Managing Kitchen Fruit Flies with a Little Shop of Horrors(blog.zaccohn.com)
blog.zaccohn.com
Managing Kitchen Fruit Flies with a Little Shop of Horrors
https://blog.zaccohn.com/Fruitflies-and-the-Little-Shop-of-Horrors/
173 comments
I can't blame medieval scholars for believing that flies spontaneously generated from things like raw meat (instead of reproducing). I would guess that fruit flies played a major role in supporting this theory.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spontaneous_generation
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spontaneous_generation
But how are they born? I'll have no fruit flies in the house, and then I'll forget a potato, it rots, and then I'll be infested with fruit flies. Were they already on the potato before it rotted, or did one just happen in, found some food, and figured it would stay and start a family here?
This is what I always wondered about maggots, like when a person in any kind of sealed room, anywhere, dies and starts to decompose. I've been lead to believe maggots inevitably appear and start the process but where did the larvae come from?! Food?
They ride in on your grocery store produce. They also seem to hang out in/near soil in house plants.
How are those products shipped and stored prior to you purchasing them?
Yep, that's right. That's when the flies infect the produce.
Yep, that's right. That's when the flies infect the produce.
Clean/peal the potato and immediately put it in a sealed container. No flies will appear. Only flies beget flies.
IIRC, I read in _The Violinist's Thumb_ that fruit flies are a more recent import along with tropical fruits (I think bananas?), so the spontaneous generation theory would predate their presence in the West.
The reproductive cycle of fruit flies is approx 10 days. A single fertilized female will lay 100s of eggs over her life. But not all at once, it's more like 5 a day.
So if you have a single fertilized female in a room, about 10 days later, you will start getting those handful flies emerge every day. You can keep your room completely isolated, but still you can catch 5 a day on average for about a month or two (in lab conditions longer). If you don't catch them all and you end up with another fertilized female, the story continues.
I think flies are very opportunistic individuals, in the sense that there is always a fly hatching somewhere. If there is food, it will lay the eggs there. If there is no food it will try and stick around or die. But even if it dies, it's bothers and sisters are constantly emerging. So the population will survive a lot of adverse conditions.
So if you have a single fertilized female in a room, about 10 days later, you will start getting those handful flies emerge every day. You can keep your room completely isolated, but still you can catch 5 a day on average for about a month or two (in lab conditions longer). If you don't catch them all and you end up with another fertilized female, the story continues.
I think flies are very opportunistic individuals, in the sense that there is always a fly hatching somewhere. If there is food, it will lay the eggs there. If there is no food it will try and stick around or die. But even if it dies, it's bothers and sisters are constantly emerging. So the population will survive a lot of adverse conditions.
They are basically quarks. If the gap between any two quarks gets too big, a third quark will pop into existence between them*.
*I may have grossly misunderstood my physics lecturer. It was a long time ago.
*I may have grossly misunderstood my physics lecturer. It was a long time ago.
The binding energy between quarks is so huge (more than 99% of the total energy of a proton) that, if you attempt to pull them apart, the energy you have to apply in the process is enough to create additional quarks.
So it’s not that they just pop into existence. You, as the person pulling them apart, are the cause of the extra quarks being created.
So it’s not that they just pop into existence. You, as the person pulling them apart, are the cause of the extra quarks being created.
Very similar to how you, as the person swatting the flies, generate enough energy for another to spontaneously emerge.
Hmmm but the fly must have some kind of incredible complexity compared to a pair of subatomic particles. I mean, it's made of an uncountable number of such particles, bound together in an extremely complex singular arrangement. And as i recall, the energy to separate 2 quarks (produce a quark anti-quark pair) is somewhere around the hundreds of MeV.
I wonder how hard you'd have to slap a table to spontaneously generate a fruit fly. Or the average number of attempts required.
I wonder how hard you'd have to slap a table to spontaneously generate a fruit fly. Or the average number of attempts required.
Actually a pair of quarks are created, not only a third one. This is required to keep the overall set colorless.
Sounds like the Game of Life
Sounds like you need a multi-phasic trans-dimensional pitcher plant.
I’ll add some tinder to the fire.
I have an indoor bug zapper. I set it next to a window and it gets the bugs that are inside. Does a great job. But always intermittently some small fly will fly into it. Even when a door hasn’t been opened.
I joke, but I’m semi convinced that 1 in every few billion try’s, the tiny flys make it thru the glass of the window. Where else are they coming from ? lol.
I have an indoor bug zapper. I set it next to a window and it gets the bugs that are inside. Does a great job. But always intermittently some small fly will fly into it. Even when a door hasn’t been opened.
I joke, but I’m semi convinced that 1 in every few billion try’s, the tiny flys make it thru the glass of the window. Where else are they coming from ? lol.
Of course The Simulation has wallhacks.
I think I had one lay eggs in my house. A few weeks ago, on a day when I hardly opened a door for more than a few seconds I suddenly found at least 100 horseflies in my house. I was sucking them up with a hand vac and releasing them outside, and every few hours I’d go suck up about 30 more — and every single day after that I found at least 30 or so more for at least a week. I’m still seeing 1-2 per day, but at least that’s manageable. Hopefully these last stragglers are the last that I’ll have. It’s nuts!
releasing horse flies.
Horse flies are the bitey kind, so release?! ... well, no polite words here.
(House flies are typically just... flies)
Also, you probably have a dead mouse or some such, in a crawl space. Thus maggots, thus flies.
Horse flies are the bitey kind, so release?! ... well, no polite words here.
(House flies are typically just... flies)
Also, you probably have a dead mouse or some such, in a crawl space. Thus maggots, thus flies.
Oops. Autocorrupt got me. Houseflies.
Proof that AI is sentient, and malign. The more horseflies, the more societal unrest.
I've been growing carnivorous plants for more than 15 years and own a business selling them. I can assure you these Sarracenia will not do anything against your fruit flies problem. Pinguicula or Drosera will catch more of them and can actually grow indoors all year round given enough light. But even then, they're not really good at pest control.
Sarracenia are outdoors plants, they need a ton of direct sunlight and a seasonal rest in winter. They already look light deprived in your pictures.
