You're viewing a single thread.
This method has never worked for me.
I had several traps lined up with different types of vinegar as well as kombucha made from cultures bought from 3 different places, and they prioritized the kombucha in particular and especially the one made with white labs cultures. cider and white vinegar caught like 1 or 2 tops
Guess I could try kombucha next time. Apple cider vinegar does not work, I don't care what people say. It just does not. I eventually gave in and bought some mass-produced product which attracts them to where you plug it in and it kills them. That works. Vinegar with soap? No. Useless.
did you put plastic wrap over the container and use a sharp knife to make small slits in it? like a salt shaker lid but the holes are lines and only wide enough for the fly to barely fit. It makes sure that once they get in they are more likely to touch the surface directly rather than walk on the wall of the container. the amount of soap is also really tiny.
but yeah over 3 months with as perfectly set up as I could make it, vinegar was negligable performance while the kombucha was saturated with flies. I also have seen wine work but I think the blanket of co2 that forms above the surface also plays a part in knocking them out. the kombucha also makes co2 but eventually makes a solid layer that flies can stand on.
if the commmercial trap works well I would also just stick to that if it isn't too costly, but the ones I can buy locally are all crap.
I started off doing it like you describe, but that didn't work, so I eventually tried making bigger holes and then taking the plastic wrap off entirely. It's just never worked for me. Fortunately, it's not a problem that comes up terribly often.