With the warm summer months underway, fruit flies are often something we have to battle against in our homes. Check out these great tips from wikiHow.com on how to get rid of fruit flies:
1. 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. 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).
* Store trash in a covered bin.
* Get rid of flowers in the area. All they 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.
* Take out all trash
* They love rotten bananas, so get rid of those.
* Do your laundry.
* Clean the seals of your refrigerator door, the top and under the fridge, especially clean the evaporation pan if it has one.
* Clean under and around your dishwasher and stove.
* Dump mop water, clean the pail, launder the mop rag.
* Remove damp lint from the laundry room.
* Take out your compost and keep your collection bin covered and food additions to your pile buried beneath yard waste.
* Do not use manure, beer or rank water for fertilizer near the house.
* Use screens for your doors and windows.
2. 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.
Find out more ways to capture the flies here.
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