Fruit flies infestation is a very common problem of summer days which really makes people annoying especially when they find these unwanted pesky insects on their favorite fruits or other food products. However, the good news is that you can get rid of these pint-sized insects with some easy tips to get rid of fruit flies at home.
Here you will get to know about some easy tricks to trap and kill these unwanted, annoying insects without using and commercial pesticides. This means complete protection from these pesky insects without investing a single penny as you can easily make these DIY pesticides or trapping container with things that are already available in your home.
These tiny insects primarily infest on open and rotten food products are harmless. This means it doesn’t cause any kind of infection but this really makes your food look unpleasant resulting in you lose your interest to eat them automatically.
It can breed and live on damp clothes, garbage drains, etc. Apart from this ripen or rotten vegetables or fruit or a spilled juice on the floor can also be an easy infestation place for fruit flies.
Though fruit flies can grow all year along but these are highly common and vast in the summer season. The life span of fruit flies is only limited to two weeks but they can even live a few days more under the condition of availability of more favorable surrounding environment such as good fermented beverage etc.
The fruit flies lay their eggs nearby the surface of ripening fruits and at one go these can lay approx 500 eggs. Within 30 hours tiny larvae start feeding on these fruits. After a week’s time, they get ready to fly in the air.
This is the high time when your kitchen is likely to be invaded by these pesky bugs. So to protect your fruits and vegetables and your home overall from these unwanted tiny insects you can use homemade traps with some easily available ingredients which are not only safe but also highly effective.
Tips and Tricks to Get Rid of Fruit Flies at Home
Sticky Trap for Fruit Flies
Source: Amazon.comIf you are struggling with excessive fruit flies issue at your home then you must try this sticky trap trick which will help in easy trapping of these pesky insects.
Place these traps in the highly infested areas such as your kitchen, bathroom, etc. The best part of these yellow sticky traps that once the flies land on its surface there is no way to escape.
Apart from this, these sticky traps will also help you in getting rid of other commonly available pests in household areas such as whiteflies, fungus gnats, clothes, and pantry moths.
Stale Wine Trap for Fruit Flies
Try this easy home remedy to get rid of serious house flies infestation problem at your home. If you have some stale wine at your home that you are not going to drink anymore then there is good news for you. Yes, you understood absolutely right. You can make an easy trap for house flies with your old or stale leftover wine or beer.
For this first, you need to pour some stale wine in a container and then place this container in spaces where these pesky insects are infested. These tiny insects are very fond of the wine scent. This is the reason they easily get attracted to such a container and then fail to escape out of your prepared trap.
Once the flies come on the surface of these liquids they easily get drawn into it. In order to make your liquid sticky so that the files would easily remain stick on it, you can mix some amount of dish soap that you use to wash your utensils. Adding dish soap will make this trap much effective. If you are not getting any suitable container for trapping fruit flies then you can also use the wine bottle itself as your container.
Apart from wine or beer, you can also use any fermented beverage as your trapping liquid ingredient to get rid of these unpleasant tiny insects at your home. The reason behind the success of any fermented liquid trap is that these flies are highly attracted to any fruity aromatic fragrance.
Apple Cider Vinegar Trap for Fruit Flies
Source: Amazon.comApple cider vinegar is one of the most commonly used ingredients in the household so you can easily get this DIY ingredient that is vinegar. For preparing this DIY trap first, you need to take one container which you are going to use as your trap for catching those pesky fruit files at home.
After that, you need to collect 2 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar, one tablespoon of sugar, a few drops of dish soap and half a cup of warm water. Mix all these ingredients in your container and stir them well until the sugar starts dissolving in it.
Once your DIY trap is ready to use place it an area that is highly infested with fruit flies such as your kitchen sink etc. Now within a few minutes, you will find that your container is full of several fruit flies that easily get attracted to vinegar scent. Once they enter a container there is no scope for escaping as dish soap will do its job.
In this way, you can easily get rid of the fruit flies’ issues in your home without spending a single penny. In order to ensure that these flies will not roam around in any area of your home, you need to place may of this vinegar solution filled trapping container in different areas of your home.
Make a Fruit Flies Trap with a Bottle of Soda
Do you have an empty bottle of soda? If yes then don’t throw it. You can use this as your trapping solution to get rid of fruit flies’ issues in your home. You can use any kind of soda bottle but colas bottle is considered more effective for this purpose.
First, make a hole with the help of a hammer in the plastic lid of the said soda bottle. Leave your bottle with an inch amount of soda in it and place it in the affected zone.
Soon you will see that several fruit flies enter inside this bottle out of their attraction towards the scent of soda. Once you see your bottle is filled with enough number fruit flies change the lid of this bottle and through this bottle quite far from your home to relieve the issue of these pesky tiny flies.
However at one go you cannot get rid of them completely, you need to use this trap several times in different locations of your house until you ensure that no fruit flies attack is there anymore.
Use Rotten Fruits as Your Trap
Fruit flies are fond of the rotten fruits smell because that develops out of its natural fermentation over time. So you can use this effective ingredient as your DIY trapping solution to trap and kill fruit flies at home.
