A fly problem...I need help

[Bisamratte]

Im trying to enjoy a nice glass of wine, but from somewhere a load of small flies have appeard. They seem to like wine ( im trying to guard my glass as I type) and they are sort of brownish in colour and 2-3mm long. I don't know where they are coming from. Has anyone any ideas to what they are so I can find the source of the problem?

 

[JonnyP]

Im trying to enjoy a nice glass of wine, but from somewhere a load of small flies have appeard. They seem to like wine ( im trying to guard my glass as I type) and they are sort of brownish in colour and 2-3mm long. I don't know where they are coming from. Has anyone any ideas to what they are so I can find the source of the problem?

Arrrrrgh, same here, they are fruit flys and they are driving me nuts...If you leave a little bit of wine in the bottle and leave it out, they will swarm into it, they seem to love alcohol....

 

[British Red]

Could be vinegar flies too Jon - they are actually attracted by the smell of alcohol...try Eisberg

Or maybe not

 

[andyn]

We've had loads of little flies around here for the last few das too. Not quite the swarms you seem to be having mind.

 

[JonnyP]

Could be vinegar flies too Jon - they are actually attracted by the smell of alcohol...try Eisberg

Or maybe not

Could be......Maybe thats why we have lots here.....

 

[Bisamratte]

Thankyou for the advice, I have put some wine in a saucer and it is now covered with flies. Any ideas where they will have hatched?

 

[Toddy]

Seriously, check your tattie basket or where the missus keeps carrots, etc., rotting fruit and veg is their usual fare if they are fruit flies. I found them in a bag with mushy carrots last week If you want rid of them treat them a bit like wasps, leave an open jar with some booze and a little jam mixed in with some warm water a couple of cms deep in the bottom. They come in to feed, and hang around and drown.
What do the mushroomflies look like? Could it be those instead?

Cheers,
Toddy

 

[JonnyP]

Thankyou for the advice, I have put some wine in a saucer and it is now covered with flies. Any ideas where they will have hatched?

Nope, they just seem to appear, they do love fruit and veg too.....

 

[Bisamratte]

I have just checked the bag of potatoes I bought this morning and it had a couple of bad'uns in it. Im going to try the jam and wine thing now.

 

[raskusdrotti]

Definately sounds like fruit flies

really hard to get rid of, but much the same as toddy said. Check around your cupboards and especially around sweet things like jam and wines - especially like home brews!!!

 

[bent-stick]

you could just use the Spanish approach and put a roof (tapas) of nice raw ham over your glass to stop them getting in...

 

[JonnyP]

Definately sounds like fruit flies

really hard to get rid of, but much the same as toddy said. Check around your cupboards and especially around sweet things like jam and wines - especially like home brews!!!

Excellent link, cheers for that...Our ones first appeared in some basil we have growing on the windowsill....

 

[Bisamratte]

you could just use the Spanish approach and put a roof (tapas) of nice raw ham over your glass to stop them getting in...

Just thought of that before I read what you had written. Its also good in somer against wasps

Definately sounds like fruit flies

really hard to get rid of, but much the same as toddy said. Check around your cupboards and especially around sweet things like jam and wines - especially like home brews!!!

Yep definatly fruit flies, Im going to check the drains aswell as putting some clingfilm over the potatoes. That should tell me where they come from.

Thank you all for your help :You_Rock_

 

[Bisamratte]

The jam seems to be working

Cheers Toddy :You_Rock_

 

[mark a.]

We have a load too. I assume it's from the fresh local fruit and veg we get delivered. It's nice to know it's not just us. My wife found a (live) slug in the fridge today, presumably from some veg or other. Not ideal...!

Do the flies do anything other than just fly around? Do they bite? Are they deadly? Or just annoying?

 

[JonnyP]

We have a load too. I assume it's from the fresh local fruit and veg we get delivered. It's nice to know it's not just us. My wife found a (live) slug in the fridge today, presumably from some veg or other. Not ideal...!

Do the flies do anything other than just fly around? Do they bite? Are they deadly? Or just annoying?

Just annoying, they move really slowly, until you try to swat them, then they can really move.....

 

[Moonraker]

Do the flies do anything other than just fly around? Do they bite? Are they deadly? Or just annoying?

They just eat fruit/veg and annoy wine drinkers If you make wine and especially cider they can be a real problem.

I believe it is partly due to the warm spell extending so long the abundance of both wild and cultivated fruit this year. With the first decent cold snap forecast soon that should put paid to them

Just be happy they are only little fruit flies and not hoards of flies landing everywhere as we get for 8 months a year in France. The price of living in a rural location and little pesticide use It's another reason houses have shutters over her

 

[Bushman_Brett]

fruit flys there little bliters, in the summer months they get after my homebrewing if they get in there it can turn the whole batch sour , its actually a mix of the rotting fruit and the gasses that get given off that attracts them. Could always get an aquarium net swoop em up and eat them

 

[Bisamratte]

With the first decent cold snap forecast soon that should put paid to them

That will be on Thursday then....Its supposed to snow.....last Thursday it was 23 degrees