Few things are more irritating than swarms of fruit flies hovering over the produce in your kitchen or pantry. Although primarily a nuisance, these tiny flies also have the potential to contaminate food with bacteria. Here are some quick, easy, and environmentally friendly tips for ridding your pantry and your produce of these unwelcome little pests.
Fruit flies are attracted to all types of ripened fruits and vegetables. Not only do they feed on them, they also lay their eggs in them - up to 500 eggs in a lifetime (which from egg to adult lasts about 7 days). Although they prefer ripened fruits and vegetables, feeding and breeding can also take place in any type of moist, fermenting material. That includes things like sink drains, garbage disposals, empty beverage cans and wine bottles, and even damp mops heads, kitchen sponges, and dish rags.
At times it may seem like a fruit fly magically appears the minute you set your wine glass down. So how do they get into your house in the first place? Most infestations in the home originate from one of two places: from previously infested fruits or vegetables brought home from the store, or from rips and tears in window and door screens.
Steer clear of over ripened or bruised fruits and vegetables at the grocery store. Keep windows and doors in good repair and fitted with 16 (count) mesh screens to help prevent adult fruit flies from getting in from the outdoors.
After removing all potential sources for feeding and breeding, use this trap to take care of any remaining adult flies.
About The Author: Ellen Brown is an environmental writer and photographer and the owner of Sustainable Media, an environmental media company that specializes in helping businesses and organizations promote eco-friendly products and services.
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I've used apple cider vinegar in a vinegar Cruet, they get in and can't get out. I've been doing it for years. It always works. I hate fruit flies!
Great article! Could have done without the close up picture but the information is superb! I printed it out and am laminating it to be posted on the side of my fridge.
I like LollyB's idea if use a cruet too. Less apt to spill, and looks nicer too while it does it's work.
We fight them every summer, thank you for the funneling idea, very clever!
I am trying the vinegar idea, but didn't use a plastic to make a funnel. I will use a small pudding cup and place a cling wrap over the top makeing a tunnel with the hole and then just cling the rest to the outside of the cup. Let's see if this works!
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I'm sorry people. Call me the oddball. I have tried the classic trap with no success. It consists of pouring an amount of vinegar and a bit of dish detergent in a container and covering the top with perforated cling wrap.
I have tried different vinegars, fruit juices, bits of fruit and other things. It simply does not work for me (unless you count catching 3 fruit flies with cranberry juice over a week's time a success).
I am not discounting pictures (one by our dear Editor in Chief) proving this method works. I'm just saying it doesn't work for me. Yes, call me the oddball.
Several times I have thought about using a vacuum cleaner to suck up the flies but always discarded the idea as I thought they are much too quick to be caught that way.
After gorging on this year's bountiful fruit harvest (sometimes as many as half a dozen navel oranges in one day), I found my kitchen invaded by a hoard of fruit flies.
Noticing a swarm of maybe 75-100 alighted on a kitchen cabinet, I thought, with nothing to lose, I'd give the vacuum cleaner a try. It works! When the flies see the hose approaching, they do attempt to fly away, but, they are not fast enough. In mid flight they are sucked right into the hose.
On the first try, I got most of them. An hour later, I got most of the escapees that had settled back on the cabinet door. Now, I have to hunt for them to get the last remaining few.
Pretty good. No chemical, no sprays or traps and very efficient.
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I have discovered two inexpensive and delicious wines produced right here in The old North State (NC). One is a white scuppernong by Duplin. The other is a white scuppernong by Childress. Both are sweet, low in alcohol and are considered a dessert or sipping wine.
Indulging in a small glass takes me back many years to when I visited my favorite aunt. An old country home with a big front porch, bedecked with several rocking chairs.
We sat on the porch in the cool of the evening. A few yards away was a huge, heavily laden scuppernong arbor. I walked to the arbor, selected and ate a few scuppys, picked a few more and brought them back to the porch.
There I seated myself on the porch steps, just munching away. With tongue in cheek, I brought up any subject I knew would get my Aunt Viola to start reminiscing about the years she was a cow girl...and all the excitement, peace and freedom she felt during that time in her life. It was heaven to me.
Yes, I thought about making a trap using a dram or two of my newfound elixir. If they liked it as well as I do, I would catch them all in one in one fell swoop (whatever that is).
But no, the vacuum works great. I'm not about to waste a drop of my giggle soup on those dastardly varmints!
I'm getting old, Y'all...antiquated. Do you think it's too late for me to become a wino?