Ok, so this is a little out of the ordinary, not technology oriented, but when you are sitting at your computer at night, getting bombarded by little flies, it can drive you nuts.
If you have ever had a fruit fly, drain fly or sewer fly problem, then you completely understand how incredibly insane they can make you. Each of their lifecycles differs but the one thing they all have in common is that they live to breed, lay eggs and be irritating. Some can lay up to 300 to 400 eggs, which then can hatch to become adults in as little as a few days, starting the cycle over again. The first and most important thing is to identify their food source. The first year we had them, a potato rolled under the lowest shelf in the pantry that we didn’t notice, the second year, our garbage disposal cracked, spewing waste on the back of the cabinet. This year, we were not able to locate an actual source. So all we could do is in continually fight the little flying $#@%#&! We tried Braggs vinegar (Good), the UV lights with sticky card traps (these were great but started getting expensive), we tried the sticky window traps and even smoked the house out using incense all over the place, as apparently that will kill them as well. We found all of these lacking two crucial details. None were instantaneous, and none were completely effective. Most started getting expensive as you have to keep buying the sticky cards for the UV traps.
So, what is the best solution for killing Fruit Flies, Sewer Flies or Drain Flies in your home or office?
- Little Giant Professional Sprayer Bottle with Red Equine Design
- Peppermint Essential Oil – Big 4 oz
- Basil (Large 4 ounce) Best Essential Oil
- Citronella Oil, 4.0 oz
- Lemon Eucalyptus (Large 4 ounce)
- Rosemary Essential Oil – Big 4 Oz
- Lavender Essential Oil – Big 4 Oz
- Eucalyptus Essential Oil. (4 oz.)
- Cinnamon Bark (2 fl oz)
- Lemongrass Essential Oil, 4 Fluid Ounce
Fill the bottle up with hot water, add 10-30ml of each of these oils to kill the flies, as well as repel them, and others. Go a little heavy on the peppermint oil, and go to each window, as that is usually where the most flies are at, and using the fine mist setting, spray the flies. They drop almost instantly, dead on the window sill or counters. Instant death to almost all of them at once… Absolutely awesome! The biggest advantage of this, is it gives you instant satisfaction, and our house was almost fly-free the next morning, and smells awesome! I woke up the next morning after the first night’s initial spraying and went to each window and used the spray on a few stragglers (3 or 4 of them) that were missed the night before. We sprayed all the drains, the garage bathroom and trash area and all windows. This is by far the best solution to take control of your house or office and kill the fruit flies, sewer flies or drain flies that you may have. Good Luck!
UPDATE ON MY CHICKEN COOP (March 2023): I cleaned my chicken coop twice in the past 6 months, where I used my spay to kill the roaches that were in it (usually hundreds of them). After I cleaned it each time, I layed down a spray on the wood before I put the pine shavings in as well as sprayed on top of the pine shavings. Three months later, since the last cleaning, not a single roach or any other bugs for that matter other than a wasp nest up high, which I also sprayed and they dropped pretty quickly.
UPDATE ON MIXTURE: I now buy a bottle of Witchazel to mix with the alcohol (50/50) as the base mixture.
ADDITIONAL INFO:
- Citrus: A 2009 study found that a variety of citrus essential oils — including grapefruit, lemon, lime, and orange — were effective at repeling several species of roaches. This is likely due to limonene, a chemical in citrus peels that is also used in insect repellants.
- Kaffir lime: In a 2007 study, researchers found that kaffir lime oil was 100% effective at repelling both the American cockroach and German cockroach.
- Oregano: In a 2016 study focusing on the brown-banded cockroach, oregano oil was 96.5% to 99.1% effective at repelling the pest.
- Rosemary: In the same 2016 study, researches found that rosemary essential oil was toxic to brown-banded cockroaches, with 100% mortality after 24 hours of exposure to the oil at a concentration of at least 2.5%.