Anyone who has ever been sitting a few bananas left out or forgotten to change their garbage knows all too well the problem with fruit flies. It seems that once they've invaded your kitchen, you can not get rid of them. You can clean, scrub, tempting fruit and spray the garbage can with disinfectants, but they keep coming back. One can not help but cringe just looking at them.
We have always had problems with fruit flies, with one of the main reasons is that we live in aApartment and by law - must be recycled. In which we live, we must keep our recycling containers inside until they can be disposed of once a week. If the recyclables are not good enough to clean after use, are ideal breeding grounds for fruit flies. They love bits of rotting food remnants and seem to thrive in even the smallest amount. When fruit flies move in, just do not want to leave and eggs and all that you can find what you are secular - fruit and vegetables on the leftthe counter, sink drains, garbage disposals, empty bottles & cans, garbage bags, and even mops and rags.
A Few Fun Facts About Fruit Flies:
- Can lay up to 500 eggs at a time
- Their entire lifecycle is complete in about a week
- While considered mainly a pest, they have the potential to contaminate food with dangerous bacteria
We all know that removing the food, getting rid of the garbage & cleaning up plays a big role, but we also know what it's like to Fruit flies move a piece of fruit and a swarm fill the air only to escape your attempts to kill. Where are they going to go? Of course, those who can not easily be taken prisoner or killed flying around, that will linger until another place for the eggs and the cycle starts again to find the laity.
In all my experiments, I found the best way to capture and remove those who want to escape, is an easy trap, with a glass, plastic and foil to create a piece of food. Here's howworks:
1. Get a small jar you don't plan on using again ( like a baby food jar or something similar ) and wash it out well. Make sure it is not a jar with a funky smell such as a used pickle jar or anything that use to have strong spices. You want a clean, odorless jar.
2. Take a chunk of banana and place inside the jar. This is why you want a clean, odorless jar - so that the banana smell won't be overpowered by other not-so-tempting smells. Banana seems to work the best, but you can experiment.
3. Fit a piece of plastic wrap over the top of the jar, making sure that it fits tight and well sealed around the edges. Then take a pen or pencil and poke 4 to 5 holes in the plastic, just big enough for a fruit fly to fit into. Once a fruit fly crawls in, it can't get out. You would think they would just fly back out through the holes, but they won't!
4. Place the jar in an area where you have seen the most fruit flies. Depending on the amount of fruit flies you have, you can expect to start seeing the jar fill up within just a few hours. After 24 hours, you will discover just how bad your fruit fly problem is!
This simple, inexpensive & safe method works perfectly and if you don't want the jar on public display, you can always slip it behind the garbage can, in the cupboard or even under the sink (Just don't forget about it!). You will want to empty the jar every 3-4 days before any eggs have a chance to hatch. While adult fruit flies can't easily escape through the holes, their maggots can very easily, and besides that - they are disgusting to see crawling around in the jar. You don't want to see these things crawling on your counter!
Cleaning out the jar shouldn't be a problem. If you have a kind heart, you can choose to let them go outside. Personally, I spray the little buggers with bug spray, wash out the jar and start the whole process over again if I think there are still some fruit flies left to capture.
For bad fruit fly problems, you will want to use this method for a good two weeks to make sure you've captured the majority of fruit flies. You might even want to use a few jars in different places. Before long, your kitchen will be back to normal.
