Science and Technology news... :: View topic - Please suggest how to get rid of fruit flies with access to

Ivar R. Berg · Guest

Here>s the problem that needs solutions suggested.
An increasing number of fruit flies have built a stronghold in a
standard family house with for instance a number of live plants
available throughout the house.
The exact fly types is not known, but the 1-2 mm sized flies are
probably of the most common fruit fly types, like banana and vinegar
types. (Drosophila melanogaster) / (Drosophila funebris).

The 'standard' store bought insect killers and wash strength chlorine
have been tried.
Insect spray may kill some flies by drowning I guess, but...

The main difference here is that when You are to choose a proper
weapon to suggest for this 'fight', you may choose from approx. 500
different chemicals available from a laboratory. Also possible,
although not first preference, is to order a needed chemical if not
already present in the laboratory. This is less desired mainly because
such an action would partly 'destroy' the project at hand as I see
it...

So, there>s a lot of potentially good tools to choose from, but some
no-no>s as well.
For instance, since I>m in Norway, in northern part of Europe, there>s
not very much use in referring to products only available in US
stores. Sticking to the 'sci.chem' context and talking about chemicals
with chem. names (perhaps even CAS numbers) should work well.
Also, something I consider a no-no choice is choosing a chemical to
kill off flies that are exceedingly dangerous to handle and/or use for
humans, and perhaps also too dangerous for pets. Examples here could
be cyanides, diMethyl Sulfate, Br, HF, yellow P4, Sodium
monoFluoroAcetate ("1080"/FCH2COONa) and so on. Or could I actually be
mistaken in 'no-no'-ing KCN and for instance '1080', since the
concentration that would be needed in this case would be so low that
such a recommendation would be OK safety-wise too ???

Some ideas thrown out - possibly to ease starting up the 'thought
machinery' ?!

Can any of these chems be of any help ? - hmmmmm?

- CAS: 12280-03-4 - SodiumOctaBorate tetraHydrate - Na2B8O13·4H2O -
may have uses fighting termites, ants and possibly fungus ?
- The 'brother' of the above perhaps; plain standard 'borax' (the
stuff one could demo with and make 'popcorn' and colored pearls...

- H2S - low-ish consentrations and on spots / specific locations ..?
From (NH4)2 S , FeS or something kippish.
- Sb2S5 - in soil - will it have any use but contaminate with Sb ? -
If here it is the Sulfur part that is desired, then
the Antimony (Stibii) partner is probably not one of the best
choices.
- Plain pure Sulfur ? Any use/effect ?
- How 'bout Urea?

- Arsenic - and relatives - should not have to be to dangerous to
handle like cyanides. Pure Arsenic (As2O3) in some mix, or perhaps
"Paris Green" (Copper Acetoarsenite (Cu)3As2O3Cu(C2H3O2)2 or / Kings
Green or Vienna Green). How to use / apply ???
- I should look up CCl4, but probably not CS2 without any Yellow
Phosphorus dissolved in it.....

Someone told me that 'in the old days' one could take some (usually
more than one per plant pot) matches (unused) and stick them in the
plant pot soil with the chemical (red) portion of the match down into
the soil to give an effect when the match chemicals are
dissolved/dispersed. And supposedly this used to work. But I>ve been
unable to get qualified info on what period in time we are talking of
here. Because there>s (as you all know) a major difference in what
components are on/in a match nowadays and the days when some sorry sad
women got 'phossy-jaws' (Phosphorus necrosis - Approx. 1845). And
between then and now there have been a number of changes, not just one
change from initial technology to what we have today.
So, the Sb2S5 mentioned just above here might not be totally out of
the blue. And probably the solution might not be slipping small
portions of yellow phosphorous into the pots, where they can lie
smoking, indicating that one needs to better watch out because it is
not certain when and what will happen now...!

Looking forward to possibly some fun concepts ???

With Regards,
Ivar Berg

Salmon Egg · Guest

Long post, short answer: Flypaper!

Bill

--
Private Profit; Public Poop! Avoid collateral windfall!

Mark Thorson · Guest

"Ivar R. Berg" wrote:
[quote]
Looking forward to possibly some fun concepts ???
[/quote]
Wine seems to strongly attract fruit flies. Also,
I>ve seen a fly trap used against the common housefly
in a chicken coop which consisted of a glass jar
and a cap that had a labyrinth entry which allowed
flies to enter but not easily exit. It was baited
with a piece of meat, and in a few days the jar
was full of dead flies. My thought is to get one
of those jar traps and bait it with wine.

