If you have been seeing small flies or gnats in your kitchen, they’re probably fruit flies. Fruit flies can be a problem year round, but are especially common during late summer/fall because they are attracted to ripened or fermenting fruits and vegetables.
Fruit flies are common in homes, restaurants, supermarkets and wherever else food is allowed to rot and ferment. Adults are about 1/8 inch long and usually have red eyes. The front portion of the body is tan and the rear portion is black. Fruit flies 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. This 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. The reproductive potential of fruit flies is enormous; given the opportunity, they will lay about 500 eggs. The entire lifecycle from egg to adult can be completed in about a week.
Fruit flies are especially attracted to ripened fruits and vegetables in the kitchen. But they also will breed in drains, garbage disposals, empty bottles and cans, trash containers, mops and cleaning rags. All that is needed for development is a moist film of fermenting material. Infestations can originate from over-ripened fruits or vegetables that were previously infested and brought into the home. The adults can also fly in from outside through inadequately screened windows and doors.
Fruit flies are primarily nuisance pests. However, they also have the potential to contaminate food with bacteria and other disease-producing organisms.
How do you get rid of fruit flies?
- 1. Mix apple cider vinegar and dish soap. Fill a bowl with vinegar and add a drop of dish soap, mixing well. The stale sweetness of the apple cider vinegar tempts flies, and the dish soap works to decrease the surface tension of the liquid, causing the flies to become immersed immediately upon investigating the solution and unable to escape.
- 2. Try beer or wine. Leave a bottle of old wine or beer out near where the fruit flies were spotted. They’ll be lured in by the stale beverage, but the narrow neck of the bottle acts as a natural barrier to keep them trapped.
- Try a chemical fruit-fly attractants. Pestman fruit fly attractant is a mixture of food grade ingredients. The smell it emits is very attractive to fruit flies, luring them in for a short time and stopping them from causing damage to fruit and vegetables. Secondly, it is a green, non-polluting product.
It is non-toxic to humans, animals and crops and is very friendly to the environment. It has a long shelf life of 3 to 6 months and is effective against a wide range of fruit flies, such as the oriental fruit fly, melon fly and Mediterranean fruit fly, without affecting beneficial insects, making it extremely cost effective. If you need to treat both fruit flies and other flying insects, we recommend using our yellow boards in combination.
To use, pour 100-200 ml of Bismarck fruit fly attractant into a discarded plastic bottle and cut a 5*20 mm square hole in the side of the bottle, which has been experimentally proven to be more conducive to trapping fruit flies. Hang the bottle from a branch or tree trunk with a hook. In orchards, bottles should be hung 1-2 metres above the ground; in vegetable patches, bottles should be hung 1-1.5 metres above the ground; in other crop growing areas, bottles should be hung flush with the crop, with one bottle placed every 25-30 metres.
This product may settle, shake the bottle before use. The opening of the plastic bottle should be opened 5 cm above the liquid level. Hang the bottles in a well-ventilated area and out of direct sunlight. When there are too many fruit flies in the bottle or the attractant has evaporated, pour the attractant back in. Hang the bottles 1-2 weeks after the fruit and vegetables become susceptible to fruit fly attack and keep them up until the end of the harvest. Avoid contact with children.
