Killing fruit flies

kitrat

I don't really know where to put this question, hope here is ok.

So I made a litle fruit fly trap - a little plastic food container without a lid, put some fruit inside and some clingfilm over the top, pricked a little hole in this with a pin. Now I have about 20-30 fruit flies in my trap.

What do I do now!? I need to 'dispose' of them somehow. I don't really want to just take them outside and open it as they creep me out and I don't want to be near them when they're flying.

I thought I could microwave them to kill them off, but that seems really evil! On the other hand they are just flies, but cooking them to death seems inhumane.

Any other ideas?

Leif

So having them stick to some paper and starve to death is humane? They are insects, with little in the way of a brain. Just cook them. Do you want to keep the container? If not, bin the lot uncooked.

Have you seen a dragonfly eat a bee? It is impressive to see it munch through one. Birds eat huge numbers of insects. I think you are worrying needlessly.

Funky_Bold_Ribena

Why have you got fruit flies in the first place? Have you got some rotting fruit laying around?

Leif

Could they be fungus gnats? The maggots live in damp soil and damage the roots of pot plants.

kitrat

My replies are being blocked to this thread when qu

keystone

Seems like there is a forum glitch. I keep getting it to with smileys and images. Been trying to post a pic of a blunderbuss to this one to help you out with a different sugegstion but that keeps getting blocked. Thread running on it in the Arms.

Cheers

crisp

shotgun will do the trick. dispatch the little blighters

kitrat

Ugh can't seem to get sensible replies through, keep getting blocked - in short: thanks everyone!

tony6403

Time flies like an arrow.
Fruit flies like a banana.

Ash_McCloud

If you have a solid surface in your house, like a glass coffee table or something, then you could try allowing them to escape onto the surface one at a time and hitting them with a hammer or something

Leif

Since you have had difficulty posting, and not answered my question, I'll post information in case it is useful.

I grow chillis, and a couple of years ago the main room was full of tiny flies, and splat marks on the ceiling where I had squashed them with a newspaper. They were laying eggs in the soil, the maggots fed off the organic matter in the soil, and then emerged as flies. I tried Gnats Off, it was rubbish. In fact it was worse than useless. In the end the solution was to bottom water the chillis, to keep the top layer of soil dry, and to apply a layer of insecticide on the soil. I used Pyrethrin powder. That killed the insects as they emerged, and as they returned to lay eggs. Two applications several weeks apart finished them all off. But if you miss one female, it will lay eggs, and the whole cycle will begin again. The lifecycle is very short, a month or so.