fruit flies in kombucha

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fruit flies in kombucha

Postby alex on Tue Jul 08, 2008 6:16 pm

should i be concerned about fruit flies around my kombucha? can they lay eggs? if so, will they be able to hatch? should i toss the whole batch????
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Re: fruit flies in kombucha

Postby urchinz on Wed Jul 09, 2008 8:39 am

If you have fruit flies that have laid eggs in your Kombucha you will need to toss it. if you have a cloth over the top and they have not gained access it is fine.
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Re: fruit flies in kombucha

Postby svakanda on Wed Jul 09, 2008 4:44 pm

I had a bunch of fruit flies infect my kombucha last week...there was a LOT of them fast, and lots of larvae crawling around on the mother too. I wiped them all off of the rims and pulled out the surface mother and tossed it. Then I sifted the few stragglers out of the jar and covered well. As the new mother developed I found two more larvae in there, and picked them out...took out the mother, rinsed it off in tap water and put it back. It's been about a week and I haven't seen any more and the new mother is still growing. I figured a little extra protein wouldn't hurt too much worse case anyhow.
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Re: fruit flies in kombucha

Postby eatgarlic on Wed Dec 24, 2008 1:12 pm

just a tip for those who have fruit fly problems with their kombucha (and in general)

an easy thing to do is to take a plastic bottle, like a soda or water bottle and cut it in half right at the part where it starts to taper upwards.

take the top off of the part you drink from and turn the entire top piece that you just cut off upside down and put it so it fits into the bottom part.

put some fruit or something sweet in there and let it start to ferment. this will attract the fruit flies into the bottle and then they can't get out. They will lay eggs on the sides of the bottle but as long as you don't open it they won't escape.

periodically I like to dump it outside and give it a nice rinse with hot soapy water.

so to those of you who don't mind trapping and probably killing most of the flies, this is a good solution.
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Re: fruit flies in kombucha

Postby Javan on Sat Jan 31, 2009 12:23 pm

Only time I've seen fruit flies invade my kombucha was when it was really really mature.. I've seen this happen consistantly, after certain periods of time, and I personally feel it's a sign that you're starving the culture.. Kombucha is insanely proactive defender of it's environment, but if the mother gets weak, the flies seem to attack it.

I could be wrong about this, I'm by no means an expert, but that's my feeling given a couple years of observation..

-Javan
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Re: fruit flies in kombucha

Postby archangel_ariel777 on Thu Sep 22, 2011 7:29 pm

I just started growing Kombucha this is my first batch and I just saw a bunch of fruit flies landing on the mother and crawling around on it.. I don't want to have to begin over again.. do you think they laid eggs?
archangel_ariel777
 
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Re: fruit flies in kombucha

Postby TeresaRex on Sat Sep 24, 2011 11:58 pm

Fruit flies can be avoided by using a tight nit cloth
Cheese cloth is too loose , and fruit flies will find it !
Coffee filters work great !
Order your kombucha starter kit online @ Http://www.royalkombucha.com
TeresaRex
 
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Re: fruit flies in kombucha

Postby rayne on Tue Sep 27, 2011 6:45 pm

I had fruit flies infest my kombucha once. I was really confused how it happened because I had a cloth on the top and sealed it with a rubber band. I figured out that when I was moving the jar, some of the liquid splashed the cloth, making it damp with kombucha. The flies then laid eggs on the cloth which were somehow able to get inside the jar. Now I make sure to be very careful when I move the jars! I know that you are supposed to throw the whole mother out when it's infested with flies, but I just threw away the tea and the top layer of the mother and it was fine. I've also had fruit flies land on my mother with I was brewing and had it out in a bowl and I've had no problems. If you are worried about fruit flies, you can set a trap for them near the kombucha like this:http://frugalliving.about.com/od/doityourself/qt/Rid_Fruit_Flies.htm I usually put kombucha in the trap.
rayne
 
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Re: fruit flies in kombucha

Postby SwampWitch on Fri Sep 18, 2015 1:13 pm

omg I had fruit fly maggots on my scoby. She's an inch thick so I rinced it and sliced 3/4 of the top off. Will that be ok or toss it all? fruit flies are terrible this year. :oops:
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