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 move a piece of fruit and have a swarm of fruit flies fill the air only to escape your attempts at killing them. Where are they gonna go? Obviously the ones flying around can't be easily captured or killed, so they'll linger about until they find some other place to lay eggs and the whole cycle starts again.
The best way to capture and remove the ones that escape is to create a simple trap using a jar, plastic wrap and a piece of food. Here's how it works:
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. Kill the bugs with bug spray, wash out the jar and start the whole process over again if 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.
I haven't tried the banana trap but we do use a little jar filled with apple cider vinegar and a drop of dish soap. I've had these babies out for 2 days and I have at least 100 dead bugs. They fly in and drown. I understand that the fruit flies really love beer (too bad I won't let them have a "happy" death - that would be too nice of me) and love red wine even better. Sorry little pests. If I have red wine in my house, it won't be for YOU to drink!
Don't stop eating fresh fruits and veggies like my husband has suggested (go figure). Just accept the challenge and fight to win! Now I must go clean my counters AGAIN.
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