Place some rotten fruits into a bowl or any other container and cover it with a plastic wrap. Poke this plastic wrap to create some tiny holes so that the fruit flies can easily enter inside the container but couldn’t escape.
Once these flies enter into the container they will easily get trapped inside it. Apply this DIY trap in all your affected areas of the home to get rid of fruit flies faster and in a natural way.
Use Yeast as Your Trap
Try this another effective remedy which helps in easy capturing and killing of several fruit flies at a time. Yeast contains special property that can easily attract these pesky flies and trap them inside the solution.
For preparing this DIY trap you need to add or fill a glass with warm water until it fills half of your glass. Then mix one teaspoon of sugar and little amount of active dry yeast. Mix the solution until bubbles appear on the surface.
Cover this entire glass with a plastic wrap and poke with tiny holes so that the fruit flies can easily enter inside the glass but can’t go out. Place this prepared DIY trap on highly affected areas of your home and stay ready to get rid of those annoying tiny insects.
Sprinkle Some Essential Oils
Source: Amazon.comEssential oils are rich with potent medicinal properties that you can use for many DIY solutions. Along with its beautiful aroma by spraying these oils around your house you can easily ward off these pesky flies from your home.
For this DIY remedy to kill the house flies you use certain essentials oils such as lavender oil, lemongrass oil, etc. The scent of these oils is repulsive to these tiny insects and prohibits their congregation in a place.
For preparing this solution you need to add 10 drops of any of the essential oils into 2 ounces of hot water in a spray bottle and then spritz this solution in all areas of your house especially highly infested areas to kill the house flies easily.
Apply a Blow Dryer
Source: Amazon.comThis is one of the easiest and instant solution to get rid of fruit flies at home. Simply blow your hair dryer directly on these tiny annoying flies. Keep your blow dryer on so that the air would be easily blown away from the fan.
All the fruit flies would suck by the suction process from another side of the blower and will instantly burn out by its inner heater. This DIY trap for fruit flies ensures the fastest and instant solution to trap and kill several fruit flies at a time.
Remove All the Breeding Grounds
The fruit flies usually breeds in moist areas of your house. So by removing or eliminating these breeding grounds, you can easily prevent the growth or infestation of these little pesky flies.
Avoid Keeping Ripen Fruits on the Counter
The scent of ripe fruits is very much alluring to fruit flies because of its inner fermentation process. This is the reason as soon as you keep any ripen fruit on the counter several flies appear in the air making you feel annoyed. So to eliminate this breeding ground you should always keep all ripe fruits either in a paper bag on the counter or in the refrigerator.
Under the cold surrounding environment the ripening process slows down hence the growth or breeding of fruit flies restricted easily and you can enjoy eating your ripe fruits without getting annoyed with these tiny insects.
Keep in Check All Rotten Food Products
Rotten food products such as rotten vegetables in the kitchen etc are another favorite breeding ground for fruit flies. The smell that arises out of the fermentation of rotting onions, potatoes or any fruit, etc creates a favorable environment for these tiny flies to lay their eggs which soon converts into larva and flies around.
You will be surprised to know that a single rotten fruit or vegetable or fruit juice spillage on the floor can be a breeding ground for thousands of these pesky flies. So to get rid of this issue make sure that you cut and throw all the rotten areas of fruit and vegetable before it gets infested with thousands of these annoying little insects. Clean the spillage of fruit juices etc on the floor immediately to eliminate another breeding ground for fruit flies.
Manage Properly to Your Damp Clothes
Damp areas such as damp clothes can easily give birth to thousands of fruit flies in almost no time. So to eliminate this common breeding ground for fruit flies, make sure that you avoid keeping your damp kitchen towels or any other damp clothes improperly. Spread it in sunlight so that it can easily dry and won’t create a susceptible place for the growth of these pesky flies.
Also wash them every day to prevent the risk of fruit flies breeding on them which is quite possible in the case of a used and un-cleaned kitchen towel, mop or any such clothes that comes in the use of daily household work.
Clean the Drain on Frequent Basis
Kitchen sink drains where the bits of rotten vegetables and fruits often accumulate during the dish cleaning work are another high breeding ground for fruit flies. So for eliminating this common breeding zone makes sure that you clean your kitchen’s sink drain often with apple cider vinegar or ice.
Also, turn on your kitchen fan frequently to keep your kitchen dry and keeping away these annoying fruit flies from your pantry.
Clean Your Dishes Instantly
Unwashed dishes in your kitchen sink are another favorable breeding ground of the fruit flies. The leftover foods on your plates, bowls or accumulated water in a cup or other dishes give birth to several fruit flies immediately.
By timely cleaning of your dishes and keeping your kitchen sink dry and clean, you can easily eliminate a high breeding zone or location in your house for fruit flies.
Try these precaution methods to avoid the common fruit flies breeding grounds and our real time-proven tricks and tips to get rid of fruit flies at home easily.
[expand title=”View Article Sources“]
- https://www.wikihow.life/Kill-Fruit-Flies
- https://www.almanac.com/news/almanac/everything/how-get-rid-fruit-flies
- https://www.organiclesson.com/6-ways-to-instantly-get-rid-of-gnats-at-home/
- https://www.mnn.com/food/healthy-eating/stories/8-ways-to-make-war-on-fruit-flies
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