Terry · Guest

On Sun, 05 Oct 2008 22:10:05 +0200, Ivar R. Berg <askme@online.nono>
wrote:

[quote]Here>s the problem that needs solutions suggested.
An increasing number of fruit flies have built a stronghold in a
standard family house with for instance a number of live plants
available throughout the house.
The exact fly types is not known, but the 1-2 mm sized flies are
probably of the most common fruit fly types, like banana and vinegar
types. (Drosophila melanogaster) / (Drosophila funebris).
[/quote]
Try vinegar in a trap:
http://www.instructables.com/id/Super-EZ-fruit-fly-trap/

Charles · Guest

On Sun, 05 Oct 2008 22:10:05 +0200, Ivar R. Berg <askme@online.nono>
wrote:

[quote]Here>s the problem that needs solutions suggested.
An increasing number of fruit flies have built a stronghold in a
standard family house with for instance a number of live plants
available throughout the house.
The exact fly types is not known, but the 1-2 mm sized flies are
probably of the most common fruit fly types, like banana and vinegar
types. (Drosophila melanogaster) / (Drosophila funebris).

The 'standard' store bought insect killers and wash strength chlorine
have been tried.
Insect spray may kill some flies by drowning I guess, but...

The main difference here is that when You are to choose a proper
weapon to suggest for this 'fight', you may choose from approx. 500
different chemicals available from a laboratory. Also possible,
although not first preference, is to order a needed chemical if not
already present in the laboratory. This is less desired mainly because
such an action would partly 'destroy' the project at hand as I see
it...

So, there>s a lot of potentially good tools to choose from, but some
no-no>s as well.
For instance, since I>m in Norway, in northern part of Europe, there>s
not very much use in referring to products only available in US
stores. Sticking to the 'sci.chem' context and talking about chemicals
with chem. names (perhaps even CAS numbers) should work well.
Also, something I consider a no-no choice is choosing a chemical to
kill off flies that are exceedingly dangerous to handle and/or use for
humans, and perhaps also too dangerous for pets. Examples here could
be cyanides, diMethyl Sulfate, Br, HF, yellow P4, Sodium
monoFluoroAcetate ("1080"/FCH2COONa) and so on. Or could I actually be
mistaken in 'no-no'-ing KCN and for instance '1080', since the
concentration that would be needed in this case would be so low that
such a recommendation would be OK safety-wise too ???

Some ideas thrown out - possibly to ease starting up the 'thought
machinery' ?!

Can any of these chems be of any help ? - hmmmmm?

- CAS: 12280-03-4 - SodiumOctaBorate tetraHydrate - Na2B8O13·4H2O -
may have uses fighting termites, ants and possibly fungus ?
- The 'brother' of the above perhaps; plain standard 'borax' (the
stuff one could demo with and make 'popcorn' and colored pearls...

- H2S - low-ish consentrations and on spots / specific locations ..?
From (NH4)2 S , FeS or something kippish.
- Sb2S5 - in soil - will it have any use but contaminate with Sb ? -
If here it is the Sulfur part that is desired, then
the Antimony (Stibii) partner is probably not one of the best
choices.
- Plain pure Sulfur ? Any use/effect ?
- How 'bout Urea?

- Arsenic - and relatives - should not have to be to dangerous to
handle like cyanides. Pure Arsenic (As2O3) in some mix, or perhaps
"Paris Green" (Copper Acetoarsenite (Cu)3As2O3Cu(C2H3O2)2 or / Kings
Green or Vienna Green). How to use / apply ???
- I should look up CCl4, but probably not CS2 without any Yellow
Phosphorus dissolved in it.....

Someone told me that 'in the old days' one could take some (usually
more than one per plant pot) matches (unused) and stick them in the
plant pot soil with the chemical (red) portion of the match down into
the soil to give an effect when the match chemicals are
dissolved/dispersed. And supposedly this used to work. But I>ve been
unable to get qualified info on what period in time we are talking of
here. Because there>s (as you all know) a major difference in what
components are on/in a match nowadays and the days when some sorry sad
women got 'phossy-jaws' (Phosphorus necrosis - Approx. 1845). And
between then and now there have been a number of changes, not just one
change from initial technology to what we have today.
So, the Sb2S5 mentioned just above here might not be totally out of
the blue. And probably the solution might not be slipping small
portions of yellow phosphorous into the pots, where they can lie
smoking, indicating that one needs to better watch out because it is
not certain when and what will happen now...!

Looking forward to possibly some fun concepts ???

With Regards,
Ivar Berg
[/quote]

Since you say they are living in the house plants I wonder if it might
not be fungus gnats.

Here is a page on how to deal with them.

http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG/PESTNOTES/pn7448.html

Charles · Guest

On Sun, 05 Oct 2008 22:10:05 +0200, Ivar R. Berg <askme@online.nono>
wrote:

[quote]Here>s the problem that needs solutions suggested.
An increasing number of fruit flies have built a stronghold in a
standard family house with for instance a number of live plants
available throughout the house.
The exact fly types is not known, but the 1-2 mm sized flies are
probably of the most common fruit fly types, like banana and vinegar
types. (Drosophila melanogaster) / (Drosophila funebris).

