Have you ever had those annoying little Fruit Flies buzzing around your face? They seem to magically appear in thin air, and you just cannot get rid of them. We have had fruit flies from time to time and found that understanding where they come from and how to get rid of fruit flies in the kitchen helped a great deal.
How did Fruit Flies Get into My Kitchen
Fruit flies often come home with the groceries. They tend to lay their eggs on the surface of the skin on fruit that is beginning to ferment. The eggs can hatch within 8 days and cause a proliferation of insects in no time at all. If there are any pieces of fruit in the package your purchased that is beginning to ferment or go bad, then there is a pretty good chance of fruit fly eggs or even young fruit flies coming home with you. Sometimes our fruit that sits out on the counter begins to deteriorate before we even realize it.
How to Prevent Fruit Flies in the Kitchen
Consumers who have a fruit fly problem or are concerned that they may be bringing fruit flies into their home can follow a number of steps to prevent fruit fly infestations. For example, when you bring the groceries home, immediately wash all of your fruit to make sure they are clean and fresh. Throw out any pieces of fruit that have deteriorated or are beginning to ferment. There always seems to be one or two pieces that seem to be in that state.
Next monitor your fruit daily and use the fruit that is the ripest, Wash it first to remove any possibility of fruit fly egg contamination. Another approach to preventing fruit flies is to keep all of your fruit refrigerated. Fruit flies just cannot tolerate the cold.
How to get rid of Fruit Flies in the Kitchen
If you already have fruit flies in the kitchen there are a number of ways to get rid of them. First remove all sources of food such as pieces or fruit, any that are deteriorating etc as previously mentioned.
There are a number of solutions that can be tried depending on what natural chemicals you have around the house. For example, if you have a bottle of red wine that still has a little wine left in the bottle, leave it out on the counter. The flies will be attracted to the wine and enter the narrow neck of the bottle to get to the wine. They will not be able to find their way back out of the bottle once they are inside.
A little bit of vinegar in a dish along with several drops of soap also works well. The fruit flies are attracted to the vinegar. The soap lowers the surface tension of the vinegar and the fruit flies sink to the bottom and drown. This is probably one of the easiest ways to get rid of fruit flies in the kitchen. It worked well for the writer whenever we have had a fruit fly problem.
If you do not have any vinegar in your house another approach is to use some of the fruit that is fermenting. Place it in a tall glass. Take a piece of paper and roll it into a cone. Place the cone, narrow end down into the glass. The flies will enter glass through the cone to get at the fermenting fruit and will not be able to find their way back out through the narrow end of the cone. Of course when you are finished throw out the fruit in the garbage and seal the garbage bag to prevent a new infestation of fruit flies. You can visit our previous post to learn more on how to make a fruit fly trap.
Fruit flies in the kitchen can be annoying. There are simple and inexpensive ways to get rid of them with products that you already have in your kitchen.
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