Can anyone share effective tips they’ve had for residents with fruit flies?

Can anyone share effective tips they’ve had for residents with fruit flies? Pest control doesn’t seem to help, they say there’s no chemicals for them. Is there a handout you’ve given residents for tips? How have you resolved these issues? I don’t know what’s going on but I’ve never had so many fruit fly complaints from residents.

If you Google there's a mixture you can make with vinegar and soap in a cup

Yep, apple cider vinegar and dawn blue soap. Smells god awful but works very well for fruit flies and ants.

If you get an empty jar and put apple cider vinegar in it and punch small holes in the top of the lid the flies will go but can't get out. It works. I have seen it work at my home. Just put a small amount of apple cider vinegar in the jar and set them.around the house.

Pour Apple Cider Vinegar in a decent sized Tupperware bowl, cover with plastic wrap and poke a few pencil sized holes in it. Place the bowl/s in the areas where the flies are the most. Within 24 hours you will have trapped most if not all

This is a life saver! The resident needs to be out of the apartment for the day but it works that fast. You can get them on amazon. I would put one in the kitchen and one in each bathroom. The resident leaves, you put them out, collect them 6 hours later, and the resident can come home. It's not a spray so no clean up needed.

Also, they lay eggs in the drains. A tablespoon of bleach in all drains at night will eventually kill them off. Using red wine vinegar or apple cider vinegar with one drop of dawn dishwashing detergent (for breaking the surface tension) will attract them and they drown. This combo will clear them up in a day or two.

Have you tried treating/flushing the pipes/drains? Food debris in pipes/drain can be aiding to the problem.

I use bug zapper. They gone in 3 days

We clean and treat the drains to get rid of them entirely.

House plants are a common source. Cover the base of the plant with fine sand. Or just throw the plant off of the balcony.

They are fungus gnats! They live and breed mostly in your kitchen drain. To get rid you will need to start there .
I have sliced up lemons with the peeling and run the garbage disposal then is use Dawn dishwashing soap and then I crunch ice to clean the blades I do this for 3 days to ensure all eggs are gone and you should be good

This stuff is magic lol major infestation completely gone in a couple of days

www.apartmentguide.com/.../how-to-get-rid-of.../ ...

We have been seeing them every Fall for the last several years! Drain flies! The only thing that works for us at our home is doing a bleach and hot water flush down the sink drains

They are coming out of the soil in the residents plants. This is the time of year that everyone brings their plants inside. Our pest control goes through this yearly.

I use apple cider vinegar and a little bit of dawn dish soap in a cup. For ants I use some sugar mixed with baking soda and leave it on a dish ok the counter. Both work really well for me.

Clean your drains & keep them dry.

Fly paper. It's ugly but it'll catch them. Also for your residents that decided to become plant parents during the pandemic, it is possible it isn't even a fruit fly.

Pour bleach down all drains. Clean under the flapper for disposal really well. Pour ice / bleach into disposal and run. Repeat several times. Clean garbage can really well. They will go away.

Flea bomb, Have your pest control treat the sink drains. Home Depot sells a big yellow fruit fly trap that smells horrible but works. Don’t stick your nose up to it though. It made me lose my lunch.

Get a glass of fruity wine out and bam in the am you’ll have them caught

Tell them to put a small amount (about 1/4" deep) of apple cider vinegar in a dish overnight. In the morning the fruit flies will be drowned in the vinegar. I don't know why it works but it always does.

Clean the black scum from under the disposal flaps. They lay eggs in it.

Put 4 cups of ice in the garbage disposal turn on garbage disposal like you’re making a margarita srubs inside a garbage disposal also clean disposal flaps Don’t use bleach or it’ll throw it all over you could also be P-trap’s that need to be cleaned

Balsamic vinegar and close both sides of the sink
Leave overnight
Hope this works for you

I have them at home too and they're driving me crazy! Pretty sure they're actually drain flies. I got the fruit fly traps from the store and have done several rounds of 1/2 cup salt, 1/2 baking soda and 1 cup of white vinegar down the drain overnight, then flush with boiling water in the morning. It is a slow process but it appears to be working

Borax is really good at getting rid of all bugs. Try it on fruit and lay it out for them to take back to their larvae

You will only have fruit flies if you have fresh fruit laying around on the kitchen counter. If you are referring to drain flies, that live in the drain (they can be found hanging around the kitchen and also bathroom drains) then that’s something completely different. A good exterminator will be able to eliminate those. There is a gel that you pour down the drain that is very effective.

This are way to many comments to read but are you sure they are fruit flies and not sewer nats? If they are sewer nats then you need to find the source of water bc that is why they are in the home. Then you can pest control do drain treatments as well.

Are you sure they are fruit flys? I had a problem at a property one time that took some time to figure out. They were flys coming up through the drains and they were flys but not fruit flys. We had some cracked sewer lines. They were sewer flys. And they swarmed at night up into residents apartments. It was horrible.

They're probably mold mites. They get in the drains and up under the rims of dirty toilets. Anywhere that's left wet a lot.

Yes, clean the sink first.
To get rid of them, fill a Coffee cup 1/4 full with apple cider vinegar. Put saran wrap over the coffee cup, poke holes in the top. Put the cup next to the sink, or where the problem exists. 24 to 36 hours they all go after it and die in the cup.

Get rid of all fruit and produce. Make sure you find the source and make sure it’s an actual fruit fly. Bleach drains. Also there is a chemical spray called Purge. Your pest control company can spray it and kill all flying insects with purge.
Where are you located? I have an awesome company I can recommend.
Make your pest control company find the source. Remove the source, no source no flies

I had a problem with several units at a property in the past & I can tell you that there's 2 major things that you can do. 1st get that foam Drano & put it in all drains . 2nd remove the rubber splash guard that covers the garbage disposal the bottom of it has organic matter(its disgusting)they feed on, you have to bleach that until they die. The reason for the drains is the Drano kills that same food source in the pipes. Don't forget to keep the overflows clean & bleached. Don't leave trash & food out.

Small cups filled with a bit of apple cider vinegar, regular vinegar, and a dash of dawn liquid soap. Top with plastic, and poke holes in the top, and secure with a rubber band.
I’ve had this since we got our pumpkins at the end of September.
Trust me... IT WORKS, obviously

In addition to cleaning the P-trap because we been quarantine if they have pop bottles in the home that cause fruit flies. They need to wash out the bottles then store them in a garbage bag. If this is a high-rise, sanitize and clean the trash room and cans.

I know many of properties have had the fruit fly issues. I have been telling them to do the apple cider vinegar trick like someone else said. Trick is to keep dumping the apple cider every few days and use new vinegar. On of my old pest control companies told me they life on a 14 day cycle so the resident needs to help by changing that vinegar.

It’s so true they can’t help with fruit flys however there are some home remedies you can do. Get a container of vinegar and dish soap and place it in your kitchen/bathroom this will help so much! Also make sure to put down drains and disposals as well.

Fill the garbage disposal full of ice and run it until gone. It get's all the bits of food wiped clean and the flies loose thier breeding area. You should fill the disposal a couple of times with ice. I have used this for years and highly effective.