Margaret Sirl, the gardening Guru on the local ABC radio, broadcasted the following recipe for fruit fly traps.
Let the brew stand for 5 days before using.Put 25 ml in each trap. Hang for 1 week in the tree before repacing.
Use a soft drink bottle with pencil sized holes.
This recipe is enough for 100 traps.
Use 2 litres plastic juice or milk bottle. Burn a hole on both sides about the size of a cigarette; make sure the edges are smooth.
Fill with bait to just below the hole and hang with the lid on.
Hang bait in the tree all year, renew contents twice per year or as needed.
This mix needs to be made up and distributed to your home made traps each week.
Anne's traps are made from recycled plastic bottles drilled with two holes on opposite sides, near to shoulders of the bottle. They are suspended from each tree by kitchen string by the cap (on).
Make sure the holes are big enough to let the flies in (at least 8mm).
To each 9 litres of warm water (the average bucket or watering can), add 500g honey and 2 sachets (about 15g) of baking yeast.
Mix well and wait till the frothing is over.
Put about 10cm of the mixture in the bottom of each hanging bottle. Anne uses a small plastic jug so she doesn't have to undo the bottles all the time.
These simple traps lured and killed hundreds of fruit flies last year in Anne's garden as well as all those nasty little white and black flies and the wallaby flies as well.
The flies go in, attracted by the lovely pheromones of the yeast and honey (it does smell good too) and they drown. They can't seem to get out again.
Early in the season this honey/yeast aroma is far more attractive than the fruit.