On Sun, 30 Jun 2013 12:23:10 +0100, Judith
wrote:

I cannot believe that there are no solutions (perhaps literally)
which will
sort things out.

I use a home-remedy - and yes, it is a solution (haha).

It's made with white spirit and bicycle tyre vulcanising solution -
rather more of the former (I can't remember exactly how much but what
you want is a sort of slightly sticky liquid that won't dry quickly).


What I do is put a bit of this in a saucer close to the plants I want
to protect, and the flies land there instead of on the plants, and
they either drink it and die or drown or get stuck - I don't know but
there are always a lot when it comes time for a new dish.

This didn't work that well until I added the 'secret ingredient' -
some chinese fish sauce we got as a gift but didn't like (it smelled
awfull). It seems to be just what the flies go for, however. I
tried to find out what the smell was but as it was all kanji(?) I had
to ask one of the students and she said it was a thing we call
Hagfish which makes a bit of sense considering the odour.