You unpack your delicious fresh fruit into the fruit bowl and it seems to be a call to action for all the fruit flies in the neighbourhood to swarm your kitchen.
Or perhaps you pour a glass of wine at the end of a long day and two sips in you discover an interloping fruit fly wading about in your vino.
Sound familiar?
The drosophilidae, commonly known as the fermentation or fruit fly, can lay up to 500 eggs in their eight to 14 day life cycle. They lay eggs in your over ripe fruit, your dishcloth or in your drain and garbage bin which hatch in one day, so eradicating them once they’ve set up camp can be a nightmare.
Your first step to a fruit-fly free zone is removing anything that draws their attention. Ripening, or overripe fruits, and vegetables like onions, potatoes and tomatoes are major culprits, as are recycling bins complete with small amounts of tasty bin juice.
If that doesn’t do the trick – and you don’t fancy filling your home with sprays – give these chemical-free methods a shot:
Detergent death-trap cocktail
Add 1 drop of detergent to a quarter of a glass of wine and leave overnight on the bench top next to your fruit bowl. They pop in for a tasty cocktail and die in the process.
Apple cider vinegar
Pour 1 – 2 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar in an open jar or small bowl and leave on the kitchen bench for a couple of days. They are attracted to it and drown.
Sneaky fruit trap
Add a few pieces of ripe, skinless banana or overripe pear or stone-fruit to a small bowl. Add 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar and stir to combine. Cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap and pierce a few holes in it with a fork. The flies will be attracted to the fruit, sneak in the holes and forever by stuck in the bowl.
Essential oil spray
Traditional insect spray may kill a few of these bad boys, but it’s toxic in your kitchen. Homemade essential oil spray won’t kill them, but they don’t like the way it smells and it will act as a deterrent.
For best effect, do one of the other treatments first to get rid of existing fruit-flies and then spray this fresh smelling concoction to prevent new ones from swinging by and moving in.
Make a solution with a few drops of tea-tree or eucalyptus oil in water and pop into a spray bottle to spray liberally around the affected areas.
Drain shower
Make a bucket of boiling water and detergent and pour it down your sink. This will kill any eggs living in your drain and give any adults a lovely bath all the way into the sewerage system.