Sarracenia are outdoors plants, they need a ton of direct sunlight and a seasonal rest in winter. They already look light deprived in your pictures.
Came here to say this - pings and sundews are a better choice; loads of sticky leaves just begging to be landed on. An Alice Sundew (Drosera Aliciae) makes a fine pet and is easy to care for.
Sundews are perfect for fruit flies and they will not hibernate if they get to eat and have light/sun year round. They’re also pretty hardy! I had them deal with fruit flies to the point that I started getting wingless fruit flies to keep them fed, although you don’t even have to feed them. They’re easily my favorite plants ever. So easy to care for.
/shrug I got 15 dead fruit flies in my Sarracenia. YMMV I guess.
Well if that's enough to keep up with the infestation then great! I never noticed fruit flies getting attracted by Sarracenia but I don't grow that genus a lot, so I could be wrong.
Still, I would recommend getting a Mexican Pinguicula (for example Pinguicula "Tina"). They do better in lower light and the sticky leaves work much better against fruit flies and gnats :)
Still, I would recommend getting a Mexican Pinguicula (for example Pinguicula "Tina"). They do better in lower light and the sticky leaves work much better against fruit flies and gnats :)
> Well if that's enough to keep up with the infestation then great! I never noticed fruit flies getting attracted by Sarracenia but I don't grow that genus a lot, so I could be wrong.
sits at odds with:
> I can assure you these Sarracenia will not do anything against your fruit flies problem.
Maybe instead grow a bunch and test and see if you can find out why the author has success where you do not? Otherwise the 'assurance' bit seems a bit thin.
sits at odds with:
> I can assure you these Sarracenia will not do anything against your fruit flies problem.
Maybe instead grow a bunch and test and see if you can find out why the author has success where you do not? Otherwise the 'assurance' bit seems a bit thin.
I just chose to believe him, even tho his experience goes against mine and most other carnivorous plant growers'. We're dealing with living things here and exceptions can happen, I guess?
I'm still certain that carnivorous plants are not a good pest control option, I would not recommend it to anyone (even tho it would be great for my business). Even if OP's plants can keep up with the flies' regeneration rate, they will quickly die in that setup.
I see posts like these very often, and they never show any real long term results for some reason... Rather, they are just sharing their excitement about putting cool plants in their house while having common misconceptions about them, I can't be mad
I'm still certain that carnivorous plants are not a good pest control option, I would not recommend it to anyone (even tho it would be great for my business). Even if OP's plants can keep up with the flies' regeneration rate, they will quickly die in that setup.
I see posts like these very often, and they never show any real long term results for some reason... Rather, they are just sharing their excitement about putting cool plants in their house while having common misconceptions about them, I can't be mad
It doesn't really, it expresses skepticism as I read it, along with acknowledgement of an outside chance that the original claim was wrong.
Did that drop them below replacement rate? Seems unlikely.
"these Sarracenia will not do anything against your fruit flies problem" seems directly contradicted by the blog post. Perhaps some unexpected environmental difference vs. your setup?
Sure, they maybe caught a few, but it won't catch all of them, probably not even the majority. That's not how you get rid of a pest, you need to eradicate them all.
Then eventually the plant will die, because that's not the right environment for it.
Then eventually the plant will die, because that's not the right environment for it.
You're not going to eradicate fruit flies, since there's an intermittent stream of fresh introductions coming in on produce.
I've always been fascinated by carnivorous plants, but have a black thumb. Do you have suggestions for "easier"to care for options indoors?
Drosera capensis is a fantastic plant for beginners. Very easy to grow if you follow simple rules. Mineral-free water (with a dish always filled under the pot), a LOT of sunlight (more than you think) and a peat-based media without any fertilizers.
Venus fly traps are surprisingly hardy and do fine indoors in a bright area or under a lamp, as long as you water them with distilled water only.
Flytraps are also outdoors plants, from the same region as Sarracenia (North America). They'll do fine for a while indoors given enough light but it's really not optimal.
Not in my experience, I had to start manually feeding my Venus fly traps. Otherwise they would die after some weeks. Never managed to keep one alive over winter.
Venus flytraps go dormant in the winter. Here's some info on their care:
https://www.flytrapcare.com/venus-fly-trap-dormancy/
https://www.flytrapcare.com/venus-fly-trap-dormancy/
For anyone contending with the menace of fruit flies or gnats (and especially if you own a fair number of indoor plants), I could not recommend these more wholeheartedly:
https://www.amazon.com/Stingmon-Pack-Sticky-Fruit-Fungus/dp/...
It's essentially a better looking version of fly paper. They're easy to place alongside indoor plants. Fruit flies and gnats are attracted to decaying organic matter and the moist soil of indoor plants is an often overlooked oasis for them. Gnats are more likely to hang out in indoor potted soils (especially if overwatered) because they feed on fungus, but fruit flies can take refuge there too.
A couple years back I had a months long battle with fruit flies. Kitchen was always clean, garage sealed up tight, no indoor compost, I used apple vinegar traps of all styles but nothing solved the problem until I placed those sticky paper inserts at the base of all my indoor plants. Within a week the fruit flies were gone.
https://www.amazon.com/Stingmon-Pack-Sticky-Fruit-Fungus/dp/...
It's essentially a better looking version of fly paper. They're easy to place alongside indoor plants. Fruit flies and gnats are attracted to decaying organic matter and the moist soil of indoor plants is an often overlooked oasis for them. Gnats are more likely to hang out in indoor potted soils (especially if overwatered) because they feed on fungus, but fruit flies can take refuge there too.
A couple years back I had a months long battle with fruit flies. Kitchen was always clean, garage sealed up tight, no indoor compost, I used apple vinegar traps of all styles but nothing solved the problem until I placed those sticky paper inserts at the base of all my indoor plants. Within a week the fruit flies were gone.
We had a weeks long battle with fruit flies last summer.
Tried every tip, trick, remedy and commercial solution we could find. We were up to our eyeballs in apple cider vinegar, fly paper, sprays, traps and the like.
Nothing worked.
Then we discovered one of our kids had hung up their unfinished lunch from the last day of school in their lunch bag, and left it to rot in the laundry room.
