Flora & Fauna Feature #10 - Fruit Flies
As soon as you see one of these little devils floating around your home, you know there will be dozens the next day… and goodness knows they are a pain to get rid of! Unfortunately I am dealing with this pesky problem at the moment (especially around my growing avocados) so I decided to learn a bit more about them!
Fruit flies are aptly named because they are small flies (the size of gnats really) that are attracted to to ripened or fermenting fruits and vegetables. If you leave your produce on a countertop for a day too long, you risk letting these buggers into your kitchen! Therefore they are incredibly common - they can be found in homes, restaurants, supermarkets and wherever else food is allowed to rot and ferment.
You see, fruit flies are attracted to fruits because they “lay their eggs near the surface of fermenting foods or other moist, organic materials. Upon emerging, the tiny larvae continue to feed near the surface of the fermenting mass.”
Normally you might think the produce would be ruined but the “surface-feeding characteristic of the larvae is significant in that damaged or over-ripened portions of fruits and vegetables can be cut away without having to discard the remainder for fear of retaining any developing larvae.” So at least that’s a plus!
But unfortunately they have one heck of a prolific potential… "given the opportunity, they will lay about 500 eggs. The entire lifecycle from egg to adult can be completed in about a week."
The best way to avoid this quickly reproducing problem is to prevent them from entering your home in the first place. Eliminate sources of attraction - keep fully ripened produce in the fridge and discard rotten food immediately.
But once you have them in your house, how do you get rid of them? My family uses a simple trap consisting of a shot glass, apple cider vinegar, and a drop of Dawn dish soap. Fruit flies are attracted to the cider vinegar and make their way to the surface of the liquid. But if you hide a single drop of dish soap in the concoction, they will slip through the surface and drown!
Do you deal with fruit flies? What is your favorite method to deal with this dilemma?
Click here to read my previous Flora & Fauna Feature #9 about Milkweed!
Photo from Google Images. Information and quote(s) cited from the University of Kentucky.
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We use the same apple cider vinegar trap as you do, but with a paper cone sitting atop the jar so if any flies have second thoughts about the vinegar they’re still stuck inside the jar, haha
I use lemon juice and a little sugar, in a glass with seran wrap with an elastic. But I have discovered that fruit flies come in through a sink drain so I started blocking the sinks and bammm no more fruit flies
We get those all the time during the warmer months of the year. With so many different things (kombucha, sourdough, etc.) fermenting in our house, it is no wonder that wee have such a problem with them during those times!
We usually pour a little kombucha in a small bowl with a drop of dish soap and then cover the whole thing with plastic wrap with a few holes poked in it. The fruit flies can get in, but they can't get out!
Although they got so bad this last summer, we just bought fly paper and stuck it right next to our kombucha. Worked like a charm. Never caught so many fruit flies. :)
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In the summer here, they can be a problem. I use cider vinegar and just put a couple little ramekins around with it in and it usually keeps their numbers down and keep things covered and put away.
I get rid of them in a similar way to you Kiara but I use cheap red cooking wine in a standard wine glass. No soap - as soon as they hit the surface, they're DONE FOR muahahah!
~ Kevin