Fruit Fly Trap

[flowerbug]

with all the melon and tomato fruits coming in the house to be cut up or processed sometimes we can't help but bring in a few of these flies along with them.

i know they like apple cider vinegar, but to make it work as an effective trap i put in a few drops of liquid soap and then some extra melon juice and a small piece of melon.

the first version i made last night was just a small plastic 2oz cup with the lid propped off to the side a bit so they could get in. plain apple cider vinegar and a few drops of soap. had caught two of the fruit flies by morning. today i added the drops of melon juice and bit of melon and caught the rest that have been buzzing around this morning/afternoon.

now i'm joking with Mom about pickled fruit flies. poor buggers...

 

[tortoise]

I made orange vinegar intended for cleaning, but I react to orange oil so I couldnt use it. I gave it to a friend who feeds her parrot fresh fruit so she always has fruit fly traps. It worked great!

I bet you could use rinds and pulp to make melon vinegar in case you need fruit fly bait when you dont have melon to bait the traps.

 

[flowerbug]

i've not had any problem at all getting the fruit flies using the trap from before, it's still the same little piece of melon in the vinegar, what i do is just add a little more fresh vinegar if i see more fruit flies buzzing around and i pick out the flies that are well-pickled. now that it is getting colder out we don't have the fruit flies around as much.

i've had bad reactions to orange oil/scented cleaners before too. as a kid i was pretty reactive to almost everything edible. it took many years of allergy shots to get me able to co-exist with citrus and also i perhaps grew out of some of the reactions. now i can eat citrus/oranges but i can't overdo it. like an orange every two or three days is plenty. if i eat more than that i can break out in hives/bumps.

 

[tortoise]

i've not had any problem at all getting the fruit flies using the trap from before, it's still the same little piece of melon in the vinegar, what i do is just add a little more fresh vinegar if i see more fruit flies buzzing around and i pick out the flies that are well-pickled. now that it is getting colder out we don't have the fruit flies around as much.

i've had bad reactions to orange oil/scented cleaners before too. as a kid i was pretty reactive to almost everything edible. it took many years of allergy shots to get me able to co-exist with citrus and also i perhaps grew out of some of the reactions. now i can eat citrus/oranges but i can't overdo it. like an orange every two or three days is plenty. if i eat more than that i can break out in hives/bumps.

My orange reaction comes and goes. I can drink juice or eat them if someone else peels them. Orange oil in a steam diffuser is the worst. I get headache, fatigue, cognitive impairment/brain fog, its a bit hard to describe but an awful feeling.

My sister has oral allergy syndrome and is even more sensitive to citrus. I hope avoiding orange will prevent mine from getting worse.

 

[flowerbug]

i had major problems at work due to imposed cleaning requirements. a lot of cleaning supplies have citrus oils in them and my lungs react badly. boss did not listen to me and the doctor turned out to be a jerk that didn't back up a previous diagnosis. eventually after being repeatedly harrassed i quit. it was a low paying job that i loved too but it just wasn't worth it. have noted since then that the boss still has a hard time keeping employees. i was reliable and glad to be there.

ok, i should say i'm over it, but i'm still mad at that boss. haha.