Fixed our fruit fly problem pretty quickly after that.
Tried every tip, trick, remedy and commercial solution we could find. We were up to our eyeballs in apple cider vinegar, fly paper, sprays, traps and the like.
Nothing worked.
Then we discovered one of our kids had hung up their unfinished lunch from the last day of school in their lunch bag, and left it to rot in the laundry room.
Fixed our fruit fly problem pretty quickly after that.
No idea if it’s better or worse but fwiw I used this last time after the vinegar and traps I sent didn’t work: https://a.co/d/3O4CSsA
We had an insane fruit fly problem after coming home from vacation and this cleared them up pretty quick
I think I’d rather use your solution instead of running this device though
We had an insane fruit fly problem after coming home from vacation and this cleared them up pretty quick
I think I’d rather use your solution instead of running this device though
[deleted]
Second this, they are amazing at catching all kinds of little bugs that tend to live on your plants.
I have those, they are awesome...and disgusting...and awesome.
Also have these. Solved my problem too.
The best method is to put a bit of fruit peel and some beer or wine or vinegar at the bottom of a glass (e.g. a pint glass) and then fashion a cone out of paper, where the wide end of the cone is the same size as the mouth of the glass. Cut the pointy end so it’s a few millimeters wide. Insert pointy end first, and tape the wide end of the cone to the brim of the glass, forming a seal. Flies will enter the glass via the opening in the point of the cone, and will be unable to leave. This will collect huge numbers of them with zero maintenance.
As described in the sibling comment, a glass with a fifth of vinegar, same amount of water, and a drop of dish soap will do the trick fine. No craftsmanship needed. The flies drop instantly when they touch the liquid.
Most people cover the glass with some cling film and punch a few holes through, but it will work fine without. The main advantage of the film is that the liquid won't evaporate away, and the trap will be good for a couple of weeks.
Most people cover the glass with some cling film and punch a few holes through, but it will work fine without. The main advantage of the film is that the liquid won't evaporate away, and the trap will be good for a couple of weeks.
> The flies drop instantly when they touch the liquid.
To be slightly more specific, the soap changes the surface-tension of the liquid, causing it to, er, schlorp onto the insect in a way it does not expect.
That reminds me of JBS Haldane's classic essay "On Being The Right Size":
> An insect, therefore, is not afraid of gravity [...] But there is a force which is as formidable to an insect as gravitation to a mammal. This is surface tension. [...]
> An insect going for a drink is in a great danger as man leaning out over a precipice in search of food. If it once falls into the grip of the surface tension of the water -that is to say, gets wet - it is likely to remain so until it downs. A few insects, such as water-beetles, contrive to be unwettable; the majority keep well away from their drink by means of a long proboscis.
To be slightly more specific, the soap changes the surface-tension of the liquid, causing it to, er, schlorp onto the insect in a way it does not expect.
That reminds me of JBS Haldane's classic essay "On Being The Right Size":
> An insect, therefore, is not afraid of gravity [...] But there is a force which is as formidable to an insect as gravitation to a mammal. This is surface tension. [...]
> An insect going for a drink is in a great danger as man leaning out over a precipice in search of food. If it once falls into the grip of the surface tension of the water -that is to say, gets wet - it is likely to remain so until it downs. A few insects, such as water-beetles, contrive to be unwettable; the majority keep well away from their drink by means of a long proboscis.
Can confirm. I have one constantly in my kitchen and it works great. Flies don’t seem to mind that I constantly dilute it by adding water to make more foam.
Yes, I can confirm this works very well. Best, I don't know the alternatives; this one works though.
I saw the other day on Thingiverse a fruit fly trap. Example: [1] (it wasn't this one, and there are many other ones, but this one resembles the looks of the paper version). But I think its OK to make such a trap a few times a year during summer (when they're abundant here). You also wanna get rid of them ASAP, as they attract bigger flies.
[1] https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3032998
I saw the other day on Thingiverse a fruit fly trap. Example: [1] (it wasn't this one, and there are many other ones, but this one resembles the looks of the paper version). But I think its OK to make such a trap a few times a year during summer (when they're abundant here). You also wanna get rid of them ASAP, as they attract bigger flies.
[1] https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3032998
Ooh, maybe this is the answer to my housefly mystery. We have tons of flies in the house, more than could have gotten in from outside, so they must have found a good source. The thing is, we did an exhaustive check and there is nothing for them to access of ours… except now that you mentioned it I realize there are fruit flies around probably in random fruits we have in a few serving bowls. Hmmm
I've tried this several times and it's never been successful. I don't know what I'm doing wrong, but I'm glad you got it to work!
I mix some cider vinegar, some fruit juice or cider, and a drop of dish soap.
I put that in a small jar.
I get some plastic film and make a small hole in the middle of the plastic about the size of a pea.
I place the plastic on the jar and secure with a rubber band.
Place that on the kitchen counter near where the flies congregate. They will follow the scent down the hole where they will be mostly trapped and if they touch the liquid, they will sink and drown as the soap removed the surface tension.
Place that on the kitchen counter near where the flies congregate. They will follow the scent down the hole where they will be mostly trapped and if they touch the liquid, they will sink and drown as the soap removed the surface tension.
I've had success with the same, though I've used foil with a couple of smaller (toothpick sized) holes.
Watch it. Either the bugs don't go in at all: you need better bait. Or there's a gap where they are getting back out: tape the gap. Or they are too clever, and find the hole in the tip of the cone. I've never seen that, but you could try making the cone deeper?
Yes, they love a little wine in a glass wine just like many humans. I never had to fashion a funnel, but it sounds like a nice trap.
A CD makes a good template for this cone, and cereal boxes are just the right weight/flexibility.
Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana.
When I was a child, I liked lizards, rats, and frogs as pets, and I also enjoyed the occasional Venus Flytrap from the nursery. I considered some pitcher plants recently, but I had to weigh their effectiveness against cockroaches, and the need to build a whole tropical environment with lights, heat and humidity.
Lastly, that brand of essential oil is the same one I purchase, and it's great. I use them in a diffuser.
