How To Remove Fruit Flies From Your Kitchen?
Fruit flies can infest a home and people won’t even realize they are about to come until it is too late. They are attracted to ripe, rotting, or decayed fruit and produce. They can also be attracted to products such as beer, liquor, and wine (Good House Keeping). All they really need is some form of area that is moist and/or fermenting (LiveScience). People can’t control how quickly produce ripens or how alcohol ferments, so it is tough to control fruit flies without understanding or researching how to prevent them and remove them from the home.
Fruit flies should be removed immediately due to their nature to multiply rapidly. They are 1/8 inch insects in which the female lays up to 500 eggs on the surface of moist or rotting produce (LiveScience).
Following this, maggots can start to hatch within 24-30 hours (Orkin). They will then start to eat the decayed food and in 2 days they will be ready to mate. On the flip side, fruit flies can only live for 8-15 days (WebMD). They can be tough to control once they start multiplying due to just how quickly they start to multiply.
The fruit flies within a household can cause a multitude of health issues to those living in a fruit fly infested home. Fruit flies have the ability to transfer germs and bacteria from dirty surfaces to clean surfaces in a household. They can carry salmonella, E. coli, listeria, and more. These transfers can lead to food poisoning and can even put people in the hospital (WebMD).
First off, fruit flies can be prevented by throwing out overripe produce. Fruits and vegetables should be stored in the fridge to keep them fresher longer and keep them hidden from fruit flies. When first getting produce, wash it as soon as it arrives home to remove any potential eggs or larvae. Be sure to check the garbage regularly. Clean up spills from fruit juice or alcohol immediately.
One way to get rid of fruit flies is by filling a glass with apple cider vinegar and covering it with plastic wrap and a rubber band. Then, holes should be poked into the plastic wrap. The apple cider vinegar will draw the fruit flies in, and once they enter the glass, they won’t be able to escape due to the plastic wrap (Country Living).
Another possible option to remove fruit flies is by filling a bowl with apple cider vinegar and dish soap. The contents of the bowl should be mixed well. Once again, the apple cider vinegar will draw in the flies due to its stale sweetness, but once the flies enter the liquid, they won’t be able to escape it since the soap decreases the surface tension of the mixture (Country Living).
An old, opened bottle of beer or wine could also draw in the fruit flies. The stale beverage will be of interest to the fruit flies; however, due to the narrow neck of the bottle, they’ll be unable to escape. They’ll then be trapped in the bottle (Country Living).
There are some chemical remedies to kill fruit flies as well. A few recommended chemical remedies include FlyPunch Non-Toxic Fruit Fly Trap, Eco Defense Home Pest Control Spray, KATCHY Indoor Insect Trap, Fruit Fly BarPro ‘Fly Killer’. These are some of the top-rated products to eliminate fruit flies from one’s home altogether.
Having fruit flies in the home can be both unsanitary and annoying, so people should work to prevent them before they ever appear. If they do appear though, people should make sure to start combating them immediately, so they don’t continue to reproduce in the home. Home remedies or chemical remedies could be used to try to remove and kill them. If worst comes to worst, an extermination company could be contracted to remove the fruit flies from the household.
Author: Emily Lorius
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
References
- Piro, L. (2020, August 28). We Finally Found the Best Way to Get Rid of Fruit Flies. Retrieved October 29, 2020, from https://www.goodhousekeeping.com/home/cleaning/tips/a25042/how-to-kill-fruit-flies
- Pathak, N. (2019, September 15). How to Get Rid of Fruit Flies. Retrieved October 29, 2020, from https://www.webmd.com/food-recipes/how-get-rid-fruit-flies
- Binns, C. (2012, November 18). Where Do Fruit Flies Come From? Retrieved October 29, 2020, from https://www.livescience.com/32251-where-do-fruit-flies-come-from.html
- Fruit Fly Reproduction: Gestation & Reproduction of Fruit Flies. (n.d.). Retrieved October 29, 2020, from https://www.orkin.com/flies/fruit-fly/fruit-fly-reproduction-rates-data
- Schumann, N. (2020, September 20). Here’s How to Get Rid of Fruit Flies for Good. Retrieved October 29, 2020, from https://www.countryliving.com/home-maintenance/cleaning/a27284947/how-to-get-rid-of-fruit-flies