The 'standard' store bought insect killers and wash strength chlorine
have been tried.
Insect spray may kill some flies by drowning I guess, but...

The main difference here is that when You are to choose a proper
weapon to suggest for this 'fight', you may choose from approx. 500
different chemicals available from a laboratory. Also possible,
although not first preference, is to order a needed chemical if not
already present in the laboratory. This is less desired mainly because
such an action would partly 'destroy' the project at hand as I see
it...

So, there>s a lot of potentially good tools to choose from, but some
no-no>s as well.
For instance, since I>m in Norway, in northern part of Europe, there>s
not very much use in referring to products only available in US
stores. Sticking to the 'sci.chem' context and talking about chemicals
with chem. names (perhaps even CAS numbers) should work well.
Also, something I consider a no-no choice is choosing a chemical to
kill off flies that are exceedingly dangerous to handle and/or use for
humans, and perhaps also too dangerous for pets. Examples here could
be cyanides, diMethyl Sulfate, Br, HF, yellow P4, Sodium
monoFluoroAcetate ("1080"/FCH2COONa) and so on. Or could I actually be
mistaken in 'no-no'-ing KCN and for instance '1080', since the
concentration that would be needed in this case would be so low that
such a recommendation would be OK safety-wise too ???

Some ideas thrown out - possibly to ease starting up the 'thought
machinery' ?!

Can any of these chems be of any help ? - hmmmmm?

- CAS: 12280-03-4 - SodiumOctaBorate tetraHydrate - Na2B8O13·4H2O -
may have uses fighting termites, ants and possibly fungus ?
- The 'brother' of the above perhaps; plain standard 'borax' (the
stuff one could demo with and make 'popcorn' and colored pearls...

- H2S - low-ish consentrations and on spots / specific locations ..?
From (NH4)2 S , FeS or something kippish.
- Sb2S5 - in soil - will it have any use but contaminate with Sb ? -
If here it is the Sulfur part that is desired, then
the Antimony (Stibii) partner is probably not one of the best
choices.
- Plain pure Sulfur ? Any use/effect ?
- How 'bout Urea?

- Arsenic - and relatives - should not have to be to dangerous to
handle like cyanides. Pure Arsenic (As2O3) in some mix, or perhaps
"Paris Green" (Copper Acetoarsenite (Cu)3As2O3Cu(C2H3O2)2 or / Kings
Green or Vienna Green). How to use / apply ???
- I should look up CCl4, but probably not CS2 without any Yellow
Phosphorus dissolved in it.....

Someone told me that 'in the old days' one could take some (usually
more than one per plant pot) matches (unused) and stick them in the
plant pot soil with the chemical (red) portion of the match down into
the soil to give an effect when the match chemicals are
dissolved/dispersed. And supposedly this used to work. But I>ve been
unable to get qualified info on what period in time we are talking of
here. Because there>s (as you all know) a major difference in what
components are on/in a match nowadays and the days when some sorry sad
women got 'phossy-jaws' (Phosphorus necrosis - Approx. 1845). And
between then and now there have been a number of changes, not just one
change from initial technology to what we have today.
So, the Sb2S5 mentioned just above here might not be totally out of
the blue. And probably the solution might not be slipping small
portions of yellow phosphorous into the pots, where they can lie
smoking, indicating that one needs to better watch out because it is
not certain when and what will happen now...!

Looking forward to possibly some fun concepts ???

With Regards,
Ivar Berg
[/quote]

I>d be wary of boron, it>s toxic to lots of plants. Although if you
killed the plants, then the flys would probably go away.

Ivar R. Berg · Guest

Ivar R. Berg <askme@online.nono> wrote:

[quote]Here>s the problem that needs solutions suggested.
An increasing number of fruit flies have built a stronghold in a
..

[/quote]
Thank You all for suggestions. Do not hesitate to bring on more
suggestions - for instance, does any of You happen to know how one
actually went about using cyanide mixed with sugar some 100 years ago,
and this probably without much more though about the task at hand than
it being effective...?

Or, if one successfully could use matches put into the plant soil,
then what was at that point in time the effective ingredient killing
off the flies? I would guess that thye answer to this will not be
yellow phosphorous. I>d guess that this method would be more recent
than involving yellow P4 (or is it P8 -- doesn>t matter)

Kind Regards,
irb

Ivar R. Berg · Guest

Salmon Egg <SalmonEgg@sbcglobal.net> wrote:

[quote]Long post, short answer: Flypaper!

Bill
[/quote]
Short answer, long paper - did not work...

Thanks,
irb


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