When I was a child, I liked lizards, rats, and frogs as pets, and I also enjoyed the occasional Venus Flytrap from the nursery. I considered some pitcher plants recently, but I had to weigh their effectiveness against cockroaches, and the need to build a whole tropical environment with lights, heat and humidity.
Lastly, that brand of essential oil is the same one I purchase, and it's great. I use them in a diffuser.
Pitcher plants don't need a tropical environment! There are many that are even from Canada. Ours is doing great in an indoor Seattle environment just sitting on a windowsill that only gets an hour or two of direct sun per day.
That is very much not the environment sarracenia purpurea evolved in. I can't imagine it will survive very long. They need a lot of direct light, and they definitely need a winter dormancy period. They do not make great houseplants, at least not for more than a few weeks or months.
Tropical pitcher plants (Nepenthes) do make decent houseplants, although they struggle through the dry indoor Canadian winters here. They do seem to capture a lot of the fungus gnats I've been fighting with lately (I can see dozens and dozens in each pitcher), but not nearly enough to make a noticeable difference.
Tropical pitcher plants (Nepenthes) do make decent houseplants, although they struggle through the dry indoor Canadian winters here. They do seem to capture a lot of the fungus gnats I've been fighting with lately (I can see dozens and dozens in each pitcher), but not nearly enough to make a noticeable difference.
According to Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarracenia_purpurea), sarracenia purpurea are from Canada and the north-half of the east coast of the United States.
I've spotted them now numerous times around New Jersey and the first time I ever noticed one was on vacation in Newfoundland, I spotted it in bogland leading up to a landlocked fjord near gros morne (western newfoundland). I just never remembered seeing a flower like that facing the ground, so found it interesting and shot a picture and ID'd it later on.
So yeah, they absolutely grow wild but aren't an extremely prolific plant, best places to see them are usually near bogs and ponds.
So yeah, they absolutely grow wild but aren't an extremely prolific plant, best places to see them are usually near bogs and ponds.
My Sarracenia thrives on my windowsill in Scotland. It has grown a lovely flower two years in a row.
Being in NW England this seems a promising endorsement of surviving the levels of sunlight we get down south.
I’m sure you’ll be fine. Both the Sarracenia and Venus Fly Trap I own have lasted years and flowered every year, although with the VFT you have to cut off the flowers or they use up too much energy.
I put the VFT outside once for it to snack and it ate a slug. Would have loved to see the look on the slugs face when the plant bit back.
Mine even survive on tap water which goes against advice, but I guess Scotlands tap water is different from most places. Just keep them in an inch of water the whole time, easiest plants ever.
I put the VFT outside once for it to snack and it ate a slug. Would have loved to see the look on the slugs face when the plant bit back.
Mine even survive on tap water which goes against advice, but I guess Scotlands tap water is different from most places. Just keep them in an inch of water the whole time, easiest plants ever.
I'm pretty sure there are pitcher plants in my woods in the Midwest US. I can't imagine they need tropical environs.
Love this Groucho Marx quote - just read it recently in Consciousness and the Brain (Dehaene)
Everyone knows that fruit flies spontaneously generate.
My preferred method to get rid of them is with a black hole: I put a couple of pieces of fruit into my homemade Superconducting Apricot Collider, set it on high and then place the resulting black hole right above the compost bin. Works every time. Just be careful with the black hole because if you drop them they fall all the way to the center of the earth and are rather difficult to retrieve.
My preferred method to get rid of them is with a black hole: I put a couple of pieces of fruit into my homemade Superconducting Apricot Collider, set it on high and then place the resulting black hole right above the compost bin. Works every time. Just be careful with the black hole because if you drop them they fall all the way to the center of the earth and are rather difficult to retrieve.
You can control your black hole with rare earth magnets. set them around the area where you are going to create the black hole to form a containment area. you might need to play with the size/quantity/distance of the placement of the magnets for best performance. I have not needed dry ice for cryogenic cooling.
Fungus gnats are also an issue if you keep indoor plants.
I recently discovered that you can water your plants with mosquito dunks in the water, which will put the bacteria (aka: BTI, bacillus thuringiensis strain BMP 144) contained in the dunks into the soil. The bacteria then paralyze the larvae growing in the soil and they die.
Doing even more research, it seems there is a newer strain of the bacteria (AM 65-52) that you can buy in 16lbs! buckets for $570 off Amazon (or people have broken it into smaller batches on ebay).
This stuff really works like magic. Once the adults die off, no more appear.
Gnatrol Biological Larvicide Fungus Larvae
I recently discovered that you can water your plants with mosquito dunks in the water, which will put the bacteria (aka: BTI, bacillus thuringiensis strain BMP 144) contained in the dunks into the soil. The bacteria then paralyze the larvae growing in the soil and they die.
Doing even more research, it seems there is a newer strain of the bacteria (AM 65-52) that you can buy in 16lbs! buckets for $570 off Amazon (or people have broken it into smaller batches on ebay).
This stuff really works like magic. Once the adults die off, no more appear.
Gnatrol Biological Larvicide Fungus Larvae
I remember reading that fungus gnats are a sign you're overwatering your houseplants. (Water uptake is correlated with photosynthesis, indoor plants don't get or usually need much light). I just did a quick internet search and it looks like the popular advice for fungus gnats is still the same - water less. It'll also prevent root rot.
That certainly helps, but doesn't really solve the problem. With that logic, every time you water, even infrequently, is a chance for them to come back.
I have to say that excitedly waiting for Amazon to deliver 16 lbs of bacteria makes me want to laugh/puke/write a screenplay for black mirror.
This definitely works for me. One of my favorite solutions. I used to have a bottle of concentrated bacteria but I don’t know where to find that any more. Now I get something called mosquito bits and let them soak in the water I use on the plants.
I know the author, quite correctly, rules Venus flytraps out, but for the sake of argument:
I used to keep some just for the sake of it, not at all to hunt bugs because that won't scale. In humid Buenos Aires, I tried both indoors and outdoors and... they are pretty hard to keep, aren't they?
