How Sourdough Starter can Cause a Pest Infestation
So you have started a new hobby…growing and feeding a sourdough starter so you can bake delicious sourdough breads for your family! If you watched the Mystery Small Fly Video (to the right, or below on mobile) you saw some of what we encountered. Hopefully this video a blog post can help you prevent a similar pest problem.
Bars and restaurants are often the battle grounds we battle small flies year around and typically when we find them in homes they are associated with leaking pipes, overripe fruit on the counter, garbage that has been left in the trashcan for an extended amount of time. We usually see this around the holidays when people leave town. Most times it’s as easy as finding the source and treating accordingly.
We typically break these small flies in to two categories: fruit flies and drain flies. Generally speaking they are attracted to the same organic matter and can sometimes infest the same space at the same time.
The infestation in the video was unique because the home was VERY CLEAN from the basement to the master suite on the third floor. But the same species of small fly was showing up on all three floors with no identifiable source and no report of plumbing issues. As we thought through the problem the species was not consistent with a plumbing leak.
In the Mystery Small Fly Video and throughout the process our longtime customer was very polite but if we didn’t find a solution soon we were worried the customer would lose a little confidence in our team.
When we asked a few more questions “are you making beer and wine” the light bulb went on the reaction was priceless its too bad the camera wasn’t rolling. Even the customer’s daughter joined in…exclaiming “MOOOOM!” everyone had a good laugh and we began working on the solution.
Here is what we learned and recommended to the customer:
We know the starter is alive with microbes and beneficial bacterium this is the stuff the flies are attracted to…even little bits. It can cling to the smallest crevices and inner walls of pipes which most homeowners never see unless there is a leak and they are standing by when the plumber runs a camera down the pipes.
Keep an eye on your cleaning area over time.
Use a paper towel to wipe tacky dough bits off utensils and hands, disposing of the bits in the trashcan avoiding sending it down the drain, This will reduce breeding sites for fruit flies and other small flies and it will hopefully prevent some major plumbing issues down the road.
Store sour dough in closed containers so flies don’t lay eggs in the starter (starter needs air to grow so consult a sourdough specialist here).
If you have a small fly problem that persist even when you follow these steps or steps passed down from your grandmother give Angel Pest Control a call and we can help solve a Mystery Small Fly Problem.
