Avoiding pesticides - Pesticide-free ways to eliminate fruit flies
The key to getting rid of fruit flies is to remove the food source and breeding areas. Fruit flies have a life-cycle of 10 days, giving them plenty of time to punish you for leaving moist, fermenting, organic material in which they may lay eggs. Most fly trap ideas only serve to illustrate the flies' progress in taking over your home, and some will themselves provide a breeding ground. Sanitation is the only effective resolution. Address these frequent problem spots:
- Wash all dishes and clear the drains.
- Launder the dishrags, or at least wash them thoroughly with soap, rinse them well and wring them dry before hanging them up (don't leave them in the sink).
- Get rid of flowers in the area. All fruit flies really need is sugar, and nectar can provide a source.
- Do not toss food garbage into waste-paper baskets.
- Cover your fruit bowl or store fruit you wish to keep in the refrigerator. Also, raisins, dates and prunes are favorite attractants.
- Discard all overripe fruit.
- Clean opened containers of fruit juice, fermented or vinegar products, for example ketchup, siracha or cooking wine. Seal them well. Keep these in the refrigerator if possible.
- Wipe up crumbs and spills from your cabinets, counter and floor.
- Fruit flies love rotten bananas, so get rid of those.
- Take out your compost and keep your collection bin covered and food additions to your pile buried beneath yard waste.
Make your own poison-free fruit fly traps
How to make a bowl trap:
- Put a piece of old skinless fruit and some wine, or some balsamic in a bowl.
- Cover the bowl tightly (no wrinkles) with plastic wrap.
- Poke many small holes in the plastic with a fork. The fruit flies go in and can't get out (if the holes are too big they will fly back out).
How to make a funnel trap:
- Make a cone out of the sheet of paper (like a funnel).
- Tape the outside of the cone so that it stays in place.
- Check that the cone fits snugly into a glass or cup.
- Cut off the tip of the cone so that you now have a funnel.
- Pour a small amount of cider vinegar into the glass or cup. (Rum mixed with orange juice also works very well - additionally, a half teaspoon of baker's yeast in water can also suffice)
- Insert the funnel into the glass or cup, but don't let the bottom of the funnel touch the liquid. Tape the funnel in two or three places from the outside so that there is no gap between the glass and the cone.
- Place your newly created trap on a flat surface. The flies will be attracted by the smell of the fruity vinegar and fly into the cone. The flies will slip down the cone and will either land in the vinegar and drown or will be trapped and not able to get back out. If you leave the trap overnight, the trapped fruit flies will eventually fall into the vinegar and drown.
(Tip submitted by Debbie)
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