You must water them lightly with distilled water. You must NOT let them flower (it's hard to overstate this, but it's true and I verified it first hand: the plant sprouts a single flower once a year, and if you don't prevent this by cutting the stalk ASAP, a single ugly white flower will sprout, and then your flytrap will die of exertion). You must not overfeed it. If it catches a bug on its own, chances are the "trap" will turn black and rot.
They seem to be very hard to keep outside their natural swamp environment...
I used to keep some just for the sake of it, not at all to hunt bugs because that won't scale. In humid Buenos Aires, I tried both indoors and outdoors and... they are pretty hard to keep, aren't they?
You must water them lightly with distilled water. You must NOT let them flower (it's hard to overstate this, but it's true and I verified it first hand: the plant sprouts a single flower once a year, and if you don't prevent this by cutting the stalk ASAP, a single ugly white flower will sprout, and then your flytrap will die of exertion). You must not overfeed it. If it catches a bug on its own, chances are the "trap" will turn black and rot.
They seem to be very hard to keep outside their natural swamp environment...
>They seem to be very hard to keep outside their natural swamp environment...
As the NatureServe status says:
>The Venus Flytrap, a carnivorous species, is a narrow endemic of the coastal plain of North and South Carolina in the southeastern United States. It has very strict habitat requirements which include frequent natural fire, an open understory and low nutrient soils. There are close to 100 extant natural occurrences and between 73,000 - 158,000 total individuals. The species continues to decline, however, and should be reviewed frequently. Threats include poaching from wild populations, habitat conversion, and fire suppression.
There are very few natural areas left where these plants can survive, and these areas are tiny!
>Current range: The range of Venus flytrap is quite localized in scattered savannas of the coastal plain of southeastern North Carolina and adjacent eastern South Carolina in an approximate landward radius of 100 miles around Wilmington, North Carolina (North Carolina Natural Heritage Program 2010). Currently 68 extant occurrences are known from the following counties in North Carolina (the number of occurrences in parentheses): Bladen (5), Brunswick (21), Carteret (1), Columbus (3), Craven (1), Cumberland (4), Hoke (7), New Hanover (5), Onslow (12), Pender (7), and Sampson (2) (North Carolina Natural Heritage Program 2010), and Horry County (4), South Carolina (South Carolina Heritage Trust 1993b).
In a way, these plants have evolved into a dead end. They mostly lost their chloroplast genomes so they can't 'go back' to being regular plants.
Perhaps your mistake was that you don't set your kitchen on fire often enough?
https://explorer.natureserve.org/Taxon/ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.1597...
As the NatureServe status says:
>The Venus Flytrap, a carnivorous species, is a narrow endemic of the coastal plain of North and South Carolina in the southeastern United States. It has very strict habitat requirements which include frequent natural fire, an open understory and low nutrient soils. There are close to 100 extant natural occurrences and between 73,000 - 158,000 total individuals. The species continues to decline, however, and should be reviewed frequently. Threats include poaching from wild populations, habitat conversion, and fire suppression.
There are very few natural areas left where these plants can survive, and these areas are tiny!
>Current range: The range of Venus flytrap is quite localized in scattered savannas of the coastal plain of southeastern North Carolina and adjacent eastern South Carolina in an approximate landward radius of 100 miles around Wilmington, North Carolina (North Carolina Natural Heritage Program 2010). Currently 68 extant occurrences are known from the following counties in North Carolina (the number of occurrences in parentheses): Bladen (5), Brunswick (21), Carteret (1), Columbus (3), Craven (1), Cumberland (4), Hoke (7), New Hanover (5), Onslow (12), Pender (7), and Sampson (2) (North Carolina Natural Heritage Program 2010), and Horry County (4), South Carolina (South Carolina Heritage Trust 1993b).
In a way, these plants have evolved into a dead end. They mostly lost their chloroplast genomes so they can't 'go back' to being regular plants.
Perhaps your mistake was that you don't set your kitchen on fire often enough?
https://explorer.natureserve.org/Taxon/ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.1597...
In more ways than one! You might enjoy this podcast/story:
https://thisiscriminal.com/episode-five-dropping-like-flies-...
TLDL; Because of how hard they are to cultivate, they have attracted thieves. But Criminal is an excellent podcast and Phoebe makes the story way more interesting than I ever could.
https://thisiscriminal.com/episode-five-dropping-like-flies-...
TLDL; Because of how hard they are to cultivate, they have attracted thieves. But Criminal is an excellent podcast and Phoebe makes the story way more interesting than I ever could.
I've only seen carnivorous plants do well in terrariums. Trying to keep them as a house plant doesn't work since most houses are not humid jungle climates inside. even orchids do not do well in most people's homes. The best orchids I've seen were kept in a bathroom with a window steamy showers are taken daily.
My favorite way to tackle this is to use a bowl of bait and one of those cheapo bug zapper rackets.
I take the racket and use a rubber band around the button to keep it "on" and then set the racket above a bowl of whatever bait I need to use.
I leave it there until the zaps finally stop.
Has yet to fail me in clearing out a fly infestation.
I take the racket and use a rubber band around the button to keep it "on" and then set the racket above a bowl of whatever bait I need to use.
I leave it there until the zaps finally stop.
Has yet to fail me in clearing out a fly infestation.
5% acetic acid vinegar, a squirt of lemon dish soap and a few tablespoons of sugar mixed together in a bowl kills the fruit flies within a day of arrival. It will evaporate over time but adding water back to the original level reconstitutes the trap and it will work for months. This is just an interim solution until the lasers and machine vision are working.
Depends on your home's location, I guess. I don't have fruit flies.
Where I am, pantry moths are the problem. One of the few genuinely useful ideas I've ever gotten off NextDoor is this: Dr. Killigan's Premium Pantry Moth Traps with Pheromones.
The pheromones attract the moths, and the glue makes them stick to it and die. You can put it out of site in a cabinet, and after a few weeks it's covered with dead moths.
Where I am, pantry moths are the problem. One of the few genuinely useful ideas I've ever gotten off NextDoor is this: Dr. Killigan's Premium Pantry Moth Traps with Pheromones.
The pheromones attract the moths, and the glue makes them stick to it and die. You can put it out of site in a cabinet, and after a few weeks it's covered with dead moths.
