Fly Invasion - How to Repel ?

G

Guest106

Guest
This whole business of the Brown Bin waste disposal is driving me daft.
Ever since we've started dividing up the house waste so that the food scraps and plant waste, a veritable colony of flies has invaded our domestic space.

Raise the lid and a swarm of these midge size flies arise from within.
The mini-feeder bin that we thought we could keep at the kitchen sink and empty out into big Brown daily has proved a total disaster with flies all around the sink area. Result : ?.....mini bin now sits idly in the garden on top of Big Brown.

We just didn't have this under the old arrangements so why is it happening.

Maybe it's the rain forest type summer we have just experienced (possibly not over yet)...
Maybe it's the fruit we've decided to eat more frequently ?
Maybe it's that two metre plant in the corner with the shiny leaves but if it is, there's never a fly near it ?
Maybe it's a new type of fly wafted in by God knows what new element in our airspace...?

She who Must be Obeyed says we must get sprays and fumigate Flygate, within and without.
Surely not ? All that spraying carries a lot of risks too.
This must be a health issue.
Are we being targeted by these pests ? Do they bother others ?
I'm sure that the great collective that is AAM brainpower will sort this for me.....let's see.
Advice needed and soon, please.
 
citronella oil but that in an oil incense burner, bugs hate the smell of citronella
 
"Maybe it's the fruit we've decided to eat more frequently ?"

Very likely.

If if it is getting very anoying, maybe consider (if your garden size permits) putting the uncooked food waste waste (apple cores, potato skins etc.) into a small bowl which is frequently emptied straight onto a compost heap.

Restricting yourself to mostly cooked food waste for the brown bin should result in much fewer fly problems.
 
We found the same problem - the brown bin lid became an escape hatch for flies and such. We've started to use bio-degradable bin liners for the outdoor brown bin and the smaller bio-degradable bags for the brown kitchen bin. I wondered if the "bin men" would take the large green bag, tied off, and they do. We probably don't need the large bin liner when we tie off the small ones. We buy the bags in Dunnes Stores.

Couldn't find any other solution to the problem. We bought one of those citronella burners, the type that are on sale from time to time in Aldi or Lidl - useless for the purpose.
 
Have a smallish garden (40' x 35') and not keen to start a compost heap cos I'm fairly sure I'll be breeding flies again if I do.
I like the bio-degradable idea best (Tks Sally) at this stage but maybe there are other suggestions to come ? Do I gather that the green bag you refer to is a common variety plastic bag ?
How widespread is this problem ?
 

I wish i knew,i don't have a brown bin problem but our kitchen seems to continously be plagued by tiny little fruit flies (i think) this summer,they seem to come from nowhere and have a passion for wine, as everytime you leave a bottle opened in the kitchen there's 2 or 3 of them floating in it after a while,they also like to circle the bin and the fruit basket.Any idea's on getting rid ?
 
I had a problem with what I think were fruit flies living in and around the kitchen sink drain. A good dose of bleach every night for 3 nights cured it.

Now all "brown" rubbish is bagged in bio-degradable bags (from Superquinn), tied off and binned each night, and the big, outdoor brown bin has brown paper biodegradable liners (from Lakeland) which can be folded shut.

I got a bin deodoriser in Lidl which also killes fruit flies and give the outdoor bin a good spray once a week. The indoor bin is worktop size and goes in the dishwasher once a week.

Betsy
 
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God Betsy - sounds like hard work !! fair play. Bio bags seem like a great idea

We throw caddy into brown bin every 2 days (fast as we can....never leave it open, but you'll still get a few flies). wash caddy out each time and rinse bin about every month. HOWEVER, hols meant bin with very little in it was unemptied for about 5 week......yuck!!!!! And that was without much sun!!
 
Sally/Betsy
Well, I should have known that the ladies would sort this for me in jigtime.
Seems like Bio-Bag is the way to go followed by a splash of the bleach to rid us of the fruitflies around the sink area.
That's my Plan A anyway.
Plan B may require further consultation(s).
Tks girls.
 
1John

If the sink is the problem then use a small bottle washer to give the drain a scrub with the bleach, fruit files / drain flies leave eggs behind them.

HTH

Betsy
 
Those €2 shops around Dublin (and elsewhere?) have flexible metal sink/drain cleaners for, er, €2 right now in case that's of any use.
 
Betsy & Clubman & others who helped.
Just got my Bio-Bags in Dunnes and the bleach (Triple strength) too
so those pesky space invaders ain't gonna stand a chance.
I'll update shortly.
 
I've loads of fruit flies.
Around the compost bin caddy and sweet fruit, eg grapes, in the kitchen.
They are harmless; if you ingore them you'll forget about them. Problem solved. What's a brown bin for? Compostable waste? If so, I recommend ignoring the poster that puts cooked food waste in it.
 
Hi

Local Authorities country wide are advising that cooked food, plate scrapings, cooked meat bones, out of date food, human hair (!) etc can be composted in the *Brown Bin*. There is a difference between what can be composted at home and what is taken away for large scale composting.

Betsy
 

Ah, I didn't realise this. Thanks.
 
To get rid of Fruit flies place some vinegar in a glass and cover with cling film.
Pierce the cling film with a fork to create a few holes for the fruit flies to enter.
Watch them drown ! Tried it this w-end and worked a treat !
 
Fly War Update
Bleach scrub & spray treatment seems to be working.
Huge reduction in the number of flies circulating in kitchen.

Neighbor gave us an old fashioned sticky flycatcher thingy last week to hang near the sink. Guess what, ours are Celtic Tiger flies who treated the fly apper with utter disdain.....not one ventured near it.
Result.....zero kills from old technology. Bleach is Best !
Bio Bags idea working very well too.
 
I like Stevo's Idea too. I'm gonna try that as I have been demented this weekend with the little buggers.
 
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