get in, but not so easy for them to get out :twisted:
 
This seems a popular design but is a little big for my needs.


fly+trap+(1).JPG




fruit-fly-trap-bottle-wallpapers-7.jpg
 
Suppose you could always use a smaller water bottle.

I just use an uncovered jar without any kind of top. The wee beasties seem to find the white wine vinegar irristable. The just crawl down the jar closer and closer to the vinegar then end up drowning.
Perhaps they think they can sneak a drink by standing on the surface of the vinegar like they usually can with liquids but because of the washing up liquid fall through the surface tension and drown
 

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