You can also mitigate pantry moths by rotating all their potential food sources (like flour) through the freezer for a few days to kill any eggs and larvae that might be there. If I see a moth I will try to hunt down which food it came from (you can sort of identify by seeing webbing which suspends bits of whatever they’re eating), and toss it. And then everything else goes in the freezer to stop it from propagating.
The other option is to put things individually into well-sealed tubs or jars, to isolate any moths that might be there (they will drill a hole through thin plastic, like ziplock)
Honestly the trap method makes me a bit squeamish; if you’re continuously catching new moths, that means there're still eggs and larvae in at least one of your bags of food. The idea of eating that is a bit disturbing is to me.
The other option is to put things individually into well-sealed tubs or jars, to isolate any moths that might be there (they will drill a hole through thin plastic, like ziplock)
Honestly the trap method makes me a bit squeamish; if you’re continuously catching new moths, that means there're still eggs and larvae in at least one of your bags of food. The idea of eating that is a bit disturbing is to me.
The traps are there to help as well. Highly recommend.
You still have to find the source as you describe. However, if one of the moths flys out and away from the cupboard, they still might lay eggs some where else. You want the new hatchlings to go straight to the trap and get stuck.
You still have to find the source as you describe. However, if one of the moths flys out and away from the cupboard, they still might lay eggs some where else. You want the new hatchlings to go straight to the trap and get stuck.
They do nest in the cracks between the shelf and the wall, under shelf paper, and even between the pages of cookbooks.
We have had some moderate success with the traps, plus storing big bags of rice and flour in picnic coolers and everything else in airtight containers, but they have to be really airtight -- those little buggers can get under the lid of a mason jar or the tops of a canister set. What happens now is like a lesson in public health and contagion: one container will occasionally get a mess of webs and moths, but the scope is limited.
We have had some moderate success with the traps, plus storing big bags of rice and flour in picnic coolers and everything else in airtight containers, but they have to be really airtight -- those little buggers can get under the lid of a mason jar or the tops of a canister set. What happens now is like a lesson in public health and contagion: one container will occasionally get a mess of webs and moths, but the scope is limited.
These traps are sold here explicitly not as a solution to the moth problem, but as a way to determine when you have a problem.
He mentions apple cider vinegar and dish soap. It's worked well for me too but there are always a few flies that aren't as interested in the concoction so yea only a 90% solution. I've also found that many of these flies come in from the grocery store in things like strawberries so we're careful to check before they enter. Good article - would love to try these plants.
Try adding wine! I started with apple cider vinegar and yeah, it worked but a lot of them ignored it. Adding the wine really upped the efficiency of those traps.
In abstract, sounds like raising the sweetness is what helped? Which tracks, I've never really been aware of vinegar being a particular attraction. (And I love the stuff, if anyone would notice...)
Has to be apple cider vinegar. It must smell of old apples or something.
My guess is that apple juice would fare better than cider vinegar. The vinegar to me sounds like someone's idea of making it seem more chemical, more like a cleaning product - but this is just a mechanical trap, you could use anything, just a piece of whatever they seem attracted to even (e.g. extract from compost caddy).
A glass I was drinking hard cider from left out with a splash still in the bottom seems to reliably acquire corpses overnight.
Fruit fly epidemic here. They're aggressive and impossible to get rid of.
I just added some chardonnay to mine.
If there were an automatic 10W anti-fly laser air defense system, I'd buy it because they're too small to for manual fly zapping rackets.
I just added some chardonnay to mine.
If there were an automatic 10W anti-fly laser air defense system, I'd buy it because they're too small to for manual fly zapping rackets.
Intellectual Ventures[0][1] patented such a device[2][3] for mosquito control back in the 2000s but to my knowledge they never brought it to market to licensed it to anyone to do the same.
[0] https://www.intellectualventures.com/
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intellectual_Ventures
[2] https://www.mic.com/articles/180851/the-world-needs-this-sma...
[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mosquito_laser
[0] https://www.intellectualventures.com/
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intellectual_Ventures
[2] https://www.mic.com/articles/180851/the-world-needs-this-sma...
[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mosquito_laser
That would be a very cool bug zapper.
I'm afraid I take a much cruder approach. We have a fruit fly infestation every summer, and besides keeping fruit and other food out of their reach, I simply hunt them down. Nearly every summer our walls are a graveyard of hundreds of drosophila corpses. (Though I haven't seen many of them yet this summer.)
Unfortunately they leave ugly spots on our walls and ceilings, and most walls are not that easy to clean, so I developed a couple of techniques where I don't squash them on the wall: I slap my hands together just above where they're sitting, they see my hands move and fly up, just between my hands. Timing takes some practice, but I've had thousands of opportunities to perfect this technique.
Our kitchen wall has been treated to make it easy to clean, so there I just squash them against the wall, which is much easier.
Unfortunately they leave ugly spots on our walls and ceilings, and most walls are not that easy to clean, so I developed a couple of techniques where I don't squash them on the wall: I slap my hands together just above where they're sitting, they see my hands move and fly up, just between my hands. Timing takes some practice, but I've had thousands of opportunities to perfect this technique.
Our kitchen wall has been treated to make it easy to clean, so there I just squash them against the wall, which is much easier.
Huh. I wonder if other sorts of fly are amenable to the clapping trick.
I shall have to experiment.
I shall have to experiment.
Most fly 's jump if they see something.
Clapping above the fly makes me catch them 95% of the times.
It works for me.
Clapping above the fly makes me catch them 95% of the times.
It works for me.
This is how we won our war on fruit flies:
- repot all plants after rinsing all soil from them
- use leca balls instead of soil and water the plants with a water + fertilizer solution (this is what they do for office plants and why they have stickers saying “do not water”)
- all incoming fruits and vegetables soak in water + vinegar for 20–30 min as this kills any eggs (they’ll also last longer because they don’t spoil as fast)
- have bug screens on any window that we keep open (they don’t come standard in Europe)
- the fruit basket is also enclosed in a bug screen for good measure
I believe fruit flies mostly came through grocery store fruits (eggs on the fruits) and then hatched and went to live in the houseplants soil where they’d eat the roots.
