Fruit Flies are one pest that you don’t want in your kitchen. Although they won’t cause you direct harm like a bee sting the tiny pests breed quickly and can destroy your fresh fruit.
Fruit flies come in many different varieties and for farmers it is a special concern. Although they known for attacking bananas and grapes they will lay their eggs in more then 400 different types of plants.
One female Mexican fruit fly can deposit large numbers of eggs: up to 40 eggs at a time, 100 or more a day, and about 2,000 over her life span.
Once the fly has laid eggs in your fruit the population of flies will grow quickly.
Unfortunately there is no perfect cure to get rid of fruit flies all together but there are steps you can take to minimize their time in your home.
Remove their food source
The first thing you should do when you find a fruit fly problem is place your fruit in your refrigerator. Unfortunately bananas do not do well in refrigerators so you might want to make a banana bread and keep that refrigerated.
Using a Fan
Flies of all types hate being in windy conditions and small fruit flies are no exception. In commercial settings where fruit is stored for distribution fans will keep the air moving to limit the ability of the fly to travel.
If you have a small house or personal fan you can place it in your kitchen to keep flies away from your fruit. Although this does mean it will have to run constantly.
Fans really work well and for your initial clean-out they are your best bet.
Fruit Fly Traps
There are a number of commercial fruit fly traps that you can purchase they all work on the same method. A special bait is used in a liquid to attract the fly into a container, once the fly drinks the liquid they will either die or not be able to get out of the trap.
You can build your own fruit fly trap with an empty plastic gallon jug.
Place a small amount of sugar water and vinegar in the jug and place a small hole about one inch wide 1/3 of the way down the side of the jug.
The flies will be attracted to the smell and once inside will find it difficult to get out.
Since the hole is in the side of the container if they normally fly to the top they will not get out of the sealed lid.
Using a fly trap can work to some degree but you have to consider that your trap bait needs to be more attractive then your fruit and vegetables.
Commercial traps will often work better then homemade traps because they use special attractants.
So, remember refrigerate or place your items in a sealed container while removing your pest problem.