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[pdlinda]

I'm in my apartment over 21 years and recently have developed these pesky little drain flies that the pest control guy who is available to me says he can do nothing to eliminate.  He put some foam in all my 4 drains (double kitchen sink and bathroom sink and shower) that eliminated them for awhile but they came back.

I won't use toxic chemicals so I bought this expensive gel product from Amazon.  Used as directed I already used up 2 gallon jugs and, although the product works, as soon as I stop using it, the flies re-appear.

There are SO MANY choices and varieties of products (Amazon) and so many articles (google) regarding elimination (and maintenance) of the situation, I don't know what to select as the best regimen.

Any advice from people who have conquered this nasty problem would be greatly appreciated!!

[ValuSkr]

It helps to clean out the drain thoroughly with boiling water, baking soda, vinegar, and boiling water again.  Boiling water should kill them and the baking soda / vinegar combo should get rid of the organic matter they breed in.  Do it as many times as necessary.

[ALRATIBA]

I think they come from washing fruits and vegetables.  Every time I've had that issue - it was after I washed some produce from the "green market" or the gourmet grocer.  I think it's from insect eggs.

Baking soda and vinegar treatment for a few days usually solves theproblem.

A friend came back from "apple picking" last Fall and gave me a few apples - I had flies for days!  

[January121]

When I spend the entire summer at my summer home & then return to my NY home I find “drain flies” on the shower floor & in the toilet bowl .... I was told because I didn’t use the shower or flush the toilet for weeks that the water drains out of the pipes & the flies can come up through the empty pipes .... this never happens when I’m home & use the shower & flush the toilet ... just a suggestion that you should run the water a few times a day to keep he pipes full of water so the flies can’t get through  🙃

[CelticCrafter]

We had them, really bad.

It was because a pipe had broken and the water was draining under the bath tub.

Once we figured out why we had them and fixed the problem, we called an exterminator and they never came back.

They eat the crud that builds up in the pipes and they are not the same as fruit flies.

[HLP]

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@ValuSkr wrote:

It helps to clean out the drain thoroughly with boiling water, baking soda, vinegar, and boiling water again.  Boiling water should kill them and the baking soda / vinegar combo should get rid of the organic matter they breed in.  Do it as many times as necessary.

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I had them for about a year, just drove me crasy. We put fly catchers up in the basement, the sticky kind, then put heavy tape over all the drain pipes in the basement. That seem to get rid of them. I blamed it on my neighbors who just bathed out of the bowl, and probably didn't flush every time. After they left, I haven't had them since. 

[czecheredpast]

We call them fruit flies in Texas. 

I've always used apple cider vinegar to kill them. It's easy.

Pour a couple of inches of   apple cider vinegar into a glass or small bowl.

  Add a about a half ½ teaspoon of dish soap, be careful not to go over a teaspoon because you do not want to mask the cider scent. 

Then cover it up with saran wrap. Poke small holes in it with the tip of a knife.

Place it near your sink.  They will come.  LOL  The fermenting fruit scent attracts them but the dish soap weighs them down and they can't fly out.

Usually takes a day or two for results.

[jlkz]

@January121 

We snowbird in FL and have a Home Watch person check the condo every two weeks.  We leave jugs of water by every drain so he can keep water in the drain pipes.  He runs the water in the sinks and flushed the toilets.  

No pesky drain flies.

[webbgarner1]

@czecheredpast  I have done the apple cidar vinegar and dish soap in a container, works great 

[webbgarner1]

@pdlinda  I cna say I have also done what poster @czereredpast said in her post about using a mixture of apple cidar vinegar and dish soap in a bowl to create your own fruit fly trap, it works great. They land in the solution then drown.Look it up on you tube for examples. Good luck.