{"id":6948,"date":"2009-07-14T11:26:08","date_gmt":"2009-07-14T15:26:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/foodembrace.com\/?p=6948"},"modified":"2009-07-14T11:26:08","modified_gmt":"2009-07-14T15:26:08","slug":"tuesday-tip-to-catch-a-gnat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/foodembrace.com\/2009\/07\/tuesday-tip-to-catch-a-gnat\/","title":{"rendered":"Tuesday Tip: To Catch a Gnat"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"FruitThe thing I love most about summer is the wide variety of fresh fruit that becomes available.\u00a0 Peaches, nectarines, and cherries just to name a few.\u00a0 Oh and all the berries and melons too!\u00a0 The thing I hate most about summer is the fruit flies that come with all that fresh fruit.<\/p>\n

I don’t know about where you live but here at the HQ we become fruit fly and gnatty central.\u00a0 It becomes craziness, causing me to have temper tantrums with made up curse words as I try to bat, swat, and swing the gnats into oblivion.\u00a0 My husband has researched and thus tried every idea to help us battle the gnat and fruit fly problem.<\/p>\n

We have only found one solution that works for us, Apple Cider Vinegar.\u00a0 I will now let my husband explain how to create your own gnat trap at home (Because I’m lazy and I also have no idea how to make one!):<\/p>\n

1. Select a glass<\/strong><\/p>\n

You’ll want something that isn’t too wide or skinny, or too tall or\u00a0short. If you choose a drinking glass, you probably want to choose\u00a0one you no longer actively use (unless you don’t mind later drinking\u00a0out of the glass you drowned a bunch of fruit flies in…). You may\u00a0also be able to reuse a jar (though be sure it is clean and odorless).<\/p>\n

\"Fruit2. Make the barrier<\/strong><\/p>\n

The goal with the barrier is to provide an opening through which the\u00a0fruit flies can enter (attracted by the bait) but which prevents them\u00a0from being able to leave.<\/p>\n

A simple and effective barrier is a piece of paper rolled into a\u00a0funnel\/cone shape. You’ll need the glass from step 1 handy as you\u00a0work out the exact cone to suit the glass. The tip of the cone should\u00a0provide a small opening no bigger than a coffee bean, maybe even half\u00a0that size. The large opening of the cone will need to be of a wider\u00a0diameter than the top of the glass so that the funnel can rest on its\u00a0sides inside the glass. When in the glass, the funnel tip should be\u00a0about an inch from the bottom, and its opposite side should extend at\u00a0least an inch over the lip of the glass.<\/p>\n

Once you’ve worked the piece of paper into the proper shape,\u00a0tentatively tape it to retain its shape. Try it out in the glass\u00a0again. Again ensure that the tip is about an inch from the bottom of\u00a0the glass, and especially now ensure that the cone is truly round and\u00a0that when set into the glass, it provides a “seal” around the lip of\u00a0the glass. With the funnel in place, the only way in and out should\u00a0be through the small opening in the tip of the funnel.<\/p>\n

Add more tape to the paper to secure the shape once it has been finalized.<\/p>\n

(As an alternative barrier: you may be able to get away with just\u00a0covering the top of the glass with plastic wrap and using a toothpick\u00a0to poke a few holes in the wrap.)<\/p>\n

3. Pour in the bait<\/strong><\/p>\n

Our bait of choice is apple cider vinegar (ACV). Some people use wine,\u00a0which we’ve tried with less success, but who wants to waste wine on\u00a0killing insects? Be sure the funnel has been removed from the glass\u00a0and pour in a slight amount of ACV. When you put the funnel in place\u00a0in the glass, you’ll want a gap between the tip of the funnel and the\u00a0ACV.<\/p>\n

You can also add a couple drops of dish soap into the ACV to break the\u00a0surface tension (to prevent the fruit flies from treading the\u00a0surface). We have success even without adding dish soap.<\/p>\n

4. Place and Monitor<\/strong><\/p>\n

Place the trap in the vicinity of the fruit, trash, or other area that\u00a0seems to be attracting the fruit flies. Relocate if after most of a\u00a0day you stop seeing any more fruit flies entering the trap.<\/p>\n

5. Repeat<\/strong><\/p>\n

If after a few days you begin to notice a resurgence in fruit flies\u00a0flying about, the potency of the ACV may have diminished and you may\u00a0need to pour the contents of the glass down the drain and refill with\u00a0the same level of more ACV. Of course, if the contraption is\u00a0especially successful, then a change and refill will be warranted. \u00a0The funnel can continue to be reused.<\/p>\n

How It Works<\/strong><\/p>\n

The fruit flies are attracted to the smell of the ACV. \u00a0They’ll fly down the funnel and through the smaller hole. \u00a0Once in the glass, they are essentially trapped. \u00a0They’ll crawl around the inside of the glass and try to find an opening near the top, which is blocked by the funnel. \u00a0They aren’t smart enough (or as able) to fly back through the small hole. \u00a0If not outright, eventually they’ll land or fall into the ACV and meet their maker.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

There you have it guys! Step by step instructions from OHC HQ’s official Gnat and Fruit Fly Wrangler. The summer season and early part of fall is when we have the most gnats and fruit flies so we always have a trap out and about. Sometimes two depending on how much fresh produce I have out on the counters. If you’ve got fruit fly issues, give this a try and see how it works out for you! :D<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The thing I love most about summer is the wide variety of fresh fruit that becomes available.\u00a0 Peaches, nectarines, and cherries just to name a few.\u00a0 Oh and all the berries and melons too!\u00a0 The thing I hate most about summer is the fruit flies that come with all that fresh fruit. I don’t know […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4KYWa-1O4","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/foodembrace.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6948"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/foodembrace.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/foodembrace.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foodembrace.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foodembrace.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6948"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/foodembrace.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6948\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/foodembrace.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6948"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foodembrace.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6948"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foodembrace.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6948"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}