Yesterday, I noticed there were some flies around indoor plants and compost. I am not sure if it’s fruit fly or fungus gnat, either is annoying, anyway. However, it’s always like that a handful would hover above, it wasn’t too bad. Unfortunately, some had hatched out from a new planter. I ignored at first, later in the evening, I knew I had to do something because there is also a few new planters near by. If that one got invested, the chance is the others probably wouldn’t be safe since they all got the same growing medium and all with new seeds, some haven’t germinated yet.

This morning, I scrubbed all saucers, with the best effort and elbow grease I could give, the dumping every bit of gunky water, which might contribute to the invitation. I did save a bit of that smelly water, because if it attracted those pesky flies, why not use it as bait?

I got a 600ml bottle and followed the instructions online, cut the top part off and flip upside down as the funnel to the rotten yummy buffet for the fly. I placed a piece of lime, which I used for cooking, poured in some of the gunky water and wine vinegar which I already used for baiting around compost, but didn’t seem to work.

That’s not it, I saw some photos which suggested using yellow Post-it notes, for what scientific reason I didn’t know and honestly don’t care if fly nuts about yellow as bull impulsively charging at red — according to Wikipedia, they are “red-green color blind.”. I thought about stick one up, but I got a better one, IKEA Fantastisk paper napkin, which is yellow and big, three-ply 40 by 40cm. I split them and wrapped one around the bottle as if it needed a coat.

Not sure if this new trap would work, but this is what I got. The old trap for compost had an upgrade. I know you can use sand and gravel, or even a carnivorous plant (I want one), but I have none of them and I don’t want to stack up those into small planters. Besides, there are too many pots.

As for compost, I added a layer of shredded cardboard, then a ply of that napkin on top, I tucked it around the side of container and made sure no gaps. Since that thin layer is obviously very breathable, this could be an easy way to get rid of pest, I hope. I might even use napkin on pots if the trap doesn’t work well.

Only time will tell, and I shall know in a few days.