Thursday, July 08, 2010

Getting Rid of Bugs in the House

Cory and I have killed at least twenty flies this afternoon.  For some reason, they're all buzzing around the sliding door, and we can't figure out where they're coming from.  It's not like we've had any windows or doors hanging open.  A few of our screens got ripped in the storm, but we've either taped those up or those windows haven't even been open.  So how are these flies getting in?  Luckily I think they're half frozen too, because they seem kind of slow and stupid and haven't been too hard to kill. 

Also, it's that time of year when the gnats are everywhere - little bitty bugs that can come right through the screens if they want to.  They hang around any fruit we might have, such as ripe bananas or nectarines, and they love my sourdough starter.  I had to fish several of them out of it today - even though I had a towel over it.

I read somewhere that mixing a little dish soap (just a squirt) with some cider vinegar (2 T. or so) and setting it out on the counter is supposed to help.  They're attracted to the vinegar, which will hopefully keep them away from the fruit, and they end up drowning themselves in it.  I used this last year, and it really took care of (killed!) a lot of them.  There always seemed to be more of them, so I pretty much kept a container of vinegar and dish soap on the counter all summer, replenishing it when the vinegar all evaporated.

There are already 3 dead bugs in the mixture I set out this afternoon.   I think vinegar and dish soap are the perfect diet supplements for these little pests, don't you?

2 comments:

  1. Stupid Flies. They're ruining my day. :P

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  2. This kills the flies? We have those fly strips up and I swear they know how to miss them...have to try this....they are really bad here

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