- repot all plants after rinsing all soil from them
- use leca balls instead of soil and water the plants with a water + fertilizer solution (this is what they do for office plants and why they have stickers saying “do not water”)
- all incoming fruits and vegetables soak in water + vinegar for 20–30 min as this kills any eggs (they’ll also last longer because they don’t spoil as fast)
- have bug screens on any window that we keep open (they don’t come standard in Europe)
- the fruit basket is also enclosed in a bug screen for good measure
I believe fruit flies mostly came through grocery store fruits (eggs on the fruits) and then hatched and went to live in the houseplants soil where they’d eat the roots.
I have some very happy pitcher plants in the window over my sink for just this reason. I've been meaning to pick up some Triantha occidentalis as well, a newly discovered carnivorous plant. Well the plant is not newly discovered, but it took doping fruit flies with N-15 and monitoring nutrient uptake to prove that it is metabolizing insects.
https://www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.2022724118
https://www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.2022724118
We bought a cheap standalone bug zapper and put it on the counter and it has been a life saver for the fruit flies. Ours come from bananas, we think, and washing them after bringing them home from from the store seems to help some too.
The best part is, working from our offices in separate rooms, my wife and I will hear a zap and both shout "Good job bug zapper!"
The best part is, working from our offices in separate rooms, my wife and I will hear a zap and both shout "Good job bug zapper!"
I had a fruit fly (or some kind of fly) issue a while back. Couldn't figure out where they were coming from or why. For some reason, I pulled the rubber ring out from my kitchen sink's garbage disposal. It was the nastiest thing, covered in goop. Cleaning that and the area in the disposal it sat in solved the problem.
I occasionally get drain flies in the shower, but this time I have a Spider In Residence. I previously had a pretty good working relationship with a shower spider: I would do a series of thumps to indicate I was about to turn on the shower. I would leave a couple of drops of water on the shower insert's top edge. I would fling various bugs into its web. We had a basic understanding. It died, sadly.
The new Shower Spider is doing alright, and it occurs to me that there's this complex web of life: my hair in the drain, some kind of fungus is in there growing on it, drain flies eating the fungus and flying up, they are caught by the spider, which then makes a web to catch more flies. So the matter that was once my hair enters the cycle of life and ends up above me in a spider web.
The new Shower Spider is doing alright, and it occurs to me that there's this complex web of life: my hair in the drain, some kind of fungus is in there growing on it, drain flies eating the fungus and flying up, they are caught by the spider, which then makes a web to catch more flies. So the matter that was once my hair enters the cycle of life and ends up above me in a spider web.
So beautiful
If none of the low-tech hacks in here seem to work, or you have the same kind of gadget addiction as me, I can recommend the "Katchy" brand of bug catchers. They work at night with UV light, and have decimated the fruit fly population in my kitchen.
You don't have to kill them. This reusable live trap works very good: https://www.hagglezon.com/en/s/frubby
I've done some experimentation in my time, and in my experience fruit flies positively love actively ongoing fermentation! So I've settled one a mixture with sugar and yeast in addition to water, surfactant and vinegar or cider.
Also, trapping the little bastards is more efficient if you cover the container with cling foil and poke a hole in the middle. They'll easily get in by following the gradient of the escaping molecules, but finding the exit seems to be so much more difficult.
Also, trapping the little bastards is more efficient if you cover the container with cling foil and poke a hole in the middle. They'll easily get in by following the gradient of the escaping molecules, but finding the exit seems to be so much more difficult.
1. Glass jar with less than 1cm deep apple cider and a tiny bit of dishwasher soap, then cover the opening with that pesky plastic foil nobody likes. Poke some holes with a toothpick.
2. Shake a bit to release the cider aroma. Leave near fruit and other edibles which are covered with fruit fly eggs already when you bought them.
3. ???
4. Profitz!!1!
My low tech but effective technique is: put a very little red wine in a wine glass (preferably stemless); flies will quickly congegrate. When there's enough (your judgement, for me 15 or more) very slowly place a plastic yogurt lid over the glass. Then put the whole thing in the freezer for 30minutes. They'll be dead, rinse and repeat. No muss no fuss.
All these solutions are mean, fruit flies don't do any harm.
In the winter I kind of like them cos I don't have a chance to see insects.
Also let me wax a bit poetic and say how much of a miracle a little thing like a fruit fly is. How long will it be before a 'startup' can make a flying robot of the same size and intelligence? (my bet is on....never)
In the winter I kind of like them cos I don't have a chance to see insects.
Also let me wax a bit poetic and say how much of a miracle a little thing like a fruit fly is. How long will it be before a 'startup' can make a flying robot of the same size and intelligence? (my bet is on....never)
They fly up my nose at night. We have taken great joy in splitting them in half or flattening them with nerf guns. Pro tip: long barreled guns are the tits.
Has anyone tried CO2?
The idea: Deep trash can for the tasty banana peels. Flood the trash can with CO2. CO2 is heavier than air. If the trash can is deep enough maybe a sufficiently high concentration can be maintained without too frequent flooding.
The attractive smell should still be noticeble for the flies. And the environment around the trash of their desires is deadly.
The idea: Deep trash can for the tasty banana peels. Flood the trash can with CO2. CO2 is heavier than air. If the trash can is deep enough maybe a sufficiently high concentration can be maintained without too frequent flooding.
The attractive smell should still be noticeble for the flies. And the environment around the trash of their desires is deadly.
I have used CO2 to disable flies (they just go to sleep) so that I can put them in a venus flytrap. Although, in my case, I was doing this in a science lab so I had access to a specialized device (a porous marble stone with CO2 being diffused through it). Once they're disabled, you can put them in the trap, trigger the little hairs, and when the fly wakes up, the trap stays closed due to the fly wiggling around, and a month later they open up and a dessicated fly falls out.
I don't think it's _enough_ heavier than air to stay in there too long, it will diffuse out probably within only a couple of hours.
Does anyone else think that practices in the food industry have gotten more careless?
The amount of fruit flies has definitely increased in the past two decades. Recently I also had food moths for the first time and strange little black bugs after buying cane sugar.
