Fruit flies. They are the bane of every person who keeps fresh food in the house, especially those of us who keep produce on the counter.

When we were recently infested, on a day of a house showing no less, I turned to Facebook fans for suggestions. Lil and I chose several techniques to compare in an impromptu science experiment.

Fruit Fly Science Report

by Lil Tayse-Baillieul

Question: Which fruit fly trap works the best?

Process: We put a little wine and soap in a small jar. We also did apple vinegar with soap and covered with plastic wrap. The third thing was put a funnel in with apple vinegar.

We put the three jars out to see which one works the best.

Observations: It took about one hour for the fruit flies to start to get trapped. The red wine had a fruit fly die first. We put bigger holes in the plastic wrap and it started catching flies. The funnel jar didn't have any fruit flies in it.

Alex tried vacuuming up the flies with the Dirt Devil vacuum. It didn't work.

Rachel tried swatting the flies with her hands. It worked but it was hard and slow.

The fruit flies were gone from our kitchen in one day with the traps. The red wine trap had the most flies.

Conclusion: Put red wine and soap in a jar to trap fruit flies.

This is the way unschooling works for us - we have a problem or interest and we investigate together. We don't invest in 'schooly' materials but use what we have on hand. In this case, the fruit fly experiment provided an avenue for us to talk about the scientific method and controlling variables while solving a real and observable problem with things we have on hand.

And now we know - to most efficiently trap fruit flies, leave an open jar of red wine with a little dish soap on the counter.