There are few things as annoying and persistent as fruit flies during summer. It can sometimes seem downright impossible to eliminate all of them. To help cope with this issue, here’s how to get rid of fruit flies in your kitchen quickly and effectively!
Wash all produce thoroughly
The first step to getting rid of fruit flies is immediately washing the produce you buy and bring into your house. Even if no flies ever manage to get into your home through windows and doors, there is a very good chance you’d brought their eggs or larvae in with the stuff you’d bought. This means you would actually be contributing to the problem you are trying to solve. Thankfully, it is relatively easy to prevent this. All you need to do is carefully and gently scrub their surface under a stream of cold water. This is typically enough if the fruit is not starting to turn too ripe or damaged.
Throw away any fruit going bad immediately to get rid of fruit flies in your kitchen
On the subject of fruit going too ripe, you definitely want to throw away any you are not planning to eat immediately. There are few breeding grounds as good for fruit flies as fruit that’s starting to rot. In fact, the only thing that comes close is if your basement gets flooded during summer. Fruit flies love their humidity. Once again, though, so long as you are careful and pay attention to your fruit bowl, this is something that is relatively easy to stay ahead of. Alternatively, you can scale down the amount of fruit you are buying so you actually eat it quickly enough not to have to worry about it rotting.
Spoiled fruit attracts absolutely crazy amounts of fruit flies!
Keep your fruit in sealed dishes
Of course, fruit flies can be attracted even to the fruit which is not starting to go bad. In order to get rid of fruit flies in your kitchen completely, it is very much recommended to keep your fruit in sealed containers. There are plenty of interesting and pretty plastic dishes which can be used for this purpose. Just make sure to get transparent ones so you can easily keep an eye on the fruit’s condition. Note that the experts from verifiedmovers.com also strongly recommend this if you’re moving and planning to take some of your food with you. Fruit can easily get damaged during a move, not to mention get exposed to all sorts of insects. You would be guaranteed to take a ton of fruit flies into your home if you treat this process carelessly. Of course, it is better to just not take food with you during a move.
Just keep your kitchen clean
A very good way to discourage the presence of fruit flies is to just keep your kitchen spick and span. Any sort of leftovers, especially sweet ones or even breadcrumbs, can attract fruit flies if they lack more appealing targets. You especially need to carefully and quickly deal with any spills involving juice or alcohol. It is best to take care of them immediately since it is easy to forget they had happened if they’re minor and invite disaster in the form of a fruit fly swarm. It is equally important to regularly take out trash and never let it start to get smelly. Note that if you have issues with sewer exhaust getting into your home, it is best to immediately contact a reliable plumber. This problem can be fixed, and the smell can also attract fruit flies.
Cleaning is a surprisingly good way to get rid of all kinds of undesirable insects in your home.
Get rid of fruit flies in your kitchen with specialized products
Of course, if you are already swarmed by fruit flies and just want to decimate their population, there is nothing wrong with using store-bought products made for that exact purpose. There are plenty of very effective chemicals which can quickly kill off any fruit flies in your home. Unfortunately, most of them are rather toxic for humans too. This means that you want to either carefully follow instructions or do the same time you would if looking to move: Look up top movers in Chicago and rely on experts for this. Sometimes, calling an exterminator is preferable to trying to wing it on your own.
Try making a cunning trap
You may be surprised by how easy it is to get rid of fruit flies in your kitchen using homemade traps. In fact, the most straightforward and most recommended fruit fly trap requires just apple cider vinegar and plastic wrap. Well, and a rubber band. All you need to do is pour the sweet cider into a container, cover it with plastic wrap that you’ve poked a few very small holes in, and secure it in place with a rubber band. The flies will be attracted by the scent and squirm their way in, then either get drowned or get stuck. You can catch practically all the fruit flies buzzing around your kitchen this way. And there are also a ton of other traps you can try your hand at making. Just look them up online, and you’ll be all set to go! Of course, you can buy a pre-made trap too.
You can even raise a tiny little helpful plant to get rid of fruit flies in your kitchen
How often do I need to act?
One of the most frequent questions posed by people trying to get rid of fruit flies is: how quickly do they come back? Well, the depressing news is that fruit flies only take around twenty-four hours to hatch. Once you experience your first infestation, you will go through more frustrating than trying to figure out sewer backup causes and fixes on your own. So, it can seem like a bit of an uphill battle.
Final words
Learning how to get rid of fruit flies in your kitchen may seem a bit frustrating. And the process itself is infuriating. Still, you may be relieved to know that it is possible to eradicate them all! By following the advice we have laid out, you will eliminate their breeding grounds. You will stop attracting new fruit flies to your home. And you will even have reliable means of getting rid of the adult fruit flies. All you’ll need is a bit of time and patience.