Dealing with Fruit Fly Infestation: A Practical Guide

The most magical creatures in the world are unicorns or dragons, according to popular opinion. But fruit flies can easily top them in this battle. It feels as though they appear out of nowhere! Maybe they don't look so magical after they have swarmed your kitchen. Just like there is a prince to defeat a dragon, there are ways to defeat fruit flies as well, a little less violently. Just be grateful they can't breathe fire... yet.

In this blog, we will explore what fruit flies really are and the most effective and proven ways to get rid of them in a way that they will never fly into your home again.

What are Fruit Flies?

Fruit flies are common in households, shops, supermarkets, and anywhere there is rotting food. They are tiny insects that live by eating ripe or fermented fruits and vegetables, and they usually breed anywhere they like. Here is the scary part: fruit flies can lay up to 500 eggs, and their entire lifecycle, from egg to adult, is completed in a week! That is a lot of reproduction. They are attracted to the yeast produced in overripe fruits the most, as the sugar in fruits starts to ferment. In simple words, they are similar to alcoholics: they are a nuisance to society and can't stop gathering for a drink.

They mostly just cause discomfort, but if left unmonitored, they can also spread diseases such as E. coli by contaminating the food you eat with other organic waste they sit on.

How Can You Get Rid of Fruit Flies?

To get rid of fruit flies, we need to think like a fruit fly. Identify the source to eliminate it efficiently, and also take precautionary measures to avoid future infestations. Here is how you can get rid of fruit flies:

1) Get Rid of Sources:

Carefully inspect all your fruits and vegetables for infestation, spoilage, and damage. Eliminate all the bad items and store the rest in a refrigerator or an airtight container. To prevent any already existing eggs or larvae that could hatch in your home after purchasing fruits, it is a good habit to wash the items before storing them.

Even if you dispose of garbage regularly, there might still be some residues that attract fruit flies. Cleanse and sanitize your garbage bins once in a while to avoid this. If you don't take out your garbage regularly, it is time you start doing it, you dirty pig.

Poor drains and stale water are popular among fruit flies as a hang-out spot. No matter how empathetic you are, you cannot leave these spots unattended. The best you can do is hang out with them for a while to provide moral support before demolishing their favorite spot. If you are a normal person, it shouldn't bother you; just kill them.

2) Clean Affected Spots Regularly:

Any kitchen will have accidental spillage of food crumbs and liquids. It is best to wipe your kitchen counter immediately with a cleaning agent after you have used your kitchen to avoid infestation. Special care must be given to sweet or sticky spots.

Clean your drains and sinks regularly with vinegar, baking soda, or ice to get rid of any leftover residue from cleaning dishes. Regular sweeping, vacuuming, and mopping of your home is mandatory to keep the fruit flies or any other pests out.

3) Homemade Traps:

Trust me, this is more fun if you have developed enough hatred towards these insects. Let them know what you will do if they keep flying into your face. Setting up homemade traps is really simple. A rotten fruit trap is one of the best booby traps you can use to kill fruit flies. Place a decaying fruit in a pot that you don't need anymore and cover it with plastic wrap with small holes in it to allow the fruit flies to enter the plastic screen into the pot. That's it! Throw the pot away once you have captured all the fruit flies.

Vinegar traps are another way of getting rid of these pesky insects. Mix some apple cider vinegar with dishwashing soap in an open container, and simply place it on your kitchen counter or anywhere there is an infestation. This will attract the fruit flies and trap them in the soapy fluid. Nothing is better than watching these things you hate commit mass suicide.

You can also use wine or beer bottles as a trap. This would only work with a bottle with a little liquid still left. So, it really comes down to who is the bigger alcoholic—you or the fruit flies. If you can manage to save a little beer or wine in the bottle, the fruit flies will fly to their own demise. Just remember not to drink this fruit fly beer even accidentally.

4) Commercial Insect Traps:

A variety of commercially available fly traps can aid in making your home fruit fly-free. Any hardware shop would sell sticky traps for you to capture all kinds of insects, including fruit flies. Set these traps in different places and replace them when they are full.

An improved version of the sticky trap is the fruit fly pheromone trap. It attracts fruit flies with their favorite pheromones and smells to trap them.

You must have seen these in a lot of shops or restaurants. Ultraviolet light traps. Most insects are attracted to warmth and light, given their cold-blooded schematics. The light calls flies and fruit flies together to be zapped out of existence. It is a pretty cool invention.

Conclusion

These methods are sure to work against even bad cases of fruit fly infestations. But the success rate varies from person to person, and it might require a lot of patience. If you have tried all these methods and still see no success, it is probably the right time to hire a professional to exterminate these pests. The success rate depends solely on how patient you are and how much hatred you have developed for them. Now go hunt these annoying fruit flies down, soldier!