Apart from a moderate amount of fruit flies, I never had any of these a decade ago.
The amount of fruit flies has definitely increased in the past two decades. Recently I also had food moths for the first time and strange little black bugs after buying cane sugar.
Apart from a moderate amount of fruit flies, I never had any of these a decade ago.
Cinnamon powder works, but use a mask when putting a lot out. I got a sinus infection from putting it in all my houseplants
a splash of apple cider vinegar
I love that the adage "you catch more flies with honey than vinegar" is literally false.
I love that the adage "you catch more flies with honey than vinegar" is literally false.
Sounds like a lot of work. Once we had a fruit fly problem and I read several guides on how to deal with them.
Each evening after cleaning up and taking out the trash, I’d whip out the vacuum arm without attachment and send the swarm to their doom. Believe I had to do it three times over a week or so, then it was done.
Each evening after cleaning up and taking out the trash, I’d whip out the vacuum arm without attachment and send the swarm to their doom. Believe I had to do it three times over a week or so, then it was done.
We use the little vinegar traps but sometimes you just have to go in there with the vacuum cleaner hose set to high power and suck up as many as possible. That will give you a few hours respite to use your kitchen until the next day when theyll be back at full power.
Bought some pitcher plants about 2.5 years ago, water with regular tap water and keep some grow lights over them in the kitchen and we haven’t had any real fly problems ever since. They’ve actually overgrown a bit and we need to transplant them soon!
Fruit flies are easy to manage but these monsters: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sciaridae
Why distilled water? It presumably doesn't rain distilled water outside.
There are many minerals added to tap water as part of water treatment. Rain water does not have those. So it technically does rain distilled water!
It's not as interesting as keeping a bunch of carnivorous plants, but I wonder if the author considered just keeping the compost in the freezer. No smells, no bugs.
Just been in a holiday cottage out on the exposed dales in the English peaks. And by about day four we had fruit flies. Sometimes I think they emerge from the bananas.
[deleted]
> They congregate around the compost bin and the fruit bowl (where there are always lots of bananas).
That’s just what happens when you leave fruit and food scraps out.
That’s just what happens when you leave fruit and food scraps out.
Any tip to ban regular flies?
I hate those with my all heart. Possibly in a non disgusting way? (i.e. jar filled with dead flies to display..)
Hang out a plastic transparant bag in the sun with 75% water filled in it.
Flys seem to get dizzy flying to it and turn around ( that's an explanation I came up with why it works, don't know if it's the explanation)
If it's a outdoor tent, that means 4 hanging bags.
Flys seem to get dizzy flying to it and turn around ( that's an explanation I came up with why it works, don't know if it's the explanation)
If it's a outdoor tent, that means 4 hanging bags.
A cup with a vinegar, soap mix does the trick for the small flys
Who is Audrey and how did she hurt this person?
"Audrey II is an invasive species to earth, originating 'past the stars, and beyond the moon,' or about 490 light-years from Earth on Kepler-186f. If you had a Falcon Heavy Rocket, a cryostasis chamber, and were willing to leave behind everything you’ve ever known on Earth, you could check out Audrey II in its natural habitat where it is the dominant species.
Otherwise, Audrey II can be purchased from local New York florists for a paltry $1.95, post-eclipse." [0]
[0]: https://carnivorousplantresource.com/the-plants/audrey-ii/
Otherwise, Audrey II can be purchased from local New York florists for a paltry $1.95, post-eclipse." [0]
[0]: https://carnivorousplantresource.com/the-plants/audrey-ii/
Audrey II is the carnivorous plant from the musical the article’s title references.
https://m.imdb.com/title/tt0091419/characters/nm0835925
https://m.imdb.com/title/tt0091419/characters/nm0835925
[deleted]
Can't believe I missed the reference. Thank you.
A mean green mother from outer space.
You should stop carrying the water for child abusers.
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36882634
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36882634
I just let them be. It’s fun to watch them.
Just buy some spiders and let them loose.
Then you'll need a bunch of hummingbirds to eat all the spiders.
Then cats to eat the hummingbirds.
Then wolves to eat the cats.
Then cats to eat the hummingbirds.
Then wolves to eat the cats.
Principal Skinner: Well, I was wrong. The lizards are a godsend.
Lisa: But isn't that a bit short-sighted? What happens when we're overrun by lizards?
Principal Skinner: No problem. We simply unleash wave after wave of Chinese needle snakes. They'll wipe out the lizards.
Lisa: But aren't the snakes even worse?
Principal Skinner: Yes, but we're prepared for that. We've lined up a fabulous type of gorilla that thrives on snake meat.
Lisa: Then we're stuck with gorillas!
Principal Skinner: No, that's the beautiful part. When wintertime rolls around, the gorillas simply freeze to death.
Lisa: Hmm.
Lisa: But isn't that a bit short-sighted? What happens when we're overrun by lizards?
Principal Skinner: No problem. We simply unleash wave after wave of Chinese needle snakes. They'll wipe out the lizards.
Lisa: But aren't the snakes even worse?
Principal Skinner: Yes, but we're prepared for that. We've lined up a fabulous type of gorilla that thrives on snake meat.
Lisa: Then we're stuck with gorillas!
Principal Skinner: No, that's the beautiful part. When wintertime rolls around, the gorillas simply freeze to death.
Lisa: Hmm.
This sounds like the start of a great children's book
There was an old lady who swallowed a cow...
That would be a beautiful story, except that hummingbirds don't eat spiders - they eat flower nectar.
Pretty soon, you're living in rural Canada.
I’m very tempted to try this!
I can’t attest to the recurring source of fruit flies of OP but they come primarily from fully grown herbs sold in supermarkets in Finland. I’ve found being vigilant and simply hoovering them up with a handheld Dyson is enough over the course of a few days to get rid of the infestation. Of course, be vigilant with hygiene during this period.
That is interesting. I know someome who buys those herbs in NZ and also complains about flies. How did you make the connection?
Because you can literally see them flying off the herbs when you take them home ;-)
They either throw out decoys when you swat them to fool us, or there’s a large queue of them waiting to take their turn to keep the number flying constant