Ooohh, an experiment! I hope you share your results. How well the methods worked, that is. Not the dead pests, LOL.
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I remember red thorax, not red eyes.
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Is it an experiment? Or is it me trying very very hard to get rid of these stupid bugs and going a little overboard?
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How desperate are you? We can talk about hair spray and a lighterâŚ
Mmm, no thanks.
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Early results. They most like vinegar plus fruit. More so than plain vinegar. I also decided I was making it to easy for them to live bc my first 2 bowls were not actually saran on top (saran doesnât stick) but plastic sandwich bags with a twistie. So once they got in, there was still too much space for them. So I got rid of 1 such bowl (vinegar only), and replaced it with a cup with vin and fruit and saran with a rubber band to keep it taught. Theyâre still not dying though. Getting trapped and then just hanging out in there. Meanwhile, either they donât really like wine/sugar/soap or itâs not effective at trapping them. Iâve seen a few on the rim, but it hasnât killed more than a couple that I saw floating in there. I thought I added enough soap to trap them. Maybe too much and it doesnât smell right to them anymore. It was about 2 tbsp of wine, 1 of sugar, and 3 drops of dish soap.
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Really interesting. I would have said the vinegar with fruit might have worked, because the fruit flies want the sweet stuff. I thought the vinegar might have been been off-putting.
The alcohol/sugar/dish soap concoction always works best for me. For sure enough soap is necessary so the flies donât climb out. Now I wonder if the fact that I use unscented dish soapâdidnât think of that beforeâmay be an additional factor.
You could always add more sugar or fruit to any solution you make to draw in the flies. I have done that when especially frustrated with the pesky pests.
Take your victory and run with it!
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Itâs not a victory until theyâre dead!
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Hmmm, I donât think I would like to enter a place if I see dead bodies at the doorway.
Thatâs a good point! I donât think they are as smart as you. They just smell good things and fly onto the rim. But they donât seem to get down in the wine. And Iâm not sure what they see, since itâs red wineâŚ
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If you have drain flies, fruit fly controls will not work.
Based on your posts, you may not have fruit files. Instead of vinegar in a bowl, place a piece of fruit, cover, poke some holes, then post pictures.
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As I posted previously, apple cider vinegar. No fruit necessary. The drop of honey may have been superfluous since the fermented apple was already there, but I didnât mess with success. Just a drop or two of Dawn or Palmolive dish soap was enough. I never covered the container since once they hit the liquid, they were goners. I just used one container, but you might try putting them in a few locations.
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I ran out of apple cider vinegar, which was used in one trap, by itself. I wasnât sure the white vinegar would attract them as well, so I put in a little fruit to up the ante. Re the soap, all I have is scented, and they seem to know and steer clear. My covered (saran) traps have caught, if not killed, about 8 times as many flies as the uncovered wine/sugar/soap. That was another posterâs rec.
Red thorax, fruit flies.
So, any insights on how to battle them, then? Since them being fruit flies was the presumption all alongâŚ
@greygarious recommended approach of apple cider vinegar with a couple of drops of Dawn yielded great results for me overnight.
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This comment will get lost in the sea of replies, but hereâs my two cents: Never had one method work exclusively. The following three methods combined have eradicated the stinkers from my home completely. Itâs not overnight, but drastic differences are noticed in a week or so.
+1 for the vinegar dish soap method. Fruitflies are also attracted to alcohol. Random science bit: Fruit flies prefer to lay their eggs on rotten food that can contain ethanol in as high as 7% concentration. (Thatâs 14 proof to you bar hoppers.) And just like people, the insects differ in their ability to hold their drinks. 
So, when I have some leftover dregs of makgeoli (a homemade korean rice wine), or wine, I do that in lieu of vinegar and attract a ton more.
Sticky paper. But, Iâm not a fan of the sticky yellow cutouts. There are clear ones sold for the window. I find most flying insects congregate there if all the food is away. Itâs gross but strangely satisfying when we replace those sticky sheets.
If you have houseplants, they could be breeding in the dirt. Thereâs a product called âmosquito dunksâ that can be found online or at any hardware store- sold as donuts or pellets. The main ingredient is BTI which produces a toxic bacteria that kills fruit flies/gnats/fungal gnats/mosquitos at larval stage . This is human, pet, & even aquarium safe. With these BTI pellets/donuts, I soak overnight in a gallon jug and make a âtea.â I use this when watering my house plants and dump the excess in the drain (completely safe) to get any bugs trying to colonize in the damp pipes.
Hope this helps~
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Anybody tried using balsamic vinegar? Combination sweet/tart. I might add a little booze to it next time I need to set one out, but it seems to work as an attractant.
I havenât but I bet it would work. I wouldnât waste fancy balsamico on this, of course. I doubt the fruit